15

Is there a way to run an application via shortcut from a C# application?

I am attempting to run a .lnk from my C# application. The shortcut contains a significant number of arguments that I would prefer the application not have to remember.

Attempting to run a shortcut via Process.Start() causes an exception.

Win32Exception: The specified executable is not a valid Win32 application

This is the code I am using.

ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo ( "example.lnk" );
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.RedirectStandardError = true;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.RedirectStandardInput = true;
Process whatever = Process.Start( info );
apaderno
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user664939
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4 Answers4

18

Could you post some code. Something like this should work:

Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo.FileName = @"c:\myShortcut.lnk";
proc.Start();
keyboardP
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14

Setting UseShellExecute = false was the problem. Once I removed that, it stopped crashing.

user664939
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    This is even more important now because .NET core has changed the default of this property to false. I was running into this when I wasn't setting this property at all. – Cdaragorn Sep 10 '19 at 16:53
1

if your file is EXE or another file type like ".exe" or ".mkv" or ".pdf" and you want run that with shortcut link your code must like this.

i want run "Translator.exe" program. 

Process.Start(@"C:\Users\alireza\Desktop\Translator.exe.lnk");
Rezi R.
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1

If you're using UseShellExecute = false and trying to launch a batch file make sure to add .bat to the end of the filename. You don't need .bat if UseShellExecute = true though. This made me just waste an hour of work... hoping to save someone else.

HippyPotamus
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