How to follow a .lnk file programmatically

Question

We have a network drive full of shortcuts (.lnk files) that point to folders and I need to traverse them programmatically in a C# Winforms app.

What practical

Answer 1

Add IWshRuntimeLibrary as a reference to your project. Add Reference, COM tab, Windows Scripting Host Object Model.

Here is how I get the properties of a shortcut:

IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShell wsh = new IWshRuntimeLibrary.WshShellClass();
IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShortcut sc = (IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShortcut)wsh.CreateShortcut(filename);

The shortcut object "sc" has a TargetPath property.