How do I dump information from a Windows *.lnk shortcut on Linux?

Question

To launch Windows lnk shortcut on Linux, one can use wine start qqq.lnk.

But do I view the information (command line, current directory) about it? strings is not enough.

Answer 1

It seems there aren't a lot of programs to do this...I found two Perl scripts that kinda work.

lslnk.pl and lnk-parse

Use them like this: <whicheverscript> Name.lnk

Answer 2

You can use the lnkinfo tool from liblnk (liblnk-utils package in Debian):

lnkinfo <file.lnk>

Example usage in scripts:

LOCAL_PATH=$(lnkinfo "$1" | grep 'Local path' | cut -d':' -f2-)
ARGS=$(lnkinfo "$1" | grep 'Command line arguments' | cut -d':' -f2-)

Example output:

$ lnkinfo 'Program Files - Shortcut.lnk'
lnkinfo 20171101

Windows Shortcut information:
        Contains a link target identifier
        Contains a relative path string

Link information:
        Creation time           : Jul 14, 2009 03:20:08.555426400 UTC
        Modification time       : Apr 23, 2019 21:36:46.017274100 UTC
        Access time         : Apr 23, 2019 21:36:46.017274100 UTC
        File size           : 12288 bytes
        Icon index          : 0
        Show Window value       : 0x00003000
        Hot Key value           : 12288
        File attribute flags        : 0x00000011
                Is read-only (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READ_ONLY)
                Is directory (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
        Drive type          : Fixed (3)
        Drive serial number     : 0x0e1909c6
        Volume label            : Local Disk
        Local path          : C:\Program Files
        Relative path           : ..\..\..\Program Files

Link target identifier:
        Shell item list
                Number of items     : 3

        Shell item: 1
                Item type       : Root folder
                Class type indicator    : 0x1f (Root folder)
                Shell folder identifier : 20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d
                Shell folder name   : My Computer

        Shell item: 2
                Item type       : Volume
                Class type indicator    : 0x2f (Volume)
                Volume name     : C:\

        Shell item: 3
                Item type       : File entry
                Class type indicator    : 0x31 (File entry: Directory)
                Name            : PROGRA~1
                Modification time   : Apr 23, 2019 21:36:48
                File attribute flags    : 0x00000011
                        Is read-only (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READ_ONLY)
                        Is directory (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
        Extension block: 1
                Signature       : 0xbeef0004 (File entry extension)
                Long name       : Program Files
                Localized name      : @shell32.dll,-21781
                Creation time       : Jul 14, 2009 03:20:10
                Access time     : Apr 23, 2019 21:36:48
                NTFS file reference : MFT entry: 878, sequence: 1



Distributed link tracking data:
        Machine identifier      : <snip>
        Droid volume identifier     : b2638d5e-f5b8-480c-bda0-fdb25ab91131
        Droid file identifier       : 968b84a2-a646-11e9-a124-0021cc6948e3
        Birth droid volume identifier   : b2638d5e-f5b8-480c-bda0-fdb25ab91131
        Birth droid file identifier : 968b84a2-a646-11e9-a124-0021cc6948e3

Answer 3

The question doesn't say you using cygwin, but if so, I would suggest readshortcut that comes with the Cygutils package

Note: I have found some shortcuts that it doesn't display, so I also suggest the brute force

strings -el

or even

hexdump -c

READSHORTCUT(1) Cygutils
READSHORTCUT(1)

NAME readshortcut - read data from a windows shortcut (.lnk) file

SYNOPSIS readshortcut [OPTION]* SHORTCUT

DESCRIPTION readshortcut is a command-line tool for reading Windows shortcut files (also known as OLE links). The most practical use is to resolve the target that a shortcut points to. It can be easily run from a script or batch file for non-interactive use.