C# Signature:

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = false, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern void GetStartupInfo(out STARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo);

VB Signature:

Declare Sub GetStartupInfo Lib "kernel32.dll" (<Out> ByRef As STARTUPINFO)

User-Defined Types:

STARTUPINFO

Notes:

Tips & Tricks:

On my W10x64 my vshost.exe died by caling the GetStartupInfoW method.

So i changed it to GetStartupInfoA and also changed the 'STARTUPINFO's StructureLayout-Attribute to CharSet.Ansi instead of Unicode.

Sample Code:

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
    public struct STARTUPINFO
     {
      public uint cb;
      public string lpReserved;
      public string lpDesktop;
      public string lpTitle;
      public uint dwX;
      public uint dwY;
      public uint dwXSize;
      public uint dwYSize;
      public uint dwXCountChars;
      public uint dwYCountChars;
      public uint dwFillAttribute;
      public uint dwFlags;
      public ushort wShowWindow;
      public ushort cbReserved2;
      public IntPtr lpReserved2;
      public IntPtr hStdInput;
      public IntPtr hStdOutput;
      public IntPtr hStdError;
     }

     [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, EntryPoint = "GetStartupInfoA")]
     public static extern void GetStartupInfo(out STARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo);

Sample Code:

GetStartupPath() returns the path of the object that started the program, be it a shortcut or an EXE file

Tested on VB.NET Framework 2.0 in XP and Win10

   Private Declare Sub GetStartupInfo Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "GetStartupInfoA" (ByRef lpStartupInfo As STARTUPINFO)

   Private Structure STARTUPINFO
      Public cb As UInteger
      Public lpReserved As String
      Public lpDesktop As String
      Public lpTitle As String
      Public dwX As UInteger
      Public dwY As UInteger
      Public dwXSize As UInteger
      Public dwYSize As UInteger
      Public dwXCountChars As UInteger
      Public dwYCountChars As UInteger
      Public dwFillAttribute As UInteger
      Public dwFlags As UInteger
      Public wShowWindow As UShort
      Public cbReserved2 As UShort
      Public lpReserved2 As IntPtr
      Public hStdInput As IntPtr
      Public hStdOutput As IntPtr
      Public hStdError As IntPtr
   End Structure

   Private Const STARTF_TITLESHORTCUT = &H800

   Public Function GetStartupPath() As String

      Dim si As New STARTUPINFO
      si.dwFlags = si.dwFlags And STARTF_TITLESHORTCUT
      Call GetStartupInfo(si)
      Return si.lpTitle

   End Function
      Return si.lpTitle

   End Function

Alternative Managed API:

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Alternative Managed API:

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