[Run Programs] URL shortcuts are limited to certain protocols

[xieve]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.81.1

Installation method

Chocolatey

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

PowerToys Run

Steps to reproduce

Create URI shortcut for specific Obsidian vault:

Place this shortcut in:

C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu and/or
C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and/or
C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Obsidian and/or
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu and/or
C:\Users\<current user>\Desktop

Open PowerToys Run

No results. Sanity check:

These URL shortcuts work and are located in:
C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam

They look like this:

If I don't restrict results to the programs plugin, I get results from Everything:

However the thumbnail/icon is not shown and the file extension is.

✔️ Expected Behavior

I want this shortcut to show up like any other program.

❌ Actual Behavior

Shortcut only shows up as file without icon.

Other Software

Obsidian v1.6.3

[github-actions]

Hi I'm an AI powered bot that finds similar issues based off the issue title.

Please view the issues below to see if they solve your problem, and if the issue describes your problem please consider closing this one and thumbs upping the other issue to help us prioritize it. Thank you!

Open similar issues:

• PT Run not displaying Shortcut Application for shortcuts using the obsidian protocol (#31322), similarity score: 0.85
• PowerToys Run doesn't index a common path for program shortcuts (#24089), similarity score: 0.79

Closed similar issues:

• PT Run not picking up an internet shortcut in the same folder as other internet shortcuts (#23850), similarity score: 0.79
• PowerToys Run not finding PowerShell script shortcuts in User Start Menu (#4212), similarity score: 0.78
• PowerToys Run doesn't work properly with url shortcuts (#19433), similarity score: 0.77

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[xieve]

Huh. The bot was better at searching than me. Duplicate of #31322.

[xieve]

Reopening as a general-scope issue about being limited to two specific URI schemes. I don't see why PT Run should be hard-codedly limited to only steam and epic games URL shortcuts. This should at the very least be configurable.

cf.

PowerToys/src/modules/launcher/Plugins/Microsoft.Plugin.Program/Programs/Win32Program.cs

Lines 421 to 501 in cdf5677

	private static readonly Regex InternetShortcutURLPrefixes = new Regex(@"^steam:\/\/(rungameid|run|open)\/|^com\.epicgames\.launcher:\/\/apps\/", RegexOptions.Compiled);
	// This function filters Internet Shortcut programs
	private static Win32Program InternetShortcutProgram(string path)
	{
	try
	{
	// We don't want to read the whole file if we don't need to
	var lines = FileWrapper.ReadLines(path);
	string iconPath = string.Empty;
	string urlPath = string.Empty;
	bool validApp = false;
	const string urlPrefix = "URL=";
	const string iconFilePrefix = "IconFile=";
	foreach (string line in lines)
	{
	// Using OrdinalIgnoreCase since this is used internally
	if (line.StartsWith(urlPrefix, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
	{
	urlPath = line.Substring(urlPrefix.Length);
	if (!Uri.TryCreate(urlPath, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out Uri _))
	{
	ProgramLogger.Warn("url could not be parsed", null, MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType, urlPath);
	return InvalidProgram;
	}
	// To filter out only those steam shortcuts which have 'run' or 'rungameid' as the hostname
	if (InternetShortcutURLPrefixes.Match(urlPath).Success)
	{
	validApp = true;
	}
	}
	else if (line.StartsWith(iconFilePrefix, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
	{
	iconPath = line.Substring(iconFilePrefix.Length);
	}
	// If we resolved an urlPath & and an iconPath quit reading the file
	if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(urlPath) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(iconPath))
	{
	break;
	}
	}
	if (!validApp)
	{
	return InvalidProgram;
	}
	try
	{
	return new Win32Program
	{
	Name = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(path),
	ExecutableName = Path.GetFileName(path),
	IcoPath = iconPath,
	FullPath = urlPath,
	UniqueIdentifier = path,
	ParentDirectory = Directory.GetParent(path).FullName,
	Valid = true,
	Enabled = true,
	AppType = ApplicationType.InternetShortcutApplication,
	};
	}
	catch (Exception e) when (e is SecurityException || e is UnauthorizedAccessException)
	{
	ProgramLogger.Warn($"|Permission denied when trying to load the program from {path}", e, MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType, path);
	return InvalidProgram;
	}
	}
	catch (Exception e)
	{
	ProgramLogger.Exception($"|An unexpected error occurred in the calling method InternetShortcutProgram at {path}", e, MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType, path);
	return InvalidProgram;
	}
	}

[Aaron-Junker]

@htcfreek, do you know why it is limited only to these two protocols?

[htcfreek]

This eas not explicitly forced. It is by design. We need to decide if it is an application/webpage or not. So we only accept specific shortcuts which is currently apps, webpages and steam.

So we need an enhancement for the plugin code to support/allow these shortcuts.

[xieve]

This eas not explicitly forced. It is by design. We need to decide if it is an application/webpage or not. So we only accept specific shortcuts which is currently apps, webpages and steam.

So we need an enhancement for the plugin code to support/allow these shortcuts.

1. Webpages are not allowed. I have a lot of .url shortcuts to webpages, none of which show up as programs. This is only logical, since https:// shortcuts are not among the two filtered types in the code snippet I linked above.
2. What other types of .url shortcuts are there that would not be desirable to index? I can't think of any.

My rationale is as follows:

• If there is a shortcut in the Start Menu, it is intended to be handled like a program.
• This applies especially to any custom URI scheme that is not https://, file:// or similar.
• The Windows Start Menu itself does not differentiate between types of shortcuts at all. For example, here is that same .url shortcut I created in the process documented above, appearing in the Windows Start Menu search.

In my opinion, PT Run should never display less local results than the Start Menu in the default configuration.

Reading up on the history of the filter, URL shortcuts were added to support Steam and Epic Games games specifically. I believe this support should be broadened, and the filter removed or made configurable.