c# The system cannot find the path specified

Question

I have a program that opens a file with this line of code:

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\Users\RandomUser\Documents\Rainmeter\Todo List.lnk";
p.Start();

I am getting an error that "The system cannot find the path specified" and the path IS valid for sure.

Does anyone know how to fix it?

Edit: It works perfectly fine when the file is an exe file.

absolutely...I am actually thinking that it could be windows 10 preview related thing — Pett, Nov 11 '16 at 23:38
It seems that .lnk does not open when the path of the exe it points to contains ProgramFiles. See this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19523419/unable-to-launch-shortcut-lnk-files-from-32-bit-c-sharp-application-when-the-f — αNerd, Nov 12 '16 at 00:02
Yeaaah.. Damn it... I guess I will have to create few cmd files to open it for me then — Pett, Nov 12 '16 at 00:10
No, it is 64-bit, so look at the answer for it in the link i provided few comments up. — αNerd, Nov 12 '16 at 00:15
Please, upvote the question of the author of the question in the link if it has helped you clarify the problem or the answer if you use it — αNerd, Nov 12 '16 at 00:25

Hadi · Answer 1 · 2016-11-12T00:02:11.047

0

Try the following

Process p = new Process(); 
p.StartInfo.FileName = @"Todo List.lnk"; 
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = @"C:\Users\RandomUser\Documents\Rainmeter"; 
p.Start();

Lnk is a shortcut, You can use this function to get lnk target path

Public Shared Function GetLnkTarget(lnkPath As String) As String
Dim shl = New Shell32.Shell()
' Move this to class scope
lnkPath = System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(lnkPath)
Dim dir = shl.[NameSpace](System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(lnkPath))
Dim itm = dir.Items().Item(System.IO.Path.GetFileName(lnkPath))
Dim lnk = DirectCast(itm.GetLink, Shell32.ShellLinkObject)
Return lnk.Target.Path

End Function

edited Nov 12 '16 at 00:02

answered Nov 11 '16 at 23:24

Hadi

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Lnk is a shortcut . When opening this file from explorer it is done? Try replace this path with the shortcut target – Hadi Nov 11 '16 at 23:27
when I enter the path into a cmd prompt, it runs normally. – Pett Nov 11 '16 at 23:55
Edited my answer. Try to pass the target path – Hadi Nov 12 '16 at 00:03

Markus Safar · Answer 2 · 2016-11-11T23:32:03.833

0

You will need to use either the start command or cmd /c followed by the link as argument.

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "start";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "\"C:\\Users\\RandomUser\\Documents\\Rainmeter\\Todo List.lnk\"";
p.Start();

or

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c \"C:\\Users\\RandomUser\\Documents\\Rainmeter\\Todo List.lnk\"";
p.Start();

And take care of "long directory names" which need to be enclosed with two " characters.

edited Nov 11 '16 at 23:32

answered Nov 11 '16 at 23:26

Markus Safar

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It should be correct because you need to enclose the file name with a space in it with " characters. – Markus Safar Nov 11 '16 at 23:33
the first one doesn't work and the cmd command opens and closes, but nothing happens – Pett Nov 11 '16 at 23:46
this time I got that the path doesn't exist, but it is there and the path is correct. – Pett Nov 11 '16 at 23:49

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '16 at 00:25

0

The problem was that the program couldn't access "Program Files" (that's where the shortcut was leading to), so I reinstalled the app into "Program Files(x86)" and that did the trick.

answered Nov 12 '16 at 00:25

Pett

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This is not an answer, because not everybody will be able to reinstall application just like that. This circumvents the problem, does not solve it. – αNerd Nov 12 '16 at 00:30

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 12 '21 at 12:36

0

I don't know the exactly way to fix this problem... But I've tried to another device with path "Program file(x86)" It ran, but with my device with path "Program file" It didn't. If anyone can change path when we code into "Program file(x86)". Reply my comment please!!

answered Dec 12 '21 at 12:36

Jacky-Chun

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1

This answer does not seem to answer anything. Please use the comments for that. – Luchspeter Dec 12 '21 at 15:06
This does not really answer the question. If you have a different question, you can ask it by clicking [Ask Question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask). To get notified when this question gets new answers, you can [follow this question](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/345661). Once you have enough [reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation), you can also [add a bounty](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/set-bounties) to draw more attention to this question. - [From Review](/review/late-answers/30568173) – nighthawk Dec 13 '21 at 21:15

c# The system cannot find the path specified

4 Answers4