Show .lnk in explorer

[tcebob]

Shortcuts on desktop and in explorer just show .exe, as in "Myprogram.exe" How can I make
them add .lnk, as in "Myprogram.exe.lnk"?

tcebob

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

Shortcuts on desktop and in explorer just show .exe, as in "Myprogram.exe"
How can I make
them add .lnk, as in "Myprogram.exe.lnk"?

tcebob

The "Type" column (if displayed) tells you that it is a shortcut.

 

[Lem]

Shortcuts on desktop and in explorer just show .exe, as in "Myprogram.exe" How can I make
them add .lnk, as in "Myprogram.exe.lnk"?

tcebob

Are the items on your desktop really shortcuts or are they the actual
executable files? Right-click and select properties. Look at the
"General" tab. If the size is just a few bytes (less than 4 KB "on
disk") it's almost certainly a shortcut. Much larger and it's probably
the program itself.

If they're really shortcuts, what happens if you delete one and then
re-create it by right-clicking the actual exe file and selecting "Send
to > Desktop (create shortcut)"? Does the newly-created shortcut have
the exe extension?

 

[tcebob]

Yes, they are shortcuts. A peep at properties verifies it. Yes, the newly created shortcut
has the .exe extension when viewed in explorer, details view. I know the file has a .lnk
extension after the .exe because it shows up in Total Commander, which I use a lot. Hmm .
.. . I just looked in some other folders with shortcuts and they do not even give ".exe,"
just the type "shortcut."

tcebob

: tcebob wrote:
: > Shortcuts on desktop and in explorer just show .exe, as in "Myprogram.exe" How can I
make
: > them add .lnk, as in "Myprogram.exe.lnk"?
: >
: > tcebob
: >
: >
:
: Are the items on your desktop really shortcuts or are they the actual
: executable files? Right-click and select properties. Look at the
: "General" tab. If the size is just a few bytes (less than 4 KB "on
: disk") it's almost certainly a shortcut. Much larger and it's probably
: the program itself.
:
: If they're really shortcuts, what happens if you delete one and then
: re-create it by right-clicking the actual exe file and selecting "Send
: to > Desktop (create shortcut)"? Does the newly-created shortcut have
: the exe extension?
:
: --
: Lem
:
: Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:
: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

 

[ju.c]

Delete the registry value "IsShortcut" from this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile


ju.c

 

[tcebob]

Not in the registry. Closest is InkEd.InkEdit, which is empty.

rs

: Delete the registry value "IsShortcut" from this key:
:
: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
:
:
: ju.c
:
:
: > Shortcuts on desktop and in explorer just show .exe, as in "Myprogram.exe" How can I
make
: > them add .lnk, as in "Myprogram.exe.lnk"?
: >
: > tcebob
: >
: >

 

[Alan Edwards]

You are misreading it.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile is correct
lnkfile=LNKFILE not inkfile

(this is not a recommendation that you remove it)

....Alan

 

[VanguardLH]

Shortcuts on desktop and in explorer just show .exe, as in "Myprogram.exe" How can I make
them add .lnk, as in "Myprogram.exe.lnk"?

Both .lnk and .url files are shortcuts aka links.

Despite enabling the view in Windows Explorer to show filetypes (i.e.,
extensions), it will still not show .lnk or .url as the extension for those
shortcut files. For example, all your stored shortcuts in the
%userprofile%\Favorites folder (normally used by the web browser) are all
..url files.

They're probably not files at all but instead short entries that fit within
the MFT. For NTFS, files that are shorter in length than 1024 bytes are
actually stored within the MFT since that much space is allocated for each
file descriptor. There's no point in wasting additional disk space for the
file if it can be contained within the MFT that already has the space
allocated for its description. Small files can be "resident" in the MFT, or
they can be "non-resident" where they are stored in additional MFT records
or in extents that lie outside the MFT. Under NTFS, there is no distinction
between the data in a file and the attributes that describe the file. The
data is just another attribute of the file.

As with most configuration of Windows, much of what is possible is not
exposed in the config screens available to normal users. In Folder Options
-> View, there is no option to show .url and .lnk filetypes. There are
several filetypes that you normally cannot get Windows Explorer to show in
its UI (in fact, there are special files and folders that are hardcoded into
Windows Explorer to not show you).

Nirsoft's File Types Manager for Windows
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/file_types_manager.html

This utility supposedly lets you make a filetype visible in Windows Explorer
(by enabling its "Show" attribute). Select a filetype and hit F2 to edit
its attributes. I haven't done this so, as always when tweaking your host,
use at your own risk. You might want to save a backup image of your OS
partition before putzing around inside the registry that modifies the
behavior of Windows Explorer.