Retrieving timestamp from windows link files (.lnk)

Question

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:#0400;mso-fareast-language:#0400;mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Hi all, I am new to this and apologise if this is in the wrong place. I'm working on a little project and I need to scan through the recent folder on a windows machine and retrieve the timestamps (I can do all that..) my problem starts when I try to read the timestamps of the link file. I was wondering if any one new of a way to retrieve the timestamp from the link file. I am using Visual Studio 2008. Any help would be great Thanks

Vulpes · Answer

I thought I'd try P/Invoking the API function on one of my own .lnk files and also the target. Here's the code I used: using System; using System.IO; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using FileTime = System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME; [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public struct WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA { public FileAttributes dwFileAttributes; public FileTime ftCreationTime; public FileTime ftLastAccessTime; public FileTime ftLastWriteTime; public uint nFileSizeHigh; public uint nFileSizeLow; } public enum GET_FILEEX_INFO_LEVELS { GetFileExInfoStandard, GetFileExMaxInfoLevel } class Test { [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)] static extern bool GetFileAttributesEx(string lpFileName, GET_FILEEX_INFO_LEVELS fInfoLevelId, out WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA fileData); static DateTime FiletimeToDateTime(FileTime fileTime) { long hFT2 = (((long) fileTime.dwHighDateTime) return DateTime.FromFileTimeUtc(hFT2); } static void Main() { string filePath = @"c:\users\vulpes\desktop\google chrome.lnk"; // link to google chrome FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(filePath); Console.WriteLine(fi.CreationTimeUtc); WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA data; GetFileAttributesEx(filePath, GET_FILEEX_INFO_LEVELS.GetFileExInfoStandard, out data); Console.WriteLine(FiletimeToDateTime(data.ftCreationTime)); string filePath2 = @"c:\users\vulpes\appdata\local\google\chrome\application\chrome.exe"; // chrome.exe itself FileInfo fi2 = new FileInfo(filePath2); Console.WriteLine(fi2.CreationTimeUtc); WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA data2; GetFileAttributesEx(filePath2, GET_FILEEX_INFO_LEVELS.GetFileExInfoStandard, out data2); Console.WriteLine(FiletimeToDateTime(data2.ftCreationTime)); Console.ReadKey(); } } The results were: 08/06/2010 08:15:03 08/06/2010 08:15:03 08/06/2010 08:14:31 08/06/2010 08:14:31 So, it would seem for Google Chrome at least, both the .NET and API functions are giving the same result and that they are giving the actual creation time for the .lnk file, and not its target which was created 32 seconds earlier.

Vulpes · Answer

No problem, Ian. I don't mind doing the odd API call - it reminds me why I'm using C# rather than C++ nowadays :)

Ian Palmer · Answer

Hi, Thank you for the time you have taken, I was wrong i have tested it again and it is working many thanks

Vulpes · Answer

Well, it's news to me that FileInfo doesn't provide the info for the .lnk file itself but for the target. I couldn't see anything in the MSDN docs about this and, if you look at the relevant properties using Reflector, then the API function GetFileAttributesEx is called in the background. According to the documentation for this function ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364946(VS.85).aspx ): "If the path points to a symbolic link, the function returns attributes for the symbolic link." If you're sure that this isn't the case, then you could try P/Invoking this function direct ( http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32/GetFileAttributesEx.html ) but, other than that, I don't know what else to suggest.

Ian Palmer · Answer

Hi, I am trying to retrieve the timestamps of the link file itself, when i use the FileInfo it returns the timestamps for the target file. I am trying to get the Created, Modified and Access times of the link file. thanks for the reply, and any more help would be appreciated Thanks

Micke Blomqvist · Answer

Hi, Could you be a bit more precise, wich of the FileInfo properties do you have problems with? FileInfo fi = new FileInfo ("file.lnk"); The fi object now exposes these properties: fi.CreationTime fi.CreationTimeUtc fi.LastAccessTime fi.LastAccessTimeUtc fi.LastWriteTime fi.LastWriteTimeUtc