Links/Shortcuts - Why Can't I Find X?

[Guest]

Try this - if you get the same as I do on this Home Premium system maybe you
can explain. The specifics are I hope irrelevant - it's the principles...

Q: Where is "Games Explorer"
Q: How should I be able to find it?
Q: Why haven't I been able to find it as described?
Q: Why don't all shortcuts/links point to real locations?

I wanted to play a game... typed "games explorer" in Start - Search, got
nothing.

Delved through All Programs and found it under the Games folder - opened the
Games folder and examined the shortcut called "Games Explorer". Right-click
"Games Explorer" shortcut and choose "Open Folder [sic]Location" - I get the
Desktop, but even with Show Hidden Files it's not there.

Get the properties of "Games Explorer" shortcut: it says the Target is
(greyed out) "Games" - and where might that be?

Decided to do a Search Everywhere for Games Explorer - many minutes later,
despite the green progress bar having run right into the "Stop" X (wow - what
is that tool-tip telling me? subquery = "C%3A%5CUsers...." that's friendly!)
Vista is still searching and has found nothing. Start Menu
(C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\) is in the indexed locations
list.

Tried an Advanced Search - ticked to include non-indexed locations, hidden
stuff etc. (does that mean "everywhere" doesn't mean Everywhere*, esp in the
normal Search Everywhere?) Full progress bar, no end to search in sight and
still no results.

What gives?

Hopefully I'll understand a bit more shortly... thanks in advance.

PS * "Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files" confuses locations
(indexed/non-indexed) and file types/attributes... not helpful "Everywhere"
is sounds as though it should include non-indexed locations... doesn't it?

 

[John Inzer]

snip<
Q: Where is "Games Explorer"
snip

===================================
Not sure what you were expecting
but Games Explorer is just the window
that displays Vista's 9 games.

Have a look:

The Games Explorer
http://tinyurl.com/2jykoz

--
John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Guest]

Thanks for acknowledging the post John...

:

Not sure what you were expecting
but Games Explorer is just the window
that displays Vista's 9 games.

That may be what "games explorer" does, but there is a shortcut called
"games explorer" - and I don't understand how it works and why I can't find
it - hence concerns about what else I might not be able to find...

Oh, this is interesting... I looked in desktop.ini and found something
interesting (now wiser in some respects, but still generally confused)

In desktop.ini: GameExplorer.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10082
(*full file at end)

So... the shortcut doesn't specify the target, desktop.ini does!

Why can't "Games Explorer" be a proper shortcut? Perhaps because there's a
parameter? One used to be able to pass parameters through shortcuts... I
still use MS Reference Dictionary etc. - and here's the targtet property of
that shortcut

"C:\Users\ME.myPC\Documents\Books\Reference\MS
Reference\AAMSSTP\APP\BSWESE.EXE" /b /I:Chd

so why not for games and games explorer?

And where does the shortcut actually get its name from? There can't be a
file called "Games Explorer" or I would already have found it. Must be that
localizedresourcename?

Examine the Games Folder, add Link Status, Path and Perceived Type to see
more interesting info... and turn on "show extensions" to discover that the
..lnk extension still isn't shown - and that the links can't be "resolved".

Search for "gameexplorer" finds the shortcut immediately - but displays it
as "Games Explorer"... can't help wondering if there might be a lovely
opportunity for hacking (esp. social engineering) by exploiting unfindable
files like this that are invisibly redirecting things... (NB search for
gameux and get all game shortcuts)

It all *seems* (I'm just a user - I didn't write the OS!) a rather confused
implementation, no doubt very clever, but also very confusing.

MS is very keen that we take responsibility for what runs - not hiding
things or obfuscating their names would help!

* What does LocalizedResourceName below do?
[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21773
[LocalizedFileNames]
FreeCell.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10055
Solitaire.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10060
InkBall.lnk=@%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\inkball\InkBall.exe,-15051
Chess.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10054
Mahjong.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10059
Spider Solitaire.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10061
Minesweeper.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10057
PurblePlace.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10058
Hearts.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10056

GameExplorer.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10082

 

[Guest]

Q: Where is "Games Explorer"
Q: How should I be able to find it?

Open the Start menu and type: games and hit Enter (of course, if your
language is different than English, type the translated word in your language)

 

[Guest]

but Games Explorer is just the window
that displays Vista's 9 games.

Games Explorer contains Vista games + all games you installed on your PC
(example: half life, far cry, halo, etc.)

 

[Guest]

Open the Start menu and type: games and hit Enter (of course, if your
language is different than English, type the translated word in your language)

Does it work for you? (confirmation either way appreciated, this is Vista
HP) It doesn't here - typing just "games" gives no results, and hitting enter
then immediately initiates a "Search Everywhere"

 

[Guest]

Does it work for you?

YES. It works

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Try this - if you get the same as I do on this Home Premium system maybe
you
can explain. The specifics are I hope irrelevant - it's the principles...

Q: Where is "Games Explorer"

%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe (It's just a specicalized Explorer window)

Q: How should I be able to find it?

All Programs -> Games -> Games Explorer

You can add it to the right side of the Start Menu via:

'Taskbar & Start Menu Properties' -> 'Start Menu' tab -> 'Customize' button

Q: Why haven't I been able to find it as described?

Not sure. Do you have 'Search Programs' checked in Start Menu properties?

Q: Why don't all shortcuts/links point to real locations?

Because not all locations are real. Some are namespace items. Similar to
Control Panel.

I wanted to play a game... typed "games explorer" in Start - Search, got
nothing.

Delved through All Programs and found it under the Games folder - opened
the
Games folder and examined the shortcut called "Games Explorer".
Right-click
"Games Explorer" shortcut and choose "Open Folder [sic]Location" - I get
the
Desktop, but even with Show Hidden Files it's not there.

Another trick of the namespace. Similar to how the 'Search Results' folder
appears rooted at the Desktop but disappears when not in use.

Get the properties of "Games Explorer" shortcut: it says the Target is
(greyed out) "Games" - and where might that be?

Your computer's memory. It's a virtual folder.

Decided to do a Search Everywhere for Games Explorer - many minutes later,
despite the green progress bar having run right into the "Stop" X (wow -
what
is that tool-tip telling me? subquery = "C%3A%5CUsers...." that's
friendly!)
Vista is still searching and has found nothing. Start Menu
(C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\) is in the indexed locations
list.

Tried an Advanced Search - ticked to include non-indexed locations, hidden
stuff etc. (does that mean "everywhere" doesn't mean Everywhere*, esp in
the
normal Search Everywhere?) Full progress bar, no end to search in sight
and
still no results.

What gives?

The only entry with that name is here:

G:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games

not sure why it didn't turn up in search, try: name:"games explorer"

Hopefully I'll understand a bit more shortly... thanks in advance.

PS * "Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files" confuses locations
(indexed/non-indexed) and file types/attributes... not helpful
"Everywhere"
is sounds as though it should include non-indexed locations... doesn't it?

If you look at the Advanced dialog for Indexing options, you'll see that
certain file types (.386, .bin) are excluded from indexing. They are not
indexed even if they are in a folder that is indexed. 'Everywhere' does
include all locations, but not all types.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Oh, this is interesting... I looked in desktop.ini and found something
interesting (now wiser in some respects, but still generally confused)

In desktop.ini: GameExplorer.lnk=@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10082
(*full file at end)

So... the shortcut doesn't specify the target, desktop.ini does!

Open a command prompt window & execute a 'dir' command from the Games
folder.

Not exactly. The actual shortcut, 'GameExplorer.lnk' specifies the target.
The line you found specifies the display name for the shortcut.

Why can't "Games Explorer" be a proper shortcut? Perhaps because there's a
parameter? One used to be able to pass parameters through shortcuts... I
still use MS Reference Dictionary etc. - and here's the targtet property
of
that shortcut

"C:\Users\ME.myPC\Documents\Books\Reference\MS
Reference\AAMSSTP\APP\BSWESE.EXE" /b /I:Chd

so why not for games and games explorer?

Open three explorer windows:
Games Explorer
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games
G:\Program Files\Microsoft Games

Notice that only Games Explorer has the options button for Games. Games
Explorer also provides details (Last Played, Game Restrictions, etc) that
aren't available to regular file folders.

And where does the shortcut actually get its name from? There can't be a
file called "Games Explorer" or I would already have found it. Must be
that
localizedresourcename?

Yep. A foreign language version of Windows would have the same
gamesexplorer.lnk file, but the resource:

@%SystemRoot%\system32\gameux.dll,-10082

would contain the native language equivalent of 'Games Explorer'.

Examine the Games Folder, add Link Status, Path and Perceived Type to see
more interesting info... and turn on "show extensions" to discover that
the
.lnk extension still isn't shown - and that the links can't be "resolved".

The .lnk filetype has a 'NeverShowExt' value in the registry that overrides
'show extensions'

Never looked at the Link Status column before, but it seems to report
'Unresolved' for everything on the computer. I'll have to find out more
about that.

* What does LocalizedResourceName below do?

Explained above.