Resolved Created website shortcuts don't work

On my laptop (Samsung Win7 64-bit) screen recently I've had a problem with any website shortcut I've created over the past few days. When I click on them they don't - and never did - open the webpages they're supposed to. What opens when I click the newly created icon for the Google website follows.

In the address bar (instead of https://www.google.ie) there appears: file:///C:/Users/Tom/Desktop/Test.url (Test being the name of the shortcut)

In the window below that there appears:

[{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
Prop3=19,11
[InternetShortcut]
URL=https://www.google.ie/
IDList=

All other program shortcuts (including the original Google shortcut) created before this still function perfectly but not the website shortcuts.

I've gone into safe mode and created website shortcuts there but the result is the same. The icons ARE created but they don't connect to any websites.

So, R-click>New>Shortcut works fine, but the shortcuts created don't.

I've trawled Google for a possible solution but have not found a suitable one. I even did a system restore to a point when I think the problem didn't exist (a few days ago) but that didn't solve the problem. I'm a regular user of the CCleaner registry cleaner so perhaps therein lies the problem?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

I had tried that, Steve, and it does create a shortcut on the desktop. The problem is not with creating a shortcut but in making that shortcut work. When I click on a newly-created shortcut to Google, for example, my Chrome browser opens and shows this:

[{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
Prop3=19,11
[InternetShortcut]
URL=https://www.google.ie/
IDList=

 

Anything here for you??
http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/150926-internet-shortcut-sanitizer-url-and-website-files/

mickzer.

 

Right-click on the shortcut icon, choose properties and see what the URL address is on the Web Document tab. I assume it will be the same as in the address bar, but it's worth a look see. For what it's worth, you can type the correct web address in the URL box and see if the shortcut will work as it should.

EDIT: The Web Document tab is proprietary to Firefox shortcuts. I'm not sure what the properties would look like in a shortcut made with Chrome, but I am sure that there is some kind of visible URL address box.

 

Thanks, Mickzer, but that link won't open.

James, I r-clicked on the desktop shortcut and chose Open With.

It gave me two choices, 'Chrome' and 'Internet Browser'. It wouldn't open the page when I chose Chrome, but when I chose Internet Browser then it opened in Chrome. It seems that Internet Browser refers to the default browser which in my case is Chrome.

I followed the above procedure again on the shortcut, only this time when choosing Internet Browser (referring to Chrome, my default browser) I ticked a box to always open with this browser. Voila! Any further desktop shortcuts I created opened automatically without any problems.

Thanks for sending me down the route you suggested, James. With a bit of clicking here and there in the correct places everything worked out fine.

Thanks, Pete. Fortunately I didn't have to avail of your suggestions this time.

 

You're most welcome, Lugwalker!

Sounds like you shortcut icons were of the generic type until they were linked to an application to open them with. It might be a good idea to reboot your machine so those settings will be saved.

Glad you worked this out!

 

Works for me

mickzer.