Installing shortcuts using MS Deployment Environment

I'm creating my installer package using the MS Deployment Environment (VB.NET). Everything works just fine except I can't get shortcuts installed properly. When my project is installed and my shortcuts are placed on the User's Desktop and the User's Program Menu, the shortcuts point to the folder where the EXE is installed, not the EXE itself. In other words, the properties of the installed shortcuts are:

Target: Health Tracking Assistant

Start in: c:\Program Files\Health Tracking Assistant


The "Start in" is correct, but the target should be:

c:\Program Files\Health Tracking Assistant\HTA.exe

In the MS Development Environment, I have the target in my shortcut properties setup as "Primary Output", which points to the main EXE in the Application Folder.

Any ideas out there?

Typically with the MSI packages I build, the only output I have in the "Application Folder" section of the File System is the "Primary output from..." bit, and none of the other outputs. Then in (for example) the "User's Desktop" section I right-click in the area on the right, select "Create New Shortcut", open the "Application Folder" in the "Select Item in Project" window, and double-click on the "Primary output".

That's always worked for me, both for the Desktop shortcut and the Start Menu shortcut.

Good luck,
Daniel Gow

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I follow the exact same steps as you describe, and the shortcut that ends up on the User's Desktop doesn't point to my EXE. It has the name of the application folder as the shortcut.

I'm out of ideas at this point.

That worked great for me.