Is there a simple way to create shortcuts in Windows 7 on Python? I looked it up online but they did not seem that simple.
I have tried using this simple method:
hi = open("ShortcutFile.lnk", "w")
hi.close()
Which creates a shortcut file. But how would I edit the link it is connected to. Like the file it would open? Can someone give me a push in the right direction?
Old, but I would still like to post an answer to help out anyone who might have the same question and in need of a code example.
First, download pywin32 with pip install pywin32 or download the sourceforge binaries or the pywin32 wheel file and pip install.
import win32com.client
import pythoncom
import os
# pythoncom.CoInitialize() # remove the '#' at the beginning of the line if running in a thread.
desktop = r'C:\Users\Public\Desktop' # path to where you want to put the .lnk
path = os.path.join(desktop, 'NameOfShortcut.lnk')
target = r'C:\path\to\target\file.exe'
icon = r'C:\path\to\icon\resource.ico' # not needed, but nice
shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut(path)
shortcut.Targetpath = target
shortcut.IconLocation = icon
shortcut.WindowStyle = 7 # 7 - Minimized, 3 - Maximized, 1 - Normal
shortcut.save()
I have used the WindowStyle when I have a GUI with a debug console, and I don't want the console to pop up all the time. I haven't tried it with a program that isn't consoled.
Hope this helps!
If you looking for a platform independent version that works with Python 3 look at swinlnk.
from swinlnk.swinlnk import SWinLnk
swl = SWinLnk()
swl.create_lnk('W:\Foo\Bar', '/mnt/win_share/playground/Bar_winlink.lnk')
This python script is based on the C / Bash Tool mslink.
import os
import pathlib
import tempfile
import subprocess
def create_shortcut(shortcut_path, target, arguments='', working_dir=''):
shortcut_path = pathlib.Path(shortcut_path)
shortcut_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
def escape_path(path):
return str(path).replace('\\', '/')
def escape_str(str_):
return str(str_).replace('\\', '\\\\').replace('"', '\\"')
shortcut_path = escape_path(shortcut_path)
target = escape_path(target)
working_dir = escape_path(working_dir)
arguments = escape_str(arguments)
js_content = f'''
var sh = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
var shortcut = sh.CreateShortcut("{shortcut_path}");
shortcut.TargetPath = "{target}";
shortcut.Arguments = "{arguments}";
shortcut.WorkingDirectory = "{working_dir}";
shortcut.Save();'''
fd, path = tempfile.mkstemp('.js')
try:
with os.fdopen(fd, 'w') as f:
f.write(js_content)
subprocess.run([R'wscript.exe', path])
finally:
os.unlink(path)
if __name__ == '__main__':
create_shortcut(
R'D:\xxx\hello_world.lnk',
R'cmd.exe',
R'/c "echo hello world && pause"',
)
You can generate a .bat file dinamically fod do that, and replacing specific parts with the corrected path for operate with spaces.
Te correct way to manage windows paths with spaces is wrap the spaced path secion with "". For example, if the path is
C:\Users\The Pc\Desktop
the corrected version is
C:\Users\"The Pc"\Desktop
The solution what I propose is this:
1- Generate a base .bat file with keywords for to replace with te correct path through Python.
2- Build the path according the current environ using the os Python library.
3- Open the base.bat file with Python and check line by line seaching for the keyword for to replace with the correctd path previously generated in the steep 2.
4- At the same time we check and replace our spetial keywords with te corrected path, we write a final .bat file with the updated lines of the base.bat file in the same for loop statament.
5- Execute the final.bat file with the subprocess Python library:
For explain it with code, I gonna use a personal screen recorder project, and it goes like this:
1) Our base.bat file (look at our [r] keywords):
=============================================================
@echo off
set dir=%LOCALAPPDATA%\srw
set sof=srw.exe
set name=Grabador de Pantalla
ECHO Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") >>[r]
ECHO ficheroAccesoDirecto = "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\%name%.lnk" >>[r]
ECHO Set objAccesoDirecto = objShell.CreateShortcut(ficheroAccesoDirecto) >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.TargetPath = "%dir%\%sof%" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.Arguments = "" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.Description = "%name%" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.HotKey = "ALT+CTRL+G" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.IconLocation = "%dir%\vista\icon.ico" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.WindowStyle = "1" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.WorkingDirectory = "%dir%" >>[r]
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.Save >>[r]
ATTRIB +h +s [r]
START /B /WAIT [r]
erase /Q /a h s [r]
exit
=============================================================
2- Now we start our Python script. Building the path:
# Python Code
import os, subprocess
path = os.environ["USERPROFILE"]+"\\Desktop\\accsdirecto.vbs"
user = os.environ["USERNAME"]
path = path.replace('{}'.format(user), '"{}"'.format(user))
This code generate our spaced formated path:
C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
3- Open the base.bat file and creating our final.bat file:
# Python Code
base = open("base", "r")
bat = open("lnk.bat", "w")
4- Check the base.bat file line by line and replace the [r] keywords for our correct formated path:
# Python Code
for x in base:
if "[r]" in str(x):
x = x.replace("[r]", path)
bat.write(x)
Finally we colse the .bat files:
# Python Code
base.close()
bat.close()
5- Execute the final.bat file with subprocess Python library:
# Python Code
subprocess.run("final.bat", stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
Our whole Python script look like this:
# Python code
import os, subprocess
path = os.environ["USERPROFILE"]+"\\Desktop\\accsdirecto.vbs" user =
os.environ["USERNAME"] path = path.replace('{}'.format(user),
'"{}"'.format(user))
base = open("base", "r") bat = open("lnk.bat", "w")
for x in base:
if "[r]" in str(x):
x = x.replace("[r]", path)
bat.write(x)
base.close()
bat.close()
subprocess.run("final.bat", stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
In the end, our final.bat file generated looks like this:
=============================================================
@echo off
set dir=%LOCALAPPDATA%\srw
set sof=srw.exe
set name=Grabador de Pantalla
ECHO Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO ficheroAccesoDirecto = "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\%name%.lnk" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO Set objAccesoDirecto = objShell.CreateShortcut(ficheroAccesoDirecto) >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.TargetPath = "%dir%\%sof%" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.Arguments = "" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.Description = "%name%" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.HotKey = "ALT+CTRL+G" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.IconLocation = "%dir%\vista\icon.ico" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.WindowStyle = "1" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.WorkingDirectory = "%dir%" >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ECHO objAccesoDirecto.Save >>C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
ATTRIB +h +s C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
START /B /WAIT C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
erase /Q /a h s C:\Users\"El Computador"\Desktop\accsdirecto.vbs
exit
=============================================================
Finally, I leave you a video testing the code in a Windos 7 virtual machine environment under GNU/Linux Fedora host. I hope this help you.
-Greetings from Chile.
basing upon some above answers I wanted to present my codes for making both .link and.url files within windows environment.
I coded it as easy to use functions. They work fine for me on my win7 or win10 environments. You can use both string or pathlib.Paths paths to define appropriate values.
The first function clarifies itself. Have a fun.
import win32com.client
import os
def create_link(placement, link_name, target, icon=None, description="Shortcut", hotkey=None):
"""_summary_
Args:
placement (str|Path): root directory where the shortcut file is to be placed.
Thanks to '.__str__()' the pathlib.Path object may be used.
link_name (str): the shortcut file name without the extension. ext
target (str|Path): the path to the target file or directory.
icon (str|Path, optional): _description_. Defaults to None.
description (str, optional): the shortcut comment or description. Defaults to "Shortcut".
hotkey (str, optional): e.g.: "CTRL+SHIFT+F". Defaults to None.
"""
EXT = '.lnk'
path = os.path.join(placement.__str__(), link_name+EXT)
shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut(path)
shortcut.Targetpath = target.__str__()
shortcut.Workingdirectory = target.__str__()
if icon:
shortcut.IconLocation = icon.__str__() # or:= "notepad.exe, 0"
if hotkey:
shortcut.Hotkey = hotkey # e.g.: "CTRL+SHIFT+F"
shortcut.Description = description
shortcut.WindowStyle = 1 # 7 - Minimized, 3 - Maximized, 1 - Normal
shortcut.save()
def create_url(placement, link_name, target,
icon=None, hotkey=None):
EXT = '.url'
path = os.path.join(placement.__str__(), link_name+EXT)
shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut(path)
shortcut.Targetpath = target.__str__()
if icon:
shortcut.IconLocation = icon # or:= "notepad.exe, 0"
if hotkey:
shortcut.Hotkey = hotkey # e.g.: "CTRL+SHIFT+F"
shortcut.save()
if __name__ =='__main__':
from pathlib import Path
root = Path(Path.home(), 'downloads')
url_name = 'test_shortcut_url'
link_name= 'test_lnk_name'
target_dir = root.parent
target_url = 'https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26986470/create-shortcut-files-in-windows-7-using-python'
create_link(root, link_name, target_dir)
create_url (root, url_name, target_url)
print (f'The shortcut files:\n{url_name}.url\n{link_name}.lnk \n have been created.')
What you are doing currently is creating the equivalent of an empty file (in this case a shortcut) on your computer within your current working directory.
To make this file a usable shortcut, you will need to write some information to the file you are creating that tells windows what this shortcut file is going to do. In this case, that would be what type of shortcut you want it to run and any other arguments necessary to accomplish the task at hand.
I believe pywin32 will come in handy for most of these tasks: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/
If you are creating an internet shortcut, an example of that can be found on this page (using pywin32): http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2010/01/23/using-python-to-create-shortcuts/
If you are looking to create something other than an internet shortcut, you will need need to lookup the appropriate windows command for the type of shortcut you want to run (e.g. open a particular application or specific file).
@Casey answer put me on the right track, but I wasted a lot of time before figuring out that you also need to set the working directory (called 'start in' in windows properties). If you do not, your shortcut will work but your application will not find the files it may need from the same folder.
This resolved all my issues:
path_input = ''
path_output = ''
path_cwd = ''
path_icon = ''
shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut(path_output)
shortcut.Targetpath = path_input
# shortcut.IconLocation = icon
shortcut.Workingdirectory = path_cwd
shortcut.WindowStyle = 1 # 7 - Minimized, 3 - Maximized, 1 - Normal
shortcut.save()
There is good out of the box Python solution called pycrosskit. It will create shortcuts for you on Desktop or Start Menu and it works both on Windows and Linux.
Usage:
# Will Create shortcut
# * at Desktop if desktop is True
# * at Start Menu if start_menu is True
Shortcut(shortcut_name, exec_path, description,
icon_path, desktop, start_menu)
# Will Delete shortcut
# * at Desktop if desktop is True
# * at Start Menu if start_menu is True
Shortcut.delete(shortcut_name, desktop, start_menu)
