URL fails to link to address on web

I have lost something that was working. I have some icons on my
desktop which are web https address shortcuts. Suddenly none will
take me to the web address on my browser when I doble click on them.
Yet when I copy-paste said addresses into the address bar on IE or
Google Chrome, they all work. How do I get the desktop icons to link
to my browser?

Sie Sie
Wei

On Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:06:21 -0500 "
wrote in article


I have lost something that was working. I have some icons on my
desktop which are web https address shortcuts. Suddenly none will
take me to the web address on my browser when I doble click on them.
Yet when I copy-paste said addresses into the address bar on IE or
Google Chrome, they all work. How do I get the desktop icons to link
to my browser?

Sie Sie
Wei

I have a similar problem. I am using Chrome. If I drag the icon for a
wite from the address bar to my desktop, it creates a shortcut. But its
behavior has changed. It used to be that clicking the icon would take me
directly to the site in the URL. It would start Chrome if it wasn't
running. Now it behaves differently: clicking it opens a new Tab in
Chrome and copies the shortcut text into it instead of putting it in the
Address field and opening the web page. Here's what I see in the new tab:

[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mz4ilX6VwM

I have to drag through the URL, sans "URL=" and paste it into the Address
field.

wrote:

I have lost something that was working. I have some icons on my
desktop which are web https address shortcuts. Suddenly none will
take me to the web address on my browser when I doble click on them.
Yet when I copy-paste said addresses into the address bar on IE or
Google Chrome, they all work. How do I get the desktop icons to link
to my browser?

Are they .website shortcuts or .url shortcuts?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cbowen/archi...shortcuts.aspx

..url shortcuts are what you were used to in pre-7 versions of Windows.
The default in Windows 7 when dragging a URL in the web browser's
address bar is to create a .website shortcut. This is calling pinning a
web site (as a shortcut) versus the old way of saving a URL into a
shortcut. Do an online search on "windows 7 disable pinned sites". You
make no mention of HOW you are creating the web site shortcuts or WHERE
are the web site shortcuts.

One workaround to force creating .url shortcuts (when dragging them from
the address bar to your desktop or into an open folder) is to hold down
the Shift key as you drag. Shift+dragURL creates a .url shortcut.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...ut-create.html

To enable/disable IE's "pinned site" feature, see:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...pin-sites.html

Because I have the Home edition of Windows 7 which means there is no
policy editors (gpedit.msc or secpol.msc), I used option 1 which is to
change registry entries. All policies are registry entries. The
editors just give you a safer interface to do the registry editing.

To see what handler name is associated with .url and .website shortcuts,
run the following in a command shell (aka Command Prompt):

assoc .url
should report
..url=InternetShortcut

assoc .website
should report
..website=Microsoft.Website

In the registry, the default action for those are defined at:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\Open\Comm and
with a no-named data item whose value is:
"C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" "C:\Windows\System32\ieframe.dll",OpenURL %1

The OpenURL is a method (aka function) defined inside the ieframe.dll
(dynamic linked library [of functions]) and %1 is a replaceable
parameter whose value sent to it which, in this case, is the URL in the
shortcut's property.

and for .website it is:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.Website\Shell\Open\Com mand
with a no-named data item whose value is:
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -w "%1" %*

%1 is the value of a string that should be a valid URL and the
parenthesis are used in case that string has spaces within it (which is
invalid in URLs except as escaped ISO strings, like %20 for space) and
%* means any other arguments also sent to the handler (iexplore.exe).

If those aren't defined, have been changed, or are corrupted then
double-clicking on the shortcuts for those filetypes will result in
wrong or unexpected behavior.

Rather than try to make fixes in the registry (to which you may get
blocked since Microsoft has decided to protect many registry keys or
entries under them), enter "default" in the Start Menu's searchbox,
select the "Default Programs" entry for that applet to load it, and
click on "Associate a file type or protocol with a program" (.url or
URLs are a protocol whereas .website is a filetype). Scroll down to
..url (and then later to .website). What name (description) and handler
(Current Default) is listed for those?

I'm not sure if the following will step on all the values, like the .url
and .website definitions in the registry, but perhaps an easier way is
simply to configure Internet Explorer as the default program for
Internet access. Again, enter "default" in the Search Menu's searchbox
and select "Default Programs" but this time click on "Set your default
programs". In the following list, select "Internet Explorer". First do
the blanket "Set this program as default". Then click on "Choose
defaults for this program" and check that .url and .website are selected
for use as IE as their handler. Actually make sure all filetypes and
protocols listed thereunder are selected and click Save.

If you use a different web browser (Firefox, Google Chrome) as your
default web browser, first do the reset mentioned above. Then go into
your non-Microsoft web browser and use its config to have it make itself
the default web browser.

On Tue, 3 Mar 2015 15:50:18 -0600 "VanguardLH" wrote in
article



Are they .website shortcuts or .url shortcuts?

Interesting... assoc .url does report InternetShortcut, but assoc
..website reports that there is NO associated program. hmmm.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cbowen/archi...shortcuts.aspx

.url shortcuts are what you were used to in pre-7 versions of Windows.
The default in Windows 7 when dragging a URL in the web browser's
address bar is to create a .website shortcut. This is calling pinning a
web site (as a shortcut) versus the old way of saving a URL into a
shortcut. Do an online search on "windows 7 disable pinned sites". You
make no mention of HOW you are creating the web site shortcuts or WHERE
are the web site shortcuts.

I am dragging the icon in the Chrome address bar to the desktop.



One workaround to force creating .url shortcuts (when dragging them from
the address bar to your desktop or into an open folder) is to hold down
the Shift key as you drag. Shift+dragURL creates a .url shortcut.

That does, indeed, create a .url shortcut, but clicking it doesn't open
the website - just a new tab containing the text:

[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://www.nytimes.com/

That happens regardless of whether Shift is pressed or not.

You've given me a lot to try. I will do so and report back :-) Thanks.

Jason

In article ,
lid says...

On Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:06:21 -0500, wrote:

I have lost something that was working. I have some icons on my
desktop which are web https address shortcuts. Suddenly none will
take me to the web address on my browser when I doble click on them.
Yet when I copy-paste said addresses into the address bar on IE or
Google Chrome, they all work. How do I get the desktop icons to link
to my browser?

Try setting Chrome as your default browser by following these instructions:

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95417?hl=en

Reboot after changing this setting if it does not work initially.

Chrome is set as my default browser already ...

Jason wrote:

On Tue, 3 Mar 2015 15:50:18 -0600 "VanguardLH" wrote in
article
Geesh, use a short attribution line. Just the nym. Don't dump an
encyclopedia of copied headers.

snipped Jason's problem with Google Chrome

My response was addressed to Wie Lien Shih, not you. He reported the
problem with IE and I responded about the pinned site feature since IE9
and on Win7. I trialed Chrome long ago and got rid of it. I don't use
Google Chrome so I can't help you and what I wrote focused on IE.

Do not hijack someone else's thread to solve your own problem. Start
your own thread about your problem using a different web browser.

There is no newsgroup (that my Usenet providers carry) for Google
Chrome; however you can visit the web-based forum at:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/chrome

In article , says...



Do not hijack someone else's thread to solve your own problem. Start
your own thread about your problem using a different web browser.

I didn't mean to hijack anything. I thought what I was seeing was
related and possibly that fact might lead somewhere. I don't think it's
a Chrome problem from what I have read - it's a Windows file association
mixup (I think).

On Wed, 04 Mar 2015 17:28:13 +0000 "Stormin' Norman"
wrote in article




Did you see the link I posted for you?


I did look at it. Thanks. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Jason wrote:

Vanguard.LH said ...

Do not hijack someone else's thread to solve your own problem. Start
your own thread about your problem using a different web browser.

I didn't mean to hijack anything. I thought what I was seeing was
related and possibly that fact might lead somewhere.

WeiLienShih has started a new thread on the SAME PROBLEM and then closed
it with "NEVER MIND". So he started a new thread trying to solve a
problem that he really was not interested in getting help from here.

WeiLienShih abandoned this thread (and his duplicate one). So, for the
remainder of this thread, I will address your issue.

I don't think it's a Chrome problem from what I have read - it's a
Windows file association mixup (I think).

You said .website filetype was not associated to a handler. So what
happens when you do assign a handler (as described using the Default
Programs applet)?

Sorry, I do not use Google Chrome so I do not know if it can handle
..website shortcuts. Make sure the shortcuts you create are actually
..url files, not .website files.

At the registry entry mentioned, what is the value for the command for
the URL handler (InternetShortcut)? There should be no "URL=" in that
string. That is when using IE as the default web browser. I don't know
what Google might substitute for their handler's string in that registry
key's open command.

Have you tried toggling which is the default web browser? Since you use
Google Chrome then presumably that means it is your default web browser.
Use the Default Programs applet or go into IE and make it the default
web browser. Then go into Google Chrome and configure it to be the
default web browser.


aside
By the way, you have Gravity misconfigured. It is using the e-mail
field in the From header as the nym in the attribution line. You should
use the comment field from the From header to show the nym of whom you
are quoting.
/aside

On Wed, 4 Mar 2015 15:29:32 -0600 "VanguardLH" wrote in
article



Have you tried toggling which is the default web browser?

I switched the default from Chrome to IE and back and the problem seems
to have been solved! Thanks for your help.


aside
By the way, you have Gravity misconfigured. It is using the e-mail
field in the From header as the nym in the attribution line. You should
use the comment field from the From header to show the nym of whom you
are quoting.
/aside

(I am not very well-versed in Gravity's details or NNTP for that matter,
so I'm not sure what you're saying.. I'll poke through settings and see
what I find.)