Launch SMS window by default?

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1

KDEconnect 26.04.2 on Windows 11

Is there a way to open the SMS window by default or maybe create a shortcut directly to it? That would be much easier than having to right-click the systray icon, then navigate the context menu to find and open it.

Thanks.

2

KDE Connect has a dedicated kdeconnect-sms app. It likely has a launcher on your system already but if it doesn’t you can launch it with kdeconnect-sms and assign a keyboard shortcut if you like.

3

kdeconnect-sms is there, but no shortcut. Since the app is managed by the Windows Store it’s sandboxed and I therefore have no direct access to the installation directory (at least in a terminal, even though my account is a local admin). I tried running it from an admin terminal last night but still got “access denied”. kdeconnect-cli can be run but not *-sms.

I’ll see if somehow I can create a shortcut to *-sms from my userspace.

It would be really nice if a standard installer was available instead of that accursed MSIX version. I really hate MS Store packaging. They’re a pain in the neck to deal with.

4

I just created a shortcut to kdeconnect-sms.exe (in an admin PowerShell session) –

powershell -Command "$s=(New-Object -COM WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut('C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\KDEconnect SMS.lnk'); $s.TargetPath='C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\KDEe.V.KDEConnect_26.402.6289.0_x64__7vt06qxq7ptv8\bin\kdeconnect-sms.exe'; $s.Save()"

But it still won’t launch. Trying directly from the directory (in an admin terminal) gets this –

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\KDEe.V.KDEConnect_26.402.6289.0_x64__7vt06qxq7ptv8\bin>kdeconnect-sms.exe
Access is denied.

I don’t know if that’s a result of the app being delivered by MSIX or it’s inherent. But without a standard installer it’s impossible to test.

5

There is an exe version on the KDEConnect website: Download | KDE Connect

6

Whatever path I took to the Store version didn’t mention anything about other formats.

I assume I can safely uninstall the MSIX, install the MSI and pick up where I left off (config will remain untouched)?

Thanks.

7

I don’t use windows so can’t confirm, but that would be my expectation. Uninstallation shouldn’t touch user configuration files.

It definitely doesn’t in Linux.

8

That would’ve been my expectation as well, but alas – The config laid down by the sandboxed / MS Store version is completely ignored by the MSI version.

A quick cursory comparison of the two doesn’t reveal too many similarities. Maybe after fully (manually) configuring both versions they would be more similar but at that point, what’s the point in copying the config items between them?

I really detest MS Store apps. Just a dumb idea from the outset, obviously designed to offload ever more of the user’s control over their computer to Microsoft. I’m disappointed the KDE Connect developers even considered, much less implemented and offered, the app packaged as an MSIX.

9

Update – At first the reinstalled (MSI) app didn’t see my phone nor any of my existing settings. But when I came back ~45 minutes later it saw (but didn’t trust) my phone and had some of my settings. I was able to re-pair the phone but will have to reconfigure my settings.