Change the target of a desktop icon (but not the icon "picture")?

Question

How can I change the target of a desktop icon (but not the displayed icon) with a "programming language" (vbscript or anything else) ?

for example:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe

(with firefox-logo-icon-picture)

to

E:\start_firefox.bat

(with the same display icon, and not the "bat" icon)

Answer 1

Since the icon displayed by Windows (I'm assuming you're running Windows since you mention \Program Files\ and a .bat file) is dependent upon the file extension (BAT in this case) and that file extension determines what icon is displayed, this can't be done without reassociating a particular application with that particular extension (which I don't recommend).

The next best thing I can think is to replace the link with an executable that uses the icon of the application you're trying to "spoof."

Answer 2

// Assume you have the path to the shortcut in pszFilename.

CComPtr<IPersistFile> persist_file;
HRESULT hr = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ShellLink, NULL, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, IID_IPersistFile, (LPVOID*)&persist_file); 
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) { 
    hr = persist_file->Load(pszFilename, 0);
}

CComPtr<IShellLink> shell_link;
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) {
    hr = persist_file->QueryInterface(IID_IShellLink, (void**)&shell_link);
}

// Assume the new target you want to set is in pszNewTargetPath.

if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) {
    hr = shell_link->SetPath(pszNewTargetPath); 
}

if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) {
    hr = persist_file->Save(pszFilename, true);
}

Answer 3

Here's a VBScript sample:

' ChangeDesktopLink.vbs

' Uncomment the proper constant:
' Const DESKTOP_DIR = &H19   ' Common desktop folder, e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
Const DESKTOP_DIR  = &H10    ' User's desktop folder, e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Desktop

Set oShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
With oShell.Namespace(DESKTOP_DIR).ParseName("Firefox.lnk").GetLink
  .Path = "E:\start_firefox.bat"
  .Save
End With