We came with a scenario where we have to use Shortcut file (.lnk), which is on the desktop, to execute an application for a headless device (i.e, without manual intervention).
Is there any way to execute it from Command prompt?
5 Answers
If you use double quotes around your "long file names.lnk" and you have appropriate privileges, it will execute. Quotes are needed when spaces exist in LFN's.
E.g. "C:\Users\Sunny\Start Menu\Programs\XBMC\xbmc.lnk" opens up XBMC. The same is true for the Run box Win+R "path and filename.lnk", Enter
START filename.lnk should do the trick
As long as there is no exe with the same name as the shortcut, you can omit the .lnk, so just START filename
The above solutions didn't work for me in 2017, so I experimented a bit.
It turns out that Windows (10 atleast) does make a distinction between shortcuts that link to a local path and shortcuts that are an url. What I found was that
- local paths use the suffix
.lnk - url-like paths have the suffix
.url
So a shortcut to would have the suffix .url while a shortcut to C:\Windows or to special locations like Control Panel would have the suffix .lnk.
If you want to execute the shortcut simply type shortcut.suffix in the cmd prompt where .suffix is the suffix according to the rule above. You must first cd to the folder containing your shortcut or enter the full path to the file. In your case
%userprofile%\Desktop\shortcut.suffixentered into either the run dialog box (invoked via Win + R) or the cmd prompt would do the trick.
Windows and it's inconveniences.
If you're trying to open a shortcut file with a command inside registry, the above answers won't work.
The solution is simple though - add the /c flag:
cmd.exe /c C:\PathToShortcut\AdultContent.lnkFirst, find the location of the shortcut from which you start a cmd.exe shell. Right-click on the shortcut and choose "Properties". Look on the "General" tab and copy the "Location:" value.
Use the shortcut to start a reset window.
START "" "C:\Users\lit\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\cmd.exe.lnk" /K CD /D "%CD%" & EXIT
