create_link.cpp

#define UNICODE
#define _UNICODE

#include <objbase.h>
#include <winuser.h>
#include <windef.h>
#include <shlobj.h>
#include <olectlid.h>
#include <objidl.h>
#include <tchar.h>

#include <iostream>

HRESULT CreateLink(LPCWSTR lpszPathObj, LPCSTR lpszPathLink, LPCWSTR lpszDesc)
{
    HRESULT hres;
    IShellLink* psl;

    // Get a pointer to the IShellLink interface. It is assumed that CoInitialize
    // has already been called.
    hres = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ShellLink, NULL, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, IID_IShellLink, (LPVOID*)&psl);

    if (SUCCEEDED(hres))
    {
        IPersistFile* ppf;

        // Set the path to the shortcut target and add the description.
        psl->SetPath(lpszPathObj);
        psl->SetDescription(lpszDesc);

        // Query IShellLink for the IPersistFile interface, used for saving the
        // shortcut in persistent storage.
        hres = psl->QueryInterface(IID_IPersistFile, (LPVOID*)&ppf);

        if (SUCCEEDED(hres))
        {
            WCHAR wsz[MAX_PATH];

            // Ensure that the string is Unicode.
            MultiByteToWideChar(CP_ACP, 0, lpszPathLink, -1, wsz, MAX_PATH);

            // Add code here to check return value from MultiByteWideChar
            // for success.

            // Save the link by calling IPersistFile::Save.
            hres = ppf->Save(wsz, TRUE);
            ppf->Release();
        }
        psl->Release();
    }
    return hres;
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    CoInitialize(0);
    LPCWSTR lpszPathObj = L"C:\\temp";
    LPCSTR lpszPathLink = "C:\\temp\\test.lnk";
    LPCWSTR lpszDesc = L"test";
    CreateLink(lpszPathObj, lpszPathLink, lpszDesc);
}