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LNK Parser

Glossary

MS-SHLLINK

The Microsoft Open Specification that documents the binary layout of the Windows Shell Link (.lnk) file format.

MS-SHLLINK is the Microsoft Open Specification, "Shell Link (.LNK) Binary File Format", that defines exactly how a Windows shortcut is laid out on disk. It specifies the ShellLinkHeader, the LinkFlags and FileAttributes bitfields, the LinkTargetIDList, LinkInfo, StringData and ExtraData structures, and how Windows FILETIME timestamps are stored. Any reliable .lnk parser — including this one — follows MS-SHLLINK so the decoded fields match what Windows itself reads.