How to Fix a Broken Shortcut in Windows


If you have a shortcut to a file or folder on a network share that stops working, you will need to recreate the shortcut.

Recreating a broken shortcut

Step-by-step guide

  1. Delete the shortcut that has stopped working.  
  2. Navigate to the location that contains the file or folder you want to create a shortcut for.
  3. Right-click the item, and then click Create Shortcut. The new shortcut appears in the same location as the original item.  If the folder contains a lot of items, the shortcut will be listed at the bottom of the list.
  4. Drag the new shortcut to the desired location, such as your desktop or your Favorites in Windows Explorer.

For more information, please see this Microsoft Support article: Create or delete a shortcut

Editing a broken shortcut

Alternatively, If you have a shortcut that points to a file or folder on \\seanetfile02\ndata you can replace \\seanetfile02\ndata with \\path.org\dfs\ndata.  For example, if you have a shortcut that points to \\seanetfile02\ndata\AFH and the shortcut stops working, you can edit the shortcut and point it to: \\path.org\dfs\NData\AFH.

To edit the shortcut:

  1. Right-click the broken shortcut and click Properties.
  2. Edit the Target location with the new location.
  3. Click OK to save your changes to the shortcut.

 


Related articles appear here based on the labels you select. Click to edit the macro and add or change labels.