Program launcher doesn't appear after installation

[Naadiyaar]

So I tried this with multiple programs and all of them launch successfully after installation (via install wizard) but I can't find a launcher to run the program afterward.

considering the documentation, bottles understands information about executables from a generated .lnk file. so I tracked them to this path:

find ~ 2>/dev/null -name "*.lnk" -type f
/home/nadiyar/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/PowerShell/PowerShell 7 (x64).lnk
/home/nadiyar/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/users/Public/Desktop/Stars.lnk
/home/nadiyar/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Games/Stars/Stars.lnk
/home/nadiyar/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Games/Stars/Uninstall Stars.lnk

Also I should add to successfully install programs I had to copy them into .var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/users/steamuser/Desktop/ and run the .exe file from there.

version 51.17
flatpak
on Fedora 40 gnome 46

[Naadiyaar]

tried manually copying Stars.lnk to .var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/Stars/ doesn't help

[jntesteves]

If you copy the link to ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/ does it work? It seems Bottles read PowerShell correctly from that path (the user's Start Menu), but failed to read the link to your app from the system's Start Menu at ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/.

[Naadiyaar]

If you copy the link to ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/lust/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/ does it work?

this is not working either.

But apparently the problem is from apps I tried to install.
I created a new bottle and installed Notepad++ and Stardew Valley. and even though their .lnk files exist in the same path, notepad++ launcher is available but for Stardew Valley it isn't.

~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/stardew
=> find . -name "*.lnk"
./drive_c/users/Public/Desktop/Stardew Valley.lnk
./drive_c/users/Public/Desktop/Notepad++.lnk
./drive_c/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Games/Stardew/Stardew Valley.lnk
./drive_c/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Games/Stardew/Uninstall Stardew Valley.lnk
./drive_c/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Notepad++.lnk

Also tried different paths and file names (no spaces, capital letters) but the issue persists.

If you think nothing else can be done, feel free to close the issue.
thanks for the reply.

[Naadiyaar]

One more question, isn't there any other way to run the program?

[jntesteves]

One more question, isn't there any other way to run the program?

There's the big "+ Add Shortcuts..." button right under the programs list. It lets you manually create an entry on the list for a program that doesn't install a link.

But this seems like a genuine bug, I think those links should've been added to the list.

[Naadiyaar]

There's the big "+ Add Shortcuts..." button

Other than installation wizard there's no other executable available to add as a shortcut.
should I add the .lnk file?

[jntesteves]

Other than installation wizard there's no other executable available to add as a shortcut. should I add the .lnk file?

No, you must add the .exe, which should be somewhere in the drive_c/ directory if the program was installed successfully. If there's no program where the links point to, maybe that's why they're not showing on the List in Bottles.

There could be other drives mounted in the Bottle. If the setup wizard didn't install to C:, the program's folder could be somewhere else. If that somewhere else was not given permission in Flatseal, it went to a mount "in memory"-only and the data was lost when you closed Bottles. Happened to me once. Make sure you install to C: or a drive that you know you've given permission for Bottles to access.

[Naadiyaar]

Oh yes! Wizard was installing to z: which is a symlink to my system's root and the rest is as @jntesteves mentioned.
changed the installation path to c: and now launcher is there and game runs fine.
Yay 🥰 🎉

solution: #3622 (comment)