Setup project generates "Unable to build shortcut..." error

[shovavnik]

I'm building a setup project in VS 2008 SP1. This setup project has had no
problems until now.

The error that occurs is:

ERROR: Unable to build shortcut named 'Shortcut Name', located in
'[DesktopFolder]'
ERROR: Unable to build shortcut named 'Another Shortcut Name', located in
'[ProgramMenuFolder]\ApplicationName'

Searching the web brings me to this incredibly unhelpful reference, which
basically says to contact Microsoft Support:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2z842k64.aspx

Does anyone know what could be causing this and how to resolve it?

[Jim Black]

I don't know what could be causing that error except perhaps the component
that the shortcut refers to has been changed. Have you tried deleting the
two shortcuts and creating them again? Did the problem persists?
--- Jim Black

[shovavnik]

I did in fact try that a few days ago, and it worked.

I'm not sure what the problem was, but deleting and recreating the shortcuts
fixed the problem.

The only think I can remember changing that might somehow have affected this
is that I changed the icon used by the shortcuts. The icon itself is
referenced as a file that resides in the WinForms project's root folder with
no compile action specified. From my understanding this should not have has
any effect on the setup project, but I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, at the moment, all is well. Thanks.

[Jim Black]

I'm using VS2005 so my experience may not 100% relevant, but I have found
that a safe thing to do is to put the icons into an "Icons" folder on the
target machine and tthen have the shortcuts reference them from there. Or
you can put them into a resources file. Just some thoughts.

[shovavnik]

Thanks for the advice.

For most projects I embed the icons, but this project had some strange
requirements that forced my hand.

[qrychefan]

I was having the same problem. In my case, the problem was with the actual icon file I was trying assign to the shortcut. This particular icon file contained multiple images with different resolutions (one was 32 X 32, another was 16 X 16, etc.). Apparently, Visual Studio does not like this type of icon file. I used IcoFX (a free icon editor) to edit the icon file and delete all but one image. Visual Studio was able to build the setup project just fine when I used the icon file that contained only one image.

shovavni wrote:

Setup project generates "Unable to build shortcut..." error
17-Aug-08

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2z842k64.aspx

Previous Posts In This Thread:

On Sunday, August 17, 2008 8:24 PM
shovavni wrote:

Setup project generates "Unable to build shortcut..." error

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2z842k64.aspx

On Friday, August 22, 2008 10:09 AM
JimBlac wrote:

I don't know what could be causing that error except perhaps the component
I don't know what could be causing that error except perhaps the component
that the shortcut refers to has been changed. Have you tried deleting the
two shortcuts and creating them again? Did the problem persists?
--- Jim Black

"shovavnik" wrote:

On Friday, August 22, 2008 2:13 PM
shovavni wrote:

I did in fact try that a few days ago, and it worked.
I did in fact try that a few days ago, and it worked.

I'm not sure what the problem was, but deleting and recreating the shortcuts
fixed the problem.

The only think I can remember changing that might somehow have affected this
is that I changed the icon used by the shortcuts. The icon itself is
referenced as a file that resides in the WinForms project's root folder with
no compile action specified. From my understanding this should not have has
any effect on the setup project, but I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, at the moment, all is well. Thanks.

"Jim Black" wrote:

On Friday, August 22, 2008 2:25 PM
JimBlac wrote:

I'm using VS2005 so my experience may not 100% relevant, but I have found that
I'm using VS2005 so my experience may not 100% relevant, but I have found
that a safe thing to do is to put the icons into an "Icons" folder on the
target machine and tthen have the shortcuts reference them from there. Or
you can put them into a resources file. Just some thoughts.
--- Jim Black

"shovavnik" wrote:

On Friday, August 22, 2008 2:37 PM
shovavni wrote:

Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the advice.

For most projects I embed the icons, but this project had some strange
requirements that forced my hand.

"Jim Black" wrote:

On Monday, May 18, 2009 2:36 PM
Dan wrote:

Setup project generates "Unable to build shortcut..." error
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