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On Windows XP, is there a way to make it so that every time iTunes comes out with some minor point upgrade, it doesn't render the shortcut in my quick launch bar useless? Once I've upgraded, the shortcut's icon turns to the generic "window" icon, and no longer launches iTunes, forcing me to delete it and create a new shortcut. This is dumb. I understand why it would happen (I guess the location of the iTunes executable changes or is renamed?), but is there any way to prevent that?

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I have actually never figured out why this happens. As fair as I know, the name or location of the executable never changes. Strange... – David Pearce Oct 9 '09 at 12:30
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2 Answers

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The executable stays where it is, the problem is caused by the "shortcut" being a special Windows Installer shortcut which runs the main executable associated with the installed package. Which, as you say, means it breaks every time the installed package is replaced.

A simple manually-created shortcut to the actual executable should work fine.

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This does the trick. Thanks! – Ian Varley Oct 12 '09 at 18:30
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I'm pretty sure iTunes adds it's location to your PATH environment variable. With that said, you can point the shortcut to a batch file containing this:

start itunes

you can bury this batch file in a system folder if you like, it should work across updates.

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I had no idea it was on my path - cool. So now actually, I'll start it from the run window instead. I accepted the other answer because it does a better job answering my actual question, but this is how I'll actually work with it. thanks! – Ian Varley Oct 12 '09 at 18:30
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