Windows Shortcut

File Format
Name	Windows Shortcut
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Metadata Windows Shortcut
Extension(s)	.lnk
MIME Type(s)	application/x-ms-shortcut
PRONOM	x-fmt/428

A Windows Shortcut (also known as LNK or Microsoft Shell Link) is a Microsoft Windows file providing a link to a local file, and storing some metadata about it.

Software

• lp: Windows LNK Parsing Utility
• liblnk
• lnk-parser

Links

• Documentation in Forensics Wiki
• MSDN: Shell Link (.LNK) Binary File Format
• LNK Parsing: You're Doing It Wrong: part 1, part 2