Pin to Startmenu in closed environment

[linkking]

Hi

I got a situation where the rightclick option "Pin to Startmenu"

has been disabled for non native windows apps.

(Corporate environment)

Next best thing?

Make your application stick just underneath the pinned apps and not

"trickle down" the start list, but always be on top.

The position in this list is governed by several counters in the

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{F4E57C4B-2036-45F0-A9AB-443BCFE33D9F}\Count]

&

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{CEBFF5CD-ACE2-4F4F-9178-9926F41749EA}\Count] keys

The rule is ONLY SHORTCUTS initiated from the desktop or the programdata folder

will show up in this list, and they are located under the

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{F4E57C4B-2036-45F0-A9AB-443BCFE33D9F}\Count] key

The actual executable file these shortcuts are pointing to is in the other key

CEBFF5CD-ACE2-4F4F-9178-9926F41749EA

The counters are in the binary data, and by manipulating these values to high

numbers one effectively pushes the shortcuts to the top of the list.

You can use the Userassistview app to decode these entries as they are encoded in Rot13,

and get a view of the counters

Userassistview

Since desktop is a "current user" destination folder, i made a batchscript that

collects the %USERNAME% and converts it to Rot13 and writes it to a regfile that

gets applied with the manipulated binary values.

I then execute a pinvoke to refresh the startmenu.(Clearcache.exe)

Pinvoke

(So you don't need to logout or kill explorer for the changes to take place)

In this example i'm pushing Mozilla Firefox.Ink on the desktop, that's pointing to Mozilla Firefox.exe installed in the root of F: to the top of the startmenu (Rot13.bat)

@echo off&setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

set input=%USERNAME%

set "upper=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"

set "upmap=NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM"

set "lomap=nopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm"

set "step=%input:!=^!%"

:rotloop

if defined step (

set "isletter=false"

for /l %%x in (0,1,25) do (

if /i "!step:~0,1!"=="!upper:~%%x,1!" (

if "!step:~0,1!"=="!upper:~%%x,1!" (

set "out=!out!!upmap:~%%x,1!"

) else (

set "out=!out!!lomap:~%%x,1!"

)

set "isletter=true"

)

)

if "!isletter!"=="false" (

set "out=!out!!step:~0,1!"

)

set "step=!step:~1!"

goto rotloop

)

ECHO Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 > ASSIST.reg

ECHO. >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{F4E57C4B-2036-45F0-A9AB-443BCFE33D9F}\Count] >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO "P:\\Hfref\\!out!\\Qrfxgbc\\Zbmvyyn Sversbk.yax"=hex:00,00,00,00,02,05,01,00,\ >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO 00,00,00,00,00,ff,00,00,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,\ >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO 00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,ff,ff,\ >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO ff,ff,00,2c,d7,7f,70,66,cc,01,00,00,00,00 >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO. >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{CEBFF5CD-ACE2-4F4F-9178-9926F41749EA}\Count] >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO "U:\\Zbmvyyn Sversbk.rkr"=hex:00,00,00,00,02,05,01,00,02,05,ff,00,00,00,00,00,\ >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO 00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,\ >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO 00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,00,00,80,bf,ff,ff,ff,ff,00,2c,d7,7f,70,66,\ >> ASSIST.reg

ECHO cc,01,00,00,00,00 >> ASSIST.reg

REGEDIT /S ASSIST.reg

del ASSIST.reg

Clearcache.exe

cls

Red color = variable with Rot13 encoded username

Green color = 66818 times executed

Blue color = 65280 times executed

Orange color = 16712962 Focus counter

Edited September 6, 2011 by linkking

[linkking]

I found a way to pin "non-pinnable" apps.

That is, on systems that allow pinning, but the option is missing from the context menu on particular items, exe files etc.

Here's how.

1.Pin an object that has the verb "Pin to Start Menu" in it's context menu

(Calculator for example)

This can be done thru a simple vbs script:

Pin Items to the Start Menu or Windows 7 Taskbar via Script

Const CSIDL_COMMON_PROGRAMS = &H17 
Const CSIDL_PROGRAMS = &H2
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oEnv = sh.Environment("Process")
sProfile = oEnv.Item("UserProfile")
If fso.FileExists(sProfile &"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\Mozilla Firefox.lnk") Then
wscript.quit
End If
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application") 
Set objAllUsersProgramsFolder = objShell.NameSpace(CSIDL_COMMON_PROGRAMS) 
strAllUsersProgramsPath = objAllUsersProgramsFolder.Self.Path 
Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace(strAllUsersProgramsPath & "\Accessories") 
Set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName("Calculator.lnk") 
Set colVerbs = objFolderItem.Verbs 
For Each objVerb in colVerbs 
    If Replace(objVerb.name, "&", "") = "Pin to Start Menu" Then objVerb.DoIt 
Next

2.Then manipulate the pinned Calculator shortcut that gets created here:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\Calculator.LNK

to point to your desired target:

(In this example i'm pointing to Mozilla Firefox.exe that's located in the root of F:)

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oEnv = sh.Environment("Process")
sProfile = oEnv.Item("UserProfile")
If fso.FileExists(sProfile &"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\Mozilla Firefox.lnk") Then
wscript.quit
End If
Set shortcut = sh.CreateShortcut(sProfile &"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\Calculator.LNK")
shortcut.TargetPath = "H:\Mozilla Firefox.exe"
shortcut.Arguments = ""
shortcut.Description = ""
shortcut.IconLocation = "H:\Mozilla Firefox.exe, 0"
shortcut.WorkingDirectory = "H:"
Wscript.Sleep(1000)
shortcut.Save

Set oFile = fso.GetFile(sProfile &"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu\Calculator.LNK") 
oFile.Name = "Mozilla Firefox.lnk"

Voi'la your un-pinnable application is now pinned!

Edited September 6, 2011 by linkking