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I have hundreds of shortcuts to websites where the target looks like this:

C:\Users\Herb\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe www.somesite.com/foo

I just upgraded to Windows 8, and the Chrome executable is now stored in Program Files; so to get these shortcuts to work, I have to change them to this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" www.somesite.com/foo

Is there any way I can automate this change? I'm a programmer but haven't done much with Windows scripting.

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Probably too late but making them simple links/URL files to "http://www.somesite.com/foo" would work much better in the future. – Deanna Oct 29 '12 at 13:28
Are these *.url files? – William Jackson Oct 29 '12 at 14:02
No, they're not *.url files. These are shortcuts that are invoked via the Run box using the technique described here bit.ly/WVE6hs . For some reason *.url files aren't picked up - you have to make a shortcut to a browser with the URL as a command-line parameter. – Herb Caudill Oct 29 '12 at 17:15

2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Make

C:\Users\Herb\AppData\Local\Google

a directory junction which points to 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Google

using Mklink, problem solved.

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Perfect, thanks! Here's the command I ended up using: mklink /D "C:\Users\Herb\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application" - works like a charm. – Herb Caudill Oct 29 '12 at 14:01
@HerbCaudill: Ah, a symlink, if that ever doesn't work try /J instead as that is more low-level. – Tom Wijsman Oct 29 '12 at 14:15
up vote 0 down vote

This should be possible with PowerShell in Windows 8. I found some info here and here. I'm no PowerShell expert, but as you are a programmer, I'm sure you could find a way (and maybe post it as answer here for others to see).

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