Forcing Shortcuts to All Users\Start Menu

[rikgale]

Is it possible to specify where a program places its shortcuts when it installs itself. For example, at the moment when I install speedfan 4.22 as a silent install it places shortcuts for itself in

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Start Menu

and ideally I want it to place its shortcuts in

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu

The reason for this is that I use a different Administrator name on each computer and I don't really want to have to change the Administrator name in too many places before burning a CD or testing.

Ta Rik

[Yzöwl]

Unfortunately some programs think that they aren't for 'all users', that is down to the programmer.

My initial solution would be, in a batch file copy all the shortcuts to the 'All Users' Start Menu.

[rikgale]

Thanx Yzöwl, I just realised that I can leave the shortcut in

$OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Speedfan

and I can ignore what it does in the admin account. Just so long as the program is installed the same place then a shortcut from an active system can be used. If the shortcut is already in All Users\Start Menu then the batch file that I use will work fine.

[Yzöwl]

here is an example batch that should copy everything pertinent from 'all non-hidden users'\Start Menu\Programs to the All Users\Start Menu\Programs

@echo off
for /d %%a in ("%AllUsersProfile:\All Users=%\*") do (
  if "%%~na" neq "All Users" (
    if exist "%%~a\Start Menu\Programs" (
      xcopy  /s/c/i/q/y "%%~a\Start Menu\Programs\*" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs">nul
    )
  )
)
goto :eof

It may be a good idea to stick it in your cleanup.cmd after all your installs have finished

[rikgale]

thanx, I'll give it a shot next time I do a build and try and remember to post back as to how it went.

[rikgale]

Is there a guide or something that teaches you how to write code like the example above?

[durex]

Its called 'batch'. Pretty simple stuff once you get the hang of it.

http://www.google.com/search?q=batch+files...:en-US:official

[a06lp]

working with the above code, can someone modify it to move ALL shortcuts from [all individual users]\desktop to %AllUsersProfile%\Desktop

in addition to moving all the shortcuts from individual users start menu to AllUsersProfile's start menu?

[rikgale]

Try

@echo off
for /d %%a in ("%AllUsersProfile:\All Users=%\*") do (
 if "%%a" neq "All Users" (
   if exist "%%~a\Start Menu\Programs" (
     xcopy  /s/c/i/q/y "%%~a\Start Menu\Programs\*" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs">nul
   )
 )
)


for /d %%a in ("%AllUsersProfile:\All Users=%\*") do (
 if "%%a" neq "All Users" (
   if exist "%%~a\Desktop" (
     xcopy  /s/c/i/q/y "%%~a\Desktop\*" "%AllUsersProfile%\Desktop">nul
   )
 )
)
goto :eof

as far as I can guess all U have to do is copy the code and change Start Menu\Programs to Desktop. Can you try the above code and see if it works. I would test it myself but I don't keep any shortcuts on the desktop apart from the standard one, so there'd be no point in copying them over themseleves.

Let us know how you get on.....

[Yzöwl]

Just remember that the code I created only copies, it doesn't move!

If you are moving, as opposed to copying, I would suggest using robocopy

Moving directory trees from a profile could prove dangerous

Also, some programs, I'm assuming you mean 'Start Menu' + subdirectories, may also use extensions other than .lnk, .url being a common one.

Also whilst I'm here I'll just tidy rikgales attempt for his benefit only

@echo off
for /d %%a in ("%AllUsersProfile:\All Users=%\*") do (
  if "%%~na" neq "All Users" (
    if exist "%%~a\Start Menu\Programs" (
      xcopy  /s/c/i/q/y "%%~a\Start Menu\Programs\*" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs">nul
    )
    if exist "%%~a\Desktop\*.lnk" (
      move "%%~a\Desktop\*.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Desktop"
    )
  )
)
goto :eof

[eben]

replaced some language-specific words to make it work for Dutch XP, i can't write advanced batch thingy's myself.

@echo off
for /d %%a in ("%AllUsersProfile:\All Users=%\*") do (
 if "%%a" neq "All Users" (
   if exist "%%~a\Menu Start\Programma's" (
     xcopy  /s/c/i/q/y "%%~a\Menu Start\Programma's\*" "%AllUsersProfile%\Menu Start\Programma's">nul
   )
   if exist "%%~a\Bureaublad\*.lnk" (
     move "%%~a\Bureaublad\*.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Bureaublad"
   )
 )
)
goto :eof

cheers

[Yzöwl]

Also whilst I'm here I'll just tidy rikgales attempt for his benefit only

Just a reminder!

[rikgale]

Thanx Yzöwl

I'm still working on learning batch code. Programming and coding have never been my strong points as I am sure that you can tell! It just seemed logical to copy the code and change the file path.

[Yzöwl]

Here is the basic idea using robocopy, so that we are moving instead of copying:

@echo off
for /d %%a in ("%UserProfile%\..\*") do if "%%~na" neq "All Users" call :doit "%%~a"
goto :eof
:doit
pushd %1
del /q Desktop\*.lnk>nul
%~dp0robocopy "Start Menu" "%AllUsersProfile%" /E/Z/MOVE/R:5/W:2/XF ?esktop.ini>nul
popd
goto :eof

This has not been tested, so no blame please!

You would need to have robocopy.exe in the same location as the batch file. If robocopy is already in your %PATH%, then you just need t0 remove the %~dp0

[tguy]

You could create shortcuts with vbScript like this:

'Create Windows Explorer Desktop icon

Set Shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

DesktopPath = Shell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersDesktop")

Set link = Shell.CreateShortcut(DesktopPath & "\Explorer.lnk")

link.Arguments = "/n,/e,c:\"

link.Description = "Explorer link"

link.HotKey = "CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E"

link.IconLocation = "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe"

link.TargetPath = "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe"

link.WindowStyle = 1

link.WorkingDirectory = "%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%"

link.Save