Create Microsoft .LNK files with Go
mslnk is a Golang module (with CLI) implementing Microsoft's Shell Link Binary File Format (MS-SHLLINK) without external dependencies
Sometimes you may need to link somewhere with a shortcut file which contains additional details and can be moved around freely. That's the purpose of shell link files on Window$. They are something like XDG Desktop Entries (*.desktop files), but obfuscated in a binary file format and documented in a worse manner.
This project's goal is to make the creation of those files painless by bringing you simple command line tools and exposing an easy-to-understand library API for your Go programs. Creating a list of relevant resources would also be a desirable side effect.
$ ./createlnk
usage: createlnk [target] [name]
target: path to link target
name: path to output file
import "github.com/gotopkg/mslnk/pkg/mslnk"
func main() {
mslnk.LinkFile("C:\\path-to\\a-file.txt", "mylink.lnk")
}
Despite what the function name might suggest, linking to a folder that way should work too. Basic functions reside in pkg/mslnk/mslnk.go If you are familiar with the format specification, you can manipulate exposed structures directly.
It's as simple as go get and go build. All you need is a Go compiler!
$ go get -u github.com/gotopkg/mslnk
$ go build github.com/gotopkg/mslnk/cmd/createlnk
mslnk is not yet a full implementation, but it already gets the job done.
Implementation is based on microsoft's specification, revision 5.0. To be precise, I was using this pdf during development.
Some structs were copied from github.com/parsiya/golnk with slight modifications. I wanted to fork it at first, but the code was of no use for me, so I wrote the rest from scratch. It is a nice project if you want to parse and read .lnk files instead of writing them.
The other useful project is Dmitrii Shamrikov's mslinks Java library. I used it as a reference for the implementation of the undocumented ItemID Data field.
I am also aware of the pylnk project for Python, but have not looked into it.
There are some scripts, which do what our createlnk does, but in a hacky way. Most notably: https://www.mamachine.org/mslink/index.en.html
If you know of any additional documents I might have overlooked, or resources which might be helpful, please let me know. You are welcome to list it on this page.