Windows 10 apps links, link to unknown targets. How to locate the targeted .exe ??

[Whatever111]

The target inside the shortcut's properties is grayed out and you cannot even select it.

I tried to manually open the shortcut file with notepad, wordpad, notpad++ ,to look for the .exe inside, and even tho they open other shortcuts with windows 10 shortcuts i always get the same error "catastrophic failure" ??!

Sure i could go into the Windows 10 folder and take a lucky guess on which .exe it might be or run it first and then figure out which .exe is, from the taskmanager but i'd like a more straightforward approach.

To be clear, i have a shortcut on my desktop that opens a windows 10 app.
I want to send the .exe file to virustotal before i open it.
How do i find this .exe file ?

 

[TechFreak1]

The target inside the shortcut's properties is grayed out and you cannot even select it.

I tried to manually open the shortcut file with notepad, wordpad, notpad++ ,to look for the .exe inside, and even tho they open other shortcuts with windows 10 shortcuts i always get the same error "catastrophic failure" ??!

Sure i could go into the Windows 10 folder and take a lucky guess on which .exe it might be or run it first and then figure out which .exe is, from the taskmanager but i'd like a more straightforward approach.

To be clear, i have a shortcut on my desktop that opens a windows 10 app.
I want to send the .exe file to virustotal before i open it.
How do i find this .exe file ?

If you are using the latest version of Windows (version 1803).

Presuming the W10 app is in a UWP container, then you will find the app files inside C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps but you may not find the .exe . You will need to enable show hidden files.

 

[Whatever111]

If you are using the latest version of Windows (version 1803).

Presuming the W10 app is in a UWP container, then you will find the app files inside C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps but you may not find the .exe . You will need to enable show hidden files.

Actually Windows apps files can be anywhere there is no restriction to that.
I had mine in c:\games .
If you manage to open the .lnk file with a text editor it does writes the folder of the app but not the .exe file.
So i guess the answer to my question is that you can't locate the .exe file with 100% accuracy.

Also inside the .lnk file is the applications package name.
So you might be able to find info of the said package with some cmd commands but i wouldn't know about that.

 

[TechFreak1]

Actually Windows apps files can be anywhere there is no restriction to that.
I had mine in c:\games .
If you manage to open the .lnk file with a text editor it does writes the folder of the app but not the .exe file.
So i guess the answer to my question is that you can't locate the .exe file with 100% accuracy.

Also inside the .lnk file is the applications package name.
So you might be able to find info of the said package with some cmd commands but i wouldn't know about that.

Yes, you can change the install directory or devs can hard code a directory i.e a folder in the roaming folder but what I posted is the default directory that apps are supposed to use as a install directory. Windows does not sporadically install applications where ever it feels like lol....