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Must update remove my taskbar-pinned shortcut?

May
12,846
164
Must it? It didn't in the past.

It seems rather silly to keep a shortcut to TCC15 on the desktop solely for the purpose of dragging it to the taskbar every time an update deletes my taskbar-pinned shortcut. I found a couple ways to make restoring it easier.

With a shortcut in g:\tc15\ ...

My SYSUTILS plugin's SHELLEX can do it:
Code:
shellex /v taskbarpin g:\tc15\TCC15.lnk
(It took a while to track down the "taskbarpin" verb.)
And a PowerShell script like this will do it.
Code:
$shell = new-object -com "Shell.Application"
$folder = $shell.Namespace('g:\tc15')
$item = $folder.Parsename('TCC15.lnk')
$verb = $item.Verbs() | ? {$_.Name -eq 'Pin to Tas&kbar'}
if ($verb) {$verb.DoIt()}
Considering that, it's odd that my SHELLEX plugin fails (with or without /C (ontext menu)) when I specify the verb "Pin to Tas&kbar". ShellExecuteEx() fails with an error whose text is "Unspecified error" (very informative). Any ideas on that failure (considering that PS seems to do roughly the same thing)?
 
There is nothing in the installer that references a shortcut pinned to the taskbar. Windows Installer doesn't even support putting one there (Microsoft won't allow it).
I don't want TCMD updates to put one there.

I want TCMD updates to stop deleting the one I put there (as all through the v14 cycle and up to release of v15).

The behavior has changed. My Windows software has not changed.
 
The shortcut configuration in the installer has not changed. Some people say the pinned updates have always been removed; some say that they're never removed, and now you're saying it used to not be removed and now it is.

Nevertheless, there is nothing in the installer script to do this (even if I wanted to), and nothing has changed in the installer shortcut code for years. Perhaps you got a Windows update that affected the installer behavior.

I asked the installer developers about the pinned shortcuts several months ago, and they told me it wasn't supported, and they didn't know (or particularly care) why the shortcuts were disabled on an update. Perhaps Windows watches when an uninstall occurs (which always happens in an update) and disables the shortcuts pointing to the deleted app.
 
The shortcut configuration in the installer has not changed. Some people say the pinned updates have always been removed; some say that they're never removed, and now you're saying it used to not be removed and now it is.

Nevertheless, there is nothing in the installer script to do this (even if I wanted to), and nothing has changed in the installer shortcut code for years. Perhaps you got a Windows update that affected the installer behavior.

I asked the installer developers about the pinned shortcuts several months ago, and they told me it wasn't supported, and they didn't know (or particularly care) why the shortcuts were disabled on an update. Perhaps Windows watches when an uninstall occurs (which always happens in an update) and disables the shortcuts pointing to the deleted app.
The removal of the pinned shortcuts coincided with the removal of the "Remove only the previous version" page in the installation process.
 
The attached screen snippets show what the icon on the taskbar is doing (and has been doing since I've been running Win7 - i.e. for years now). I have not noticed any different or new behavior with regard to the pinned shortcut.

tcmd_install.jpg


I then right-click that white-icon, select un-pin. Then right-click again and select pin, and the good icon and shortcut are back.

-Scott
 
Google it; you'll get a few million hits about Windows Installer unlinking pinned taskbar icons. As I said, it's a Windows issue, not a TCMD issue.

(And yes, I could work around it by writing an app to relink taskbar icons, but then Microsoft would decertify Take Command for being incompatible with Win 7 & 8, because apps are not supposed to do that.)
 
As I said, it didn't happen with v14 or (up until release) v15. It seems to have started when you removed the "uninstall old versions" install page.
 
I created my own shortcut in %APPDATA and pinned that. The updater never touches it.
 
If it worked for you before, then I'm obligated by Microsoft to ensure that it doesn't ever work again.
**I** made the shortcut (just as MS wants it to be). I don't want you to make it and I don't want you to remove it.
 
**I** made the shortcut (just as MS wants it to be). I don't want you to make it and I don't want you to remove it.

The installer doesn't remove it. The installer removes the old program, and then Windows disables the shortcut because the program is no longer there. Windows doesn't care that the program is reinstalled a few moments later.
 
The installer doesn't remove it. The installer removes the old program, and then Windows disables the shortcut because the program is no longer there. Windows doesn't care that the program is reinstalled a few moments later.
Today I updated to build 33. My taskbar-pinned shortcut was untouched. It wasn't removed; it wasn't disabled. The shortcut I use to create the pinned shortcut was in the TCC install directory; I moved it elsewhere. But I really doubt that accomplished anything since the actual pinned shortcut (created by the act of pinning) is in "C:\Users\vefatica\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\UserPinned\TaskBar" and is an exact copy of the more permanent one. Did you change anything, Rex?
 
Today I updated to build 33. My taskbar-pinned shortcut was untouched. It wasn't removed; it wasn't disabled. The shortcut I use to create the pinned shortcut was in the TCC install directory; I moved it elsewhere. But I really doubt that accomplished anything since the actual pinned shortcut (created by the act of pinning) is in "C:\Users\vefatica\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\UserPinned\TaskBar" and is an exact copy of the more permanent one. Did you change anything, Rex?

I did not change anything. (As I've been trying to say, I *can't* change anything, because the installer isn't involved.)
 

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