Missing Shortcut and Start Menu folder after install

An end - user came to me with an error when clicking a shortcut on his desktop
"File or Path Not Found." I looked at the folder at where the location was in the start menu and it was installed to this path C:\Users\danharner\AppData\Roaming but there was no .exe in that folder. I uninstalled, reinstalled and the program popped up after the install finished. The program ran great. I installed it to Program Files with a desktop shortcut and start menu shortcut. The user went away and rebooted and came back saying there as no shortcut. I looked and sure enough it was no where to be found. Not only was there no shortcuts, the folder didn't have the correct .exe file in it.

This program is winQTplus. I again uninstalled it, ran setup again, and same issue only this time, the uninstall file was no longer in the folder also. The program boots after install perfectly everytime but there is no sign of the .exe file, shortcut, or start menu folder. If I pin it to taskbar when it opens after install, it changes the shortcut to another version of the software that has the .exe file in the install folder. We do not want this software as it's not the version we require.

I have been unable to mimic this situation on my own laptop. I did the uninstalls, re-installs the same way from the same setup.exe.

Bueller... Bueller...

danharner said:

Bueller... Bueller...

bro67 said:

Sounds like the user is deleting the shortcut. This is why users should not be granted administrator rights status, which allows them to delete stuff. See this for the registry entry. How to stop users from uninstalling apps from Windows 10's Start menu | Windows Central If you are using Windows pro, set a GPO to stop them, so that when the machine is logged in, it runs the script. You can also set policies with Jumpcloud, which is directory as a service, if you have outside cloud stuff like salesforce, git, G Suite, Office 365, etc..

It wasn't deleted by the user. I reinstalled it and looked at the start menu and file path myself.

I think you're missing the concept of the situation. I reinstalled it, check marked add desktop shortcut and start menu folder. I then looked in these locations after the install to no avail. It fires up the program after installed and if I right click that>pin to taskbar it changes the program from QT to QTS which there is an EXE in the install folder for QST but QST is the incorrect version. This does not do this on any other install. I have tried everything to imitate it on another device. I have searched for any left over files from the uninstall... I am using the same exact setup file, the laptops are the same model's, same deployment of windows, same updates. It's mind boggling.

Turned out Trend Micro was deleting the exe file associated with this program. It wasn't throwing that block up in the software within the pc but it did show up in the portal. So we were able to add the path to the portal and it no longer blocks it.