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Batch/VBScript/Powershell hybrid script for creating shortcut to shell folders

August 18, 2022

As stated in Q-title, I am trying to create and automate script for creating shortcuts to Shell-Special folders which doesn’t have a valid path per path-string validation rules.

I have tried both Batch/VBScript hybrid and Powershell script for creating shortcut to Target path explorer shell:AppsFolder which when clicked will open that path exactly and not the basic ThisPC or FileExplorer path.

First the Batch/VBScript hybrid that failed:

@echo off
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
set /p "Esc_LinkName=Name: "
set /p "Esc_LinkTarget=Target: "
SET cSctVBS=CreateFolderShortcut.vbs
SET LOG=".\%~N0_runtime.log"
((
  echo Set oWS = WScript.CreateObject^("WScript.Shell"^)
  echo sLinkFile = oWS.ExpandEnvironmentStrings^("%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\!Esc_LinkName!"^)
  echo Set oLink = oWS.CreateShortcut^(sLinkFile^)
::  echo oLink.TargetPath = oWS.ExpandEnvironmentStrings^("!Esc_LinkTarget!"^)
  echo oLink.TargetPath = "!Esc_LinkTarget!"
  echo oLink.Save
)1>!cSctVBS!
cscript //nologo .\!cSctVBS!
DEL !cSctVBS! /f /q
)1>>!LOG! 2>>&1
SETLOCAL DISABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION && ENDLOCAL
pause && goto :eof

which throws error: CreateFolderShortcut.vbs(4, 1) Microsoft VBScript runtime error: Invalid procedure call or argument on this line echo oLink.TargetPath = "!Esc_LinkTarget!" because it can’t take target-path explorer shell:AppsFolder.

And now the Powershell script that failed:

$shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$destination = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop"
$shortcutPath = Join-Path -Path $destination -ChildPath 'My Apps Folder.lnk'
$shortcut = $shell.CreateShortcut($shortcutPath)
$shortcut.TargetPath = $shell.SpecialFolders.Item("AppsFolder")
$shortcut.Save()

which creates a shortcut to FileExplorer path instead.

Anyone can suggest, how to make this work to get what I want ?

>Solution :

It’s definitely worth sticking with a PowerShell script (.ps1), as it doesn’t require any trickery (though note that .ps1 files aren’t directly executable from outside a PowerShell session):

Replace:

$shortcut.TargetPath = $shell.SpecialFolders.Item("AppsFolder")

with:

$shortcut.TargetPath = 'shell:AppsFolder'

Complete code:

$shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$destination = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop"
$shortcutPath = Join-Path -Path $destination -ChildPath 'My Apps Folder.lnk'
$shortcut = $shell.CreateShortcut($shortcutPath)
$shortcut.TargetPath = 'shell:AppsFolder'
$shortcut.Save()