What issue are you experiencing to make you say "apparently they're not portable"? There is a known issue with NT shortcuts created prior to SP4 where the shortcut not only saves the directory path("c:\killerdos\fdisk.exe") but also the UNC path ("\\mycoolserver\c$\killerdos\fdisk.exe"). when you copy the shortcut from 1 system to another, the UNC path still points back to the first system. Since the UNC path points to an admin share, a normal user wouldn't be able to run the shortcut. The fix is to get a copy of shortcut.exe from Microsoft - its on the Resource Kit (gee M$, I wonder why?!).

Darryl Jacoby, MCSE