Windows Registry | how to open .lnk

Question

I've follow this guide: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa767914(v=vs.85).aspx which allowed me to run a .exe using a new uri scheme.

The only problem is that I need to run this .exe minimized, I still haven't found a way to do this. So the solution I found was to create a shortcut to this .exe which does make it run minimized. The problem now is that I can't seem to figure out how to make the registry link to the .lnk file.

So what I'm looking for is a way to run the .lnk file from the registry or how to run the .exe file minimized from the registry.

The file path is correct since I'm getting the error: "This app can't be opened on your pc" (or something like that, it's in a different language).

In the guide that I followed the part which "opens" the file is: shell -> open -> command. I couldn't find any documentation about this, but maybe there are more options than just the "open"?

I hope you guys can help me out, thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you don't mind using a launcher script, try this:

Copy this line to notepad and save the file with .vbs extension, say runmin.vbs saved in the C:\Windows directory.

WScript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run "c:\windows\notepad.exe",2

Note: You can create the file in desktop and then move to C:\Windows. Or start Notepad as administrator to save the file to Windows directory directly.

Then, in the protocol registry key (under open\command), set the default value as follows:

wscript.exe c:\windows\runmin.vbs

The above example starts Notepad minimized; alter the program name and path accordingly.