Reading the target of a .lnk file in Python?

python directory shortcut target lnk
Etienne Perot picture Etienne Perot · Dec 29, 2008 · Viewed 23k times · Source

I'm trying to read the target file/directory of a shortcut (.lnk) file from Python. Is there a headache-free way to do it? The .lnk spec [PDF] is way over my head. I don't mind using Windows-only APIs.

My ultimate goal is to find the "(My) Videos" folder on Windows XP and Vista. On XP, by default, it's at %HOMEPATH%\My Documents\My Videos, and on Vista it's %HOMEPATH%\Videos. However, the user can relocate this folder. In the case, the %HOMEPATH%\Videos folder ceases to exists and is replaced by %HOMEPATH%\Videos.lnk which points to the new "My Videos" folder. And I want its absolute location.

Answer

SaoPauloooo picture SaoPauloooo · Feb 20, 2009

Create a shortcut using Python (via WSH)

import sys
import win32com.client 

shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut("t:\\test.lnk")
shortcut.Targetpath = "t:\\ftemp"
shortcut.save()


Read the Target of a Shortcut using Python (via WSH)

import sys
import win32com.client 

shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut("t:\\test.lnk")
print(shortcut.Targetpath)

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