Timmah339 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 i was just fooling around with my computer the other day and noticed that there is no shortcut to the windows photo viewer in the start menu, or anywhere for that matter. i know that the photo viewer executes out of a .dll in the C:\Program Files\Windows Photo Viewer folder, obviously. i traced the process back to dllhost.exe using the task manager, and i want to create a shortcut to it, but i don't know how to create shortcuts to programs which execute out of dll's. any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin in a box Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Does it not come with the Windows Live Essentials Package? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliot B. Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Does it not come with the Windows Live Essentials Package? Nope, you're thinking of Windows Live Photo Gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-Gonzales Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Right click a photo, click open with and then chose "windows photo viewer" I don't know why, but they made it extremely hard to find, and I saw a shot of a new verson of that, it has the ugly white command bar and no glass controls... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 i can open it by clicking on a picture, but i want to make a shortcut so i can open just the program itself. you'd think they'd put a shortcut to it in the start menu. btw, if any of you are running the win7 beta and have a shortcut in your start menu, that would definitely solve it, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis W. Veteran Posted March 1, 2009 Veteran Share Posted March 1, 2009 i can open it by clicking on a picture, but i want to make a shortcut so i can open just the program itself. you'd think they'd put a shortcut to it in the start menu. btw, if any of you are running the win7 beta and have a shortcut in your start menu, that would definitely solve it, lol. That wouldn't make too much sense. Remember XP's folder viewer? You couldn't execute it as an application; it was invoked by opening an image. Besides, Windows Photo Viewer doesn't have an "Open" button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 That wouldn't make too much sense. Remember XP's folder viewer? You couldn't execute it as an application; it was invoked by opening an image. Besides, Windows Photo Viewer doesn't have an "Open" button. but the program itself opens as a standalone app, so why couldn't i create a shortcut/script to open it? i would, but i don't know how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis W. Veteran Posted March 1, 2009 Veteran Share Posted March 1, 2009 but the program itself opens as a standalone app, so why couldn't i create a shortcut/script to open it? i would, but i don't know how. I assume it invokes rundll32.exe with parameters, much like how Vista's Windows Photo Gallery does as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 I assume it invokes rundll32.exe with parameters, much like how Vista's Windows Photo Gallery does as well. EXACTLY!! that's what i've been trying to get at. does anyone know what parameters i need to add to get it to run the dll as an app? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montage Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Gallery\WindowsPhotoGallery.exe" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Live Veteran Posted March 1, 2009 Veteran Share Posted March 1, 2009 but the program itself opens as a standalone app, so why couldn't i create a shortcut/script to open it? i would, but i don't know how. Actually, the Windows Photo Viewer is part of Windows Explorer, and generally runs in the Explorer.exe process. In fact, what you're calling the Photo Viewer is really just the "preview" verb for images. It isn't a standalone application, and opening it without an image or images doesn't really make any sense. If you want the equivalent of Vista's Photo Gallery application, then you need to install the Windows Live Essentials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrack Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Use to drive me nuts when an applications overwrote Photo and Fax Viewer as the default way to open images. Now I use the Picasa photo viewer that came with version 3, and like it more than the built in windows one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda X Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Actually, the Windows Photo Viewer is part of Windows Explorer, and generally runs in the Explorer.exe process. In fact, what you're calling the Photo Viewer is really just the "preview" verb for images. It isn't a standalone application, and opening it without an image or images doesn't really make any sense.If you want the equivalent of Vista's Photo Gallery application, then you need to install the Windows Live Essentials. So it's an extension to explorer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-Gonzales Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Gallery\WindowsPhotoGallery.exe"? This is windows 7, not XP/vista Use to drive me nuts when an applications overwrote Photo and Fax Viewer as the default way to open images. Now I use the Picasa photo viewer that came with version 3, and like it more than the built in windows one. The fax viewer in 7 is a serous joke. Big time UI fixing needs to be in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 there is no WindowsPhotoViewer.exe in windows 7, and if you go to task manager, right click the open Windows Photo viewer application, and click go to process, it runs back to dllhost.exe. the app is run with dllhost.exe running an application out of a dll in the Windows Photo Gallery directory. the dll is photoviewer.dll. all i need to do is make a shortcut with the line dllhost.exe "%program files%\Windows photo viewer" and then with a parameter at the end. i just need to find what the parameter is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdood Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 It's not supported. Like Brandon Live already said, it isn't a standalone program. It's a COM server. dllhost.exe is not used to simply run a program, it is used to host COM objects in a separate process so that they can safely crash without affecting (in this case) Explorer. It increases security and stability. Can I ask why you need a shortcut to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piepke Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Gallery\WindowsPhotoGallery.exe"? Exactly, it will open the gallery viewer where you can open your picture from. It's the same application as when you open a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdood Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Only in Vista, Pierreken. The Photo Viewer in Windows 7 is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 It's not supported. Like Brandon Live already said, it isn't a standalone program. It's a COM server.dllhost.exe is not used to simply run a program, it is used to host COM objects in a separate process so that they can safely crash without affecting (in this case) Explorer. It increases security and stability. Can I ask why you need a shortcut to it? there used to be one in the start menu, as well as a shortcut for fax and scan, snipping tool etc.. but now they're gone. i just want to restore the shortcuts. i'm kind of ocd about this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jamesyfx Subscriber² Posted March 1, 2009 Subscriber² Share Posted March 1, 2009 But it's not an application - there is no reason to open it without an image. It won't really do anything without an image. I'm sure people would agree when I say it's just a lot easier double clicking on an image to open the Viewer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stetson Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 So, you figure out how to correctly make a shortcut (somehow) and put it on the start menu. You say "hey, I want to look at a picture" so you click the shortcut and up comes a viewer window with no picture in it and no way to open a picture. Now what? :wacko: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 So, you figure out how to correctly make a shortcut (somehow) and put it on the start menu. You say "hey, I want to look at a picture" so you click the shortcut and up comes a viewer window with no picture in it and no way to open a picture. Now what? :wacko: hmm, i just looked at the window closer and i thought the open menu at the top was to open a file. apparently it's to open that image in another app. i guess that would be kinda useless. oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdood Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 there used to be one in the start menu, as well as a shortcut for fax and scan, snipping tool etc.. but now they're gone. i just want to restore the shortcuts. i'm kind of ocd about this stuff. No, the shortcut in Vista is to a different program that is not included in Windows 7. The closest thing is the Windows Live Photo Gallery which you can download. Fax and Scan, though, should be on the main start menu (provided you have Ultimate), and Snipping Tool is still there in Accessories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmah339 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 alright then. thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrdLock Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 You can't open Windows Photo Viewer without a picture. There is, however, a command to run it. rundll32.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen path-to-picture ie: rundll32.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen c:\Users\Owner\Pictures\picture1.jpg So creating a shortcut to run the application itself is basically impossible, since the shortcut would have to include the path to a picture in order to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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