Creating an app shortcut in Windows 7 XP Mode

Question

I have a VERY old legacy app that I've managed to move from machine to machine; the installer for it doesn't actually work under newer versions of Windows, but I was able to track down the registry changes and DLL registrations necessary to make it work. I'm able to create a desktop icon in my XP mode environment, and the program works... but I'd like to add an icon to the Windows 7 menu, and run the program in semi-native mode.

For example, the icon for Microsoft Security Essentials in XP mode has the following target: %SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\VMCPropertyHandler.dll,LaunchVMSal "Windows XP Mode" "||232f633" "Microsoft Security Essentials"

Now, the only part of that that seems to be "magic" is "||232f633" - does anyone have any idea where that comes from, or how to identify the correct equivalent for an arbitrary program? I gather that, had the program been installed normally through a .msi file (or WISE, or NSIS, or what have you), this id would have been generated automagically...

Thanks for any insights!

Answer 1

There is some info at http://www.jmedved.com/2009/05/windows-7-and-the-power-of-xp/.

You need to manually create "Programs on the XP VM" folder under "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu". Once shortcut gets placed there, it also gets copied to Windows 7 menu.

Answer 2

Hmm, I was actually able to simply copy the existing shortcut (which contained a number of command line options not being easily created with the Wizard) simply in the "All user" folder and there it appeared :-) So it DOES seem to be possible by just copying the shortcut into the "All user" folder!