Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Features wanted...
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LittleBiG
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Joined: 08 Apr 2011 12:57
Location: Win10x64

Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by LittleBiG »

Please put the Past As Symbolic Link (and Hardlink and Junction would be good too) into the right click drag and drop menu.
I have a OneDrive folder for synchronizing and I placed it to the toolbar as a Droppable User Button. I don't want to copy or move my folders into it but create a symbolic link there by drag and drop. (In this way, I don't need to duplicate or move my files, but the synchronization happens anyway.)

LittleBiG
Posts: 1846
Joined: 08 Apr 2011 12:57
Location: Win10x64

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by LittleBiG »

I admit, it was a bit stupid with this naming. It is meaningless to use Paste in the right click drag and drop. Instead it should be Create SymLink, Create HardLink and Create Junction, similarly to the existing Create Shortcut(s).

neminem
Posts: 94
Joined: 13 Aug 2012 20:31

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by neminem »

I'm bumping this thread to show interest in it, as I've just been forced onto Windows 10 with a new computer, and while I'm very happy xyplorer exists, or I'd be stabby...it appears the utility I had previously been using to add this functionality, no longer works with xyplorer, so I'm really missing it. I know xyplorer already supports creating hardlinks with other, less convenient means, but I really miss being able to right click-drag from a source to a destination and hardlink it that way. Doesn't look like there's any 3rd-party way that works anymore, so I'm hoping perhaps it could be added natively instead? Thanks.

admin
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Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by admin »

Too special/exotic. (sorry)

LittleBiG
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Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by LittleBiG »

admin wrote:Too special/exotic. (sorry)
:shock:

admin
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Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by admin »

Why :shock: ?

There are enough other ways to do this. Not every menu needs to be 8 miles high.

neminem
Posts: 94
Joined: 13 Aug 2012 20:31

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by neminem »

In that case, could you at least get back to looking into why the tool I was using for that task used to work with xyplorer but doesn't anymore, since it's incredibly useful? >.> (And I agree with LittleBiG, I also really don't understand that response, given you have things in that menu like "Copy Here with Current Date", and "Create Branch(es) Here", which I don't even know what that means? I know I could look it up, I'm just saying, that sounds pretty "special/exotic", too :p.)

edit: Yes, there are other ways to do that, but it's something I do pretty often, and those other ways are way less convenient, less exposed, and require more effort than just drag-dropping a file into a location, which is what really seems like it would make the most sense? (While I'm at it, I'd personally also love options so you could control that menu - personally, the only items I'd actually want would be create shortcut, create hardlink, and maybe zip, that's kind of cool. I would use Create Hardlink way more than any of the other things in that list... I agree, it would be nice if that list weren't super long.)
Last edited by neminem on 28 Mar 2017 22:22, edited 1 time in total.

admin
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Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by admin »

You didn't by any chance mention the name of that tool?

neminem
Posts: 94
Joined: 13 Aug 2012 20:31

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by neminem »

Oh, oops, I thought I had, sorry. It's just called Link Shell Extension. I did find a thread from around the same time as this one, talking about how it wasn't working, which diverged into less-convenient workarounds which satisfied the OP of that thread.

Conveniently, the list of actions I described (copy, create shortcut, and create sym/hardlink), are exactly what would be shown by the native shell context menu if that utility were working. ;)
Last edited by neminem on 28 Mar 2017 16:18, edited 1 time in total.

LittleBiG
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Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by LittleBiG »

Yes, true. I wouldn't call it exotic at all. I could just repeat neminem's words. I also create many hard and soft links in dedicated folders, drag and drop would make it easier without the need to enter the target folders. When I saw you didn't fancy my idea, I created a scripted user button to cover my workflow with these links. (That is indeed special.) And after that I didn't bother you with this idea, but I let it slip. I am just sheerly happy that I am not alone with my view about the usefulness of this.

TheQwerty
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Joined: 03 Aug 2007 22:30

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by TheQwerty »

:shock: :veryconfused:
Link Shell Extension does not appear to register itself correctly.

It makes a bunch of registry keys that are prefixed with '32' but many of these should probably be under Wow6432Node instead or should not necessarily be created at all. Further it completely fails to create other necessary registry keys (those under HKCR\Wow6432Node\CLSID) for 32-bit applications.

I'm hesitant to recommend this because I personally feel LSE should be avoided until they can correct their install process to not create such of a mess of users' registries but...

You may be able to get it to work in XYplorer's 32-bit context menu by merging the following into your registry. However, I'm not sure this is enough to cover 100% of LSE's functionality.

Please proceed with caution and only if you know what you're doing.

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568AA}]
@="HardLink Context Menu"
"AppID"="{60ADE2AD-3FEE-4eea-A599-311B656C6AA4}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568AA}\InProcServer32]
@="C:\\Program Files\\LinkShellExtension\\32\\HardlinkShellExt.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568AA}\ProgID]
@="HardLink.HardLinkMenu.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568AA}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="HardLink.HardLinkMenu"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568BB}]
@="HardLink Copyhook"
"AppID"="{60ADE2AD-3FEE-4eea-A599-311B656C6AA4}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568BB}\InProcServer32]
@="C:\\Program Files\\LinkShellExtension\\32\\HardlinkShellExt.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568BB}\ProgID]
@="HardLink.Copyhook.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568BB}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="HardLink.Copyhook"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568CC}]
@="HardLink PropertySheetPage"
"AppID"="{60ADE2AD-3FEE-4eea-A599-311B656C6AA4}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568CC}\InProcServer32]
@="C:\\Program Files\\LinkShellExtension\\32\\HardlinkShellExt.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568CC}\ProgID]
@="HardLink.PropertySheetPage.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568CC}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="HardLink.PropertySheetPage"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568DD}]
@="HardLink IconOverlay Hardlink"
"AppID"="{60ADE2AD-3FEE-4eea-A599-311B656C6AA4}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568DD}\InProcServer32]
@="C:\\Program Files\\LinkShellExtension\\32\\HardlinkShellExt.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568DD}\ProgID]
@="HardLink.IconOverlayHardlink.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568DD}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="HardLink.IconOverlayHardlink"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568EE}]
@="HardLink IconOverlay SymbolicLink"
"AppID"="{60ADE2AD-3FEE-4eea-A599-311B656C6AA4}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568EE}\InProcServer32]
@="C:\\Program Files\\LinkShellExtension\\32\\HardlinkShellExt.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568EE}\ProgID]
@="HardLink.IconOverlaySymbolicLink.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{0A479751-02BC-11d3-A855-0004AC2568EE}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="HardLink.IconOverlaySymbolicLink"

[/size]


EDIT: Looking deeper I can now state this will not cover 100% of the functionality as LSE also fails to properly register the icon overlays for 32-bit programs. I'd also venture the if LSEConfig writes to the registry that it likely makes the same mistakes as the installer.

neminem
Posts: 94
Joined: 13 Aug 2012 20:31

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by neminem »

Ah. Well, that is super dumb, then. Sounds like it's totally LSE's fault for botching up its installer? I guess the reason it works in regular Explorer is because it's installing correctly for x64, just botched up for x86? (In which case, I wonder if the native x86 installer would work any better, if I only care about it working in xyplorer anyway?)

And all that said, I'm at work now, instead of at home, where I still have Win 7 for now (so much nicer...), and I checked the most recent version of xyplorer here, and LSE is working without issue. So something is different between Win 7 and Win 10, then? But it does work in Win 10 in Explorer. Super weird.

TheQwerty
Posts: 4373
Joined: 03 Aug 2007 22:30

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by TheQwerty »

Well, there's still a big question mark for why it doesn't work correctly in XY's 64-bit context menu. I didn't investigate this and am not sure where it might be going wrong.

The x86 installer may work better if you only want it to work in XY, but I did not verify this. (I'd lean towards it having a decent chance.)

It is also possible that they are doing something differently for Win 7 vs Win 10 - as I tested on Win 7. That said there really shouldn't be any difference in the registration process between the two so I'm not sure why it might be different.

neminem
Posts: 94
Joined: 13 Aug 2012 20:31

Re: Paste As SymLink into the right-click drag and drop menu

Post by neminem »

Drat. I'm home, and tried installing the x86 version - doesn't matter if it would've worked, because the installer won't let you install it on x64 (I can tell it's the installer, not Windows, because the message has a typo in it... but it doesn't matter either way, since I don't have the source.)

Would still just be nicer if it were supported natively anyway, though one or the other would be sufficient.

edit: well, I do agree, the reg keys you exported and updated, do indeed add the appropriate support, which means the bigger question is, how the heck was it working with xyplorer on my machine at work?! (I do agree, the overlays aren't there, but whatever, I don't care that much about the overlays anyway - the whole point of a hardlink is that it is the same file in both places.

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