[[Tutorial] Exotic INF ProfileItems/Shortcuts]

Here is the body of the INF file, I included the section with the strings, so you can see where everything is taken from.

[Version]
Signature    = $Windows NT$

[DefaultInstall]
;UpdateInis=CreateStartMenuFolder
AddReg             = RegAddUninst
ProfileItems    = AddTest, AddTestEx

[DefaultUnInstall]
ProfileItems=AddTest.DelShortcut

[AddTest.DelShortcut]
Name =ACME distorterA,0x0000000A, 2
;Also tried with Name =%Soft_Name%,0x0000000A, 2
;SubDir =Sub Directory


[RegAddUninst]
HKLM,%SMWCV%\Uninstall\%Soft_Name%,DisplayName,,"ACME"
HKLM,%SMWCV%\Uninstall\%Soft_Name%,UninstallString,,"RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection d:\test\installer\installer.inf, DefaultUninstall"


;16422 = program files
[AddTest]
Name        = ACME distorterA 
SubDir        = %Provider%
Infotip        = "This is a tooltip weeha!"
CmdLine        = -1, %App_ProgramFolder%, Acmedist.exe    
WorkingDir    = -1, %App_ProgramFolder%



[AddTestEx]
Name        = %Soft_Name%
SubDir        = %Provider%
Infotip        = "This is a tooltip weeha!QQQQQQ"
CmdLine        = -1, %App_ProgramFolder%, Acmedist.exe    
WorkingDir    = -1, %App_ProgramFolder%


[Strings]
SMWCV="Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion"
Provider="ACME"
Soft_Name="ACME distorter 5.0"
AppLink="ACME distorter 5.0"
App_Name="ACME distorter 5.0"
App_StartMenuFolder="ACME\Distorter 5.0"
App_ProgramFolder="ACME\Distorter 5.0"
ShortCutFileName="ACME\Distorter 5.0.lnk"
PathAndFileName="ACMEdist.exe"
Arguments= ""

I tried using "0x0000000A,2", as suggested by DaRk MaDnEsS, but the result is the same - the shortcut continues to stay in the Start menu.

[[Tutorial] Exotic INF ProfileItems/Shortcuts]

Thank you for the quick feedback. I've tried multiple approaches and the behaviour is the same - the shortcut is not removed.

Specifically, I tried the following:

• with and without SubDir = %App_StartMenuFolder%
  
• with "0x00000002", "0x00000003" and with "0x0000000A,22"
  

I am surprised that none of them work, because the documentation says they should, and your experience is also suggesting that deleting shortcuts this way must work.

remember this shortcut does not actually get created until syssetup.inf is executed, which happens somewhere around or before t13

I am thinking that in my case the problem is in the fact that the procedure is not invoked at the right time.

I also guessed it could have some thing to do with administrative privileges (or lack of them), but the results are the same even if I use "run as administrator".

What other ideas you think I could test?

[[Tutorial] Exotic INF ProfileItems/Shortcuts]

Hi everyone, I signed up to discuss an adventure I'm having with removing shortcuts created with ProfileItems.

First of all, ricktendo64 - thank you for sharing the info, it has been very useful.

Your example of deleting a shortcut is given here:

ProfileItems = MU.DelShortcut

[MU.DelShortcut]
Name=Windows Update,0x0000000A,22

Microsoft, on the other hand, advocates a different method. They say the flag to be used is 0x00000002 (FLG_PROFITEM_DELETE)

The problem is that I've tried them both, both work on XP, but none works on Vista or Seven.

Here is the relevant part of the INF that I expect to do the job:

[CreateStartMenuFolderEx]
Name        = %AppLink%
SubDir		= %App_StartMenuFolder%
CmdLine        = -1, %App_ProgramFolder%, File.exe	;-1 means Absolute path
WorkingDir    = -1, %App_ProgramFolder%

[DelStartMenuFolderEx]
Name        = %AppLink%,0x00000002

I suspect it may have something to do with how I call the shortcut removal section. I do it this way:

[DefaultUninstall]
ProfileItems=DelStartMenuFolderEx

At this point I have several questions:

1. How did you discover the 0x0000000A flag?
   
2. What do you think goes wrong during the attempt to remove the shortcut?
   
3. Am I invoking the ProfileItems delete procedure correctly?
   
4. The Name keyword takes 2 arguments, while you give it a third one - "22", what is it?
   

I hope some light can be shed on this problem.