hello all, I have throughly research this and abut 19 out of 20 sites say its not possible to create a shortcut with a batch file however i have found a batch file that creates a shortcust based on peramiters it is passed. i need the batch file to ask for the input rather than have peramiters passed. i know this can be done with something like this: set /p MyVal=Enter a value: %=% This batch file does work for the most part. it creates the short in the start menu in a folder called }new{ but then errors out. the problem im having is deciphering the batch file can someone please help me out with ths? here is the batch file: @echo off & setlocal ::For Windows NT 4.0 users only!!! ::Creates LNK and PIF files from the command line. ::Author: Walter Zackery if not %1[==[ if exist %1 goto start echo You must pass the path of a file or folder to the echo batch file as a shortcut target. if not %1[==[ echo %1 is not an existing file or folder (pause & endlocal & goto:eof) :start (set hkey=HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows) (set hkey=%hkey%\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders) (set inf=rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall) start/w regedit /e %temp%\#57#.tmp "%hkey%" for /f "tokens=*" %%? in ( 'dir/b/a %1? 2^>nul') do (set name=%%~nx?) for /f "tokens=2* delims==" %%? in ( 'findstr/b /i """desktop"""= %temp%\#57#.tmp') do (set d=%%?) for /f "tokens=2* delims==" %%? in ( 'findstr/b /i """programs"""= %temp%\#57#.tmp') do (set p=%%?) (set d=%d:\\=\%) & (set p=%p:\\=\%) if not %2[==[ if exist %~fs2\nul (set d=%~fs2) if not %2[==[ if exist %~fs2nul (set d=%~fs2) set x=if exist %2\nul if not %2[==[ if not %d%==%2 %x% if "%~p2"=="\" set d=%2 echo %d%|find ":\" >nul||(set d=%d%\) (set file=""""""%1"""""") for /f "tokens=1 delims=:" %%? in ("%file:"=%") do set drive=%%? (set progman=setup.ini, progman.groups,,) echo > %temp%\#k#.inf [version] echo >>%temp%\#k#.inf signature=$chicago$ echo >>%temp%\#k#.inf [DefaultInstall] echo >>%temp%\#k#.inf UpdateInis=Addlink echo >>%temp%\#k#.inf [Addlink] echo >>%temp%\#k#.inf %progman% ""group200="}new{""" echo >>%temp%\#k#.inf setup.ini, group200,, """%name%"",%file% start/w %inf% 132 %temp%\#k#.inf del %temp%\#k#.inf %temp%\#57#.tmp move %p%\"}new{\*.*" %d% >nul 2>&1 rd %p%\}new{ 2>nul move %p%\}new{.lnk %d%\"drive %drive%.lnk" >nul 2>&1 endlocal peramiters: Parameter number one must be the complete path of the file or folder that you're trying to create a shortcut to. Parameter number two must be the complete path of the folder that you wish to locate the shortcut in. Parameter number three is the trickiest. It must be the complete path to the Programs folder. The Programs folder is the folder that contains your Start Menu shortcuts. It's normal location is c:\windows\start menu\programs, or possibly c:\windows\profiles\xxx\start menu\programs, where xxx is your user name if you're using profiles. It's possible to obtain the location of the Programs folder using a batch file, but doing so would more than double the size of the batch file, so I refrained. Parameter number four must be the name that you wish to give to the shortcut. Don't attach the LNK extension to this name, because Windows will do it for you when it creates the shortcut.

is this the correct place for this post?