CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowssymlink
Camillo Gatto
Camillo Gatto

Reputation: 31

Is there a way to run a command line "inside" a symlink?

I have a symlink named example.avi that points to a real example.avi video file. When a program tries opens the symlink, it really opens the video file. But now I would like execute a command line whenever a program tries to open the symlink file.

Is that possible?

ps: windows

Upvotes: 1

Views: 239

Answers (2)

BuvinJ
BuvinJ

Reputation: 11076

While I am clearly ignorant on the subject of symlinks in Windows (see my comments on your question). I just played with it and proved that you could basically do this by symlinking to a wrapper for your avi. I.e. symlink to an exe or a batch file, etc. which does what you want and then opens the avi. Here's a test I ran with txt files and notepad:

Create a file called test.txt with some text. Create a file next to it called test.bat. Here's the batch:

notepad test.txt

When you run the batch, it just opens the txt in notepad.

Then I added a symlink:

mklink test2.txt test.bat

Now, when I type test2.txt in the command prompt, or double click on it, it runs the batch and opens the test.txt file. Obviously, you can use the same basic logic. It doesn't, however, fire the batch off when I open the symlink in Notepad++. It just opens to batch for editing instead.

Of course, maybe you don't want a second file, in which case you need to literally embed your avi in some wrapper. I guess we ned to know more about what you want to do. It sounds like an attempt at malware hidden in a video to me...

Upvotes: 0

Harry Johnston
Harry Johnston

Reputation: 36338

No, there is no built-in way of creating a symlink or other file system object that causes a command to be executed when it is opened by an application.

It should in principle be possible to do this with a file system filter driver. But that's very complicated. I believe there are some third-party tools to simplify this sort of task, but I don't have any experience with them.

Upvotes: 1

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