Create Shortcut using PowerShell Script - powershell

Question

I am trying to create a shortcut on desktop using a Powershell Script. However, I got an error code when trying to run the code below.
$new_object = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$destination = $new_object.SpecialFolders.Item("AllUsersDesktop")
$source_path = Join-Path -Path $destination -ChildPath "\\Test Intranet.url"
$source = $new_object.CreateShortcut($source_path)
$source.TargetPath = "https://sharepoint.com/"
$source.IconLocation="C:\Users\Public\Pictures\ShortcutIcon.ico"
$source.Save()
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

Answer 1

You didn't show this, but the error message you received is probably this one:
Exception setting "IconLocation": "The property 'IconLocation' cannot be found on this object. Verify that the property exists and can be set."
At line:8 char:1
+ $source.IconLocation="C:\Users\Public\Pictures\ShortcutIcon.ico"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], SetValueInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExceptionWhenSetting
That is because an Internet shortcut has different properties than a 'normal' (.lnk) shortcut to a file of folder.
Another thing is that you have prefixed the shortcut filename with a double backslash and by doing so, you will get a wrong path: C:\Users\Public\Desktop\\Test Intranet.url
In below code, I have changed some of the variable names to be more self-descripting (at least, I like to think so..)
$shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$destination = $shell.SpecialFolders.Item("AllUsersDesktop")
$shortcutPath = Join-Path -Path $destination -ChildPath 'Test Intranet.url'
# create the shortcut
$shortcut = $shell.CreateShortcut($shortcutPath)
# for a .url shortcut only set the TargetPath
$shortcut.TargetPath = 'https://sharepoint.com/'
$shortcut.Save()
# next update the shortcut with a path to the icon file and the index of that icon
# you can do that because a .url file is just a text file in INI format
Add-Content -Path $shortcutPath -Value "IconFile=C:\Users\Public\Pictures\ShortcutIcon.ico"
Add-Content -Path $shortcutPath -Value "IconIndex=0"
# clean up the COM objects
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($shortcut) | Out-Null
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($shell) | Out-Null
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
When opened in notepad, your shortcut file looks like this:
[{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
Prop3=19,11
[InternetShortcut]
IDList=
URL=https://sharepoint.com/
IconFile=C:\Users\Public\Pictures\ShortcutIcon.ico
IconIndex=0