InstallShield 2016
Project • This information applies to the following project types:
| • | Basic MSI |
| • | DIM |
| • | InstallScript |
| • | InstallScript MSI |
| • | Merge Module |
| • | MSI Database |
| • | MSM Database |
| • | Transform |
Project-specific differences are noted where applicable.
InstallShield lets you specify whether you want to suppress the initial pinning of a shortcut to the Start screen on Windows 8 target systems.
Note • Windows 8.1 disabled automatic pinning of freshly installed applications/shortcuts.
If you specify that you want shortcut pinning to be suppressed, the installation sets a Windows Shell property that was introduced in Windows 8. You may want to disable pinning for shortcuts that are for tools and secondary products that are part of your installation.
Earlier versions of Windows ignore this shortcut property.
To specify whether pinning a shortcut to the Windows 8 Start screen should be suppressed by default:
| 1. | In the View List under System Configuration, click Shortcuts. |
| 2. | In the Shortcuts explorer, select the shortcut that you want to configure. The shortcut’s settings are displayed in the right pane. |
| 3. | In the Shell Properties setting, click the Add New Shell Shortcut Property button, and then click Suppress Initial Pin to Windows 8 Start Screen. InstallShield adds a new Key Name setting, plus additional rows of related settings under it, and configures them as needed. |
Windows Installer 5 introduced support for shortcut properties. Earlier versions of Windows Installer ignore these setting.
Note that Windows 8 maintains information about shortcut pinning to the Start screen after a shortcut is removed by uninstalling the application. Therefore, this setting has no effect on the target system if the shortcut has already been installed on it. Thus, when you are testing this functionality, ensure that you test on a clean machine—one on which this shortcut and its target have never been installed.
For Windows Installer–based projects (Basic MSI, DIM, InstallScript MSI, Merge Module, MSI Database, MSM Database, Transform), some end users have reported run-time warnings or errors with a message such as the following one when Windows Installer is installing a shortcut that configures Shell properties:
Property [1] for shortcut ’[2].lnk’ could not be set.
In the aforementioned message, [1] is the name of the Shell property that Windows Installer is attempting to set, and [2].lnk is the name of the shortcut file. In such cases, it appears that the .lnk file could be locked by a different process.
InstallScript Language Support
The following InstallScript functions enable you to prevent the pinning of a shortcut to the Start screen:
| • | CreateShortcut |
| • | SetShortcutProperty |
See Also
Setting Shell Properties for a Shortcut
InstallShield 2016 Help LibraryAugust 2016 |
Copyright Information | Flexera Software |