590 - Problems with Windows Shortcuts

[AimHere]

Hi,

Using FCXE 590 on Windows 7 Home Premium x64.

I've identified two separate issues with program shortcuts in FCXE. In Windows, I have shortcuts for various program files, located in the Start Menu, my Desktop, and a custom Taskbar toolbar. But when I view these locations (e.g. "Desktop") in FCXE, some of the shortcuts do not display the program's own icon, but rather, a "generic" program icon... one of two different generic icons, actually. In both cases, double-clicking the shortcut within FCXE will not launch the program, but if I RIGHT-click and select "Open", the program starts just fine.

In the first case, the program shortcut is usually for an EXE located in one of the Windows system folders, e.g. "C:\Windows\System32\". It appears FCXE has some kind of permissions problem viewing the complete list of files in system32, and thus cannot see the program the shortcut points to. For example, if I have a shortcut to "C:\Windows\System32\WFS.exe" (Windows Fax and Scan) on my Desktop, and navigate to "Desktop" in FCXE, "WFS" has the generic Windows "program" icon. Double-clicking it gives me the message "Missing Shortcut: Windows is searching for WFS.exe. To locate the file yourself, click Browse." If I go to the System32 folder in FCXE, "WFS.exe" does not appear at all... yet I can see it in Windows Explorer. So, FCXE is having trouble accessing this EXE file. Yet, there are OTHER exe files in System32 that DO appear in FCXE's file list, and I can launch them normally from within FCXE... even more puzzling, I compared the security permissions on WFS.exe with other exe's, and they appear to be identical. I've tried starting FCXE with "Run as Administrator" and it has no effect on this behavior; the shortcuts still have the wrong icon and double-clicking gives the "Missing shortcut" message.

Why can't FCXE see all of the files in the Windows system folders? And why would some files (like WFS.exe) be invisible if their permissions are the same as other files that DO appear? Does it maybe have something to do with the fact that FCXE is a 32-bit app, and I'm using 64-bit Windows? I noticed that in Windows Explorer, I see WFS.exe in System32 but not SysWOW64... is FCXE being silently redirected to SysWOW64 by the OS, and that's why FCXE can't see WFS.exe or the other programs with the "broken" shortcuts? (If this is indeed the cause, it makes a rather strong case for rebuilding FCXE as a 64-bit app...)

[Edit: I just saw this thread: viewtopic.php?t=2130&view=previous. So, yes, the OS is redirecting System32 to SysWOW64. That thread has a workaround for listing the contents of System32, but that doesn't do any good where the Windows program shortcuts are concerned. FCXE really needs to be able to handle this stuff on its own if it's ever going to fully replace Windows Explorer.]

In the second case where program shortcuts aren't working, the shortcut's "target" has a string-substitution instead of a full path, e.g. "%windir%\system32\WFS.exe" instead of "C:\Windows\system32\WFS.exe". FCXE shows this shortcut with a different "generic icon. If I double-click on this in FCXE, nothing happens at all, yet it will launch normally from Windows Explorer. FCXE doesn't seem to parse these string-substitutions in the shortcut "target". It appears this is simply an oversight in FCXE's handling of Windows shortcuts.

Again, in both cases, I can right-click the shortcut in FXCE and select "Open", and the programs will launch. So, the context-menu handling is acting differently than double-clicking, where program shortcuts are concerned.

Aimhere

[PoP]

May be the followings might help you.

On 64b sytems the 32b apps can access files in System32 through a shortcut
provided the target path is rewritten as
c:\windows\sysnative\a64exe
Sysnative is recognized by 32b apps, like FCXE, as the true System32, not redirected
to Syswow64.

Unfortunately Sysnative is NOT recognized by 64b apps !!!

Therefore two different shortcuts are needed in order to address
the same a64exe file in system32

For 32b apps the link to a64exe has a modified target
like c:\windows\sysnative\a64exe

For 64b apps the link to a64exe has a regular target
like c:\windows\system32\a64exe

Hope this solves, partly, your problem.


Pierre