Skip to main content

How to create a FileFolder in Windows?


Windows has the ability to create shortcuts. When you do, they appear as shortcuts in the files section of a folder. To create one, you right click, new, shortcut, or copy and paste as shortcut amonst other options.


However, windows also has something called a FileFolder, which is a shortcut that is treated like a folder, rather than a file. So with sorting, it appears in the folders location, it appears in the folderviewpane and from the addressbar.


Now, there's also the symbolic links, which is similar to FileFolders, but one thing a symbolic link cannot do, is be placed on a network share and point to a folder on your local computer that is not shared, and if you open that link from a different computer, it opens on their computer instead, like a normal shortcut would do.


A way to create a FileFolder is to use the Add a network location wizard and link to it.


So far I figured out that the location of this FileFolder is:


%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts

Opening this folder in command prompt allows me to debug how this folder is made.


It is a regular folder, not a file. Performing an attrib shows me this:


C:\....\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts>attrib /d /s
   SH        C:\....\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts\test\desktop.ini
A            C:\....\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts\test\target.lnk
     R       C:\....\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts\test

So a Folder without archive or system attribute set, but with read only, which contains a normal target.lnk (the shortcut to where it points) and a desktop.ini with system and hidden attribute set but not archive, to glue it all together.


The content of desktop.ini shows me:


[.ShellClassInfo]
CLSID2={0AFACED1-E828-11D1-9187-B532F1E9575D}
Flags=2

I can rename the desktop.ini to desktop.ini~ and then navigate the folder with explorer. Deleting the target.lnk file and right-click new->shortcut and point it to something, then name it target and renaming desktop.ini~ back to desktop.ini succesfully alters the target, and I can succesfully copy/move the new FileFolder.



Now the thing is, I can succesfully modify a filefolder that works, but I can't seem to figure out how to manually create one from scratch. Eg: Right mouse->New folder, Give attributes, Inside create the appropriate files.


I go to the previous folder and back in, and I just see the desktop.ini and target.lnk instead of getting redirected.


Does anyone know why it doesn't work, or what steps I need to take to make it work?



Answer



I found out why things aren't working. All steps I did were correct except for one: Giving my folder a +r attribute.


Using explorer to set the read-only attribute is not working on folders it seems.


But when using attrib Filefolder +r suddenly explorer started to understand, and things work.


So the easiest way now is to first create the folder and attrib it, then create the appropriate files inside.


So:


C:\>md FileFolder

C:\>attrib FileFolder +r

C:\>cd FileFolder

C:\FileFolder>start .

Now from the explorer window, create a desktop.ini with the following content:


[.ShellClassInfo]
CLSID2={0AFACED1-E828-11D1-9187-B532F1E9575D}
Flags=2

Make sure the desktop.ini has an enter after the Flags=2, otherwise its still not working.


And right-click New > Shortcut, point it to where it has to go, and name it target


Now, Go up a directory, and you'll notice the icon has a shortcut arrow on it, yet it is a folder. Clicking on it will properly redirect.


Note: It may take up to a minute for the shortcut to start working.


EDIT: Additionally, providing your shortcut with a different icon will allow that icon to be shown in your shortcutfolder too.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Use Google instead of Bing with Windows 10 search

I want to use Google Chrome and Google search instead of Bing when I search in Windows 10. Google Chrome is launched when I click on web, but it's Bing search. (My default search engine on Google and Edge is http://www.google.com ) I haven't found how to configure that. Someone can help me ? Answer There is no way to change the default in Cortana itself but you can redirect it in Chrome. You said that it opens the results in the Chrome browser but it used Bing search right? There's a Chrome extension now that will redirect Bing to Google, DuckDuckGo, or Yahoo , whichever you prefer. More information on that in the second link.
Post a Comment
Read more

linux - Using an index to make grep faster?

I find myself grepping the same codebase over and over. While it works great, each command takes about 10 seconds, so I am thinking about ways to make it faster. So can grep use some sort of index? I understand an index probably won't help for complicated regexps, but I use mostly very simple patters. Does an indexer exist for this case? EDIT: I know about ctags and the like, but I would like to do full-text search. Answer what about cscope , does this match your shoes? Allows searching code for: all references to a symbol global definitions functions called by a function functions calling a function text string regular expression pattern a file files including a file
Post a Comment
Read more

How do I transmit a single hexadecimal value serial data in PuTTY using an Alt code?

I am trying to sent a specific hexadecimal value across a serial COM port using PuTTY. Specifically, I want to send the hex codes 9C, B6, FC, and 8B. I have looked up the Alt codes for these and they are 156, 182, 252, and 139 respectively. However, whenever I input the Alt codes, a preceding hex value of C2 is sent before 9C, B6, and 8B so the values that are sent are C2 9C, C2 B6, and C2 8B. The value for FC is changed to C3 FC. Why are these values being placed before the hex value and why is FC being changed altogether? To me, it seems like there is a problem internally converting the Alt code to hex. Is there a way to directly input hex values without using Alt codes in PuTTY? Answer What you're seeing is just ordinary text character set conversion. As far as PuTTY is concerned, you are typing (and reading) text , not raw binary data, therefore it has to convert the text to bytes in whatever configured character set before sending it over the wire. In other words, when y
Post a Comment
Read more

linux - CentOs 7.1 - Install Tomcat 8

I am using this tutorial as a setup reference to getting a Tomcat 8 running on CentOs 7.1 , but after typing: [root@localhost tomcat]# sudo systemctl start tomcat I get the error: Job for tomcat.service failed. See 'systemctl status tomcat.service' and 'journalctl -xn' for details. systemctl status tomcat.service prints the following: [root@localhost tomcat]# systemctl status tomcat.service tomcat.service - Apache Tomcat Web Application Container Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service; disabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2015-11-25 16:54:33 CET; 1min 19s ago Process: 45873 ExecStart=/opt/tomcat/bin/startup.sh (code=exited, status=203/EXEC) Nov 25 16:54:33 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting Apache Tomcat Web Application Container... Nov 25 16:54:33 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: tomcat.service: control process exited, code=exited status=203 Nov 25 16:54:33 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Failed to start Apache Tomcat Web App
Post a Comment
Read more