1) We do not use NSIS but InnoSetup
2) The start menu shortcut points to "ModPlug Central.url"
3) "ModPlug Central.url" is created using
Filename: {app}\ModPlug Central.url; Section: InternetShortcut; Key: URL; String: http://forum.openmpt.org/; Flags: createkeyifdoesntexist
Which is the recommended method to create an internet shortcut in InnoSetup.

The shortcut in the start menu is clickable and opens the website, as it should do. I don't see anything that's wrong with it?

as I discovered by myself some time ago, this method is functional. but it is not proper.

real Internet Shortcuts are an .INI file renamed as a .url (have you ever opened one in a text editor?). and so they are in the start menu. If innosetup has any functions for writing .ini files, that would be the proper function for writing a .url file.

as I stated before, the icon's look is broken. normally a web icon will look like the icon of the default browser. doing it this way does not. I used to do the same thing in my programs until I learned how to do it correctly.

If innosetup does not have the write-an-INI facility, then I guess you can close this bug. I use NSIS.

The source code I just quoted writes an INI file that has an URL extension. Windows probably just has a problem finding an icon for the linked URL file in the start menu. That is probably the least problem I could care about, since it looks like OpenMPT is not the only program with that "problem" - I got plenty of plain white icons in my start menu, mostly pointing to URLs, TXTs and similar documents. It is probably by design, since neither OpenMPT nor those other programs specifiy an explicit icon file to use for the link.

this should be the appropriate innosetup code. I am not used to innosetup, but I don't mind learning something new.

[INI]
Filename: "ModPlug Central.url"; Section: "InternetShortcut"; Flags: uninsdeletesection
Filename: "ModPlug Central.url"; Section: "InternetShortcut"; Key: "URL"; String: "http://forum.openmpt.org/"

so here's your patch.

what's in the latest release does not write an INI file, it creates a binary shortcut file. .ini files are text files. it basically looks like this:

[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://JesusnJim.com/code/windows-dos/phone.html

anything after that may be binary or it may be text.

Uhm, sorry, but the URL file is perfectly valid. You don't have to create sections before adding keys to them. Just look at the URL file itself and you'll see that it's valid. It's merely the start menu item that doesn't show an icon, like so many other start menu items of other programs, as I've said.

I won't argue.

C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenMPT>more "ModPlug Central.url"
[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://openmpt.com/forum/

Yes, there is a valid INI file in OpenMPT's directory. And yes, the start menu item is a shortcut.

hmm. interesting: on your installation it comes out proper. but on mine it does not.

I am on xp pro sp3 32-bit (which may make a difference, I don't know). my shortcut contents are char garbage (but opens up to web site). I could put contents here but mantis would probably choke on it. mine is not an INI file format, but shortcut format. yours is in INI file format. take a second look at your source. I am using 1.19.03.00

I've just tried it on WinXP myself, and, in contrast to Win7, it even shows an Internet Explorer icon in the start menu there, so the (binary) .lnk file in the start menu is correctly pointing to the (INI text) .url file there, just like on Win7. And as long as it does that, everything's OK, I guess?

[Icons]
; start menu
Name: {group}{cm:LaunchProgram,OpenMPT}; Filename: {app}\mptrack.exe
Name: {group}{cm:UninstallProgram,OpenMPT}; Filename: {uninstallexe}
Name: {group}\ModPlug Central; Filename: {app}\ModPlug Central.url
Name: {group}\Configuration files; Filename: {userappdata}\OpenMPT\; Tasks: not portable

here, you should not be creating an icon for the .url file. the .url file created in the [INI] section IS the icon/shortcut. when you do this right, windows will automatically create the icon for this when you open the start menu and it will look like the default web browser's icon.

[INI]
; enable portable mode
Filename: {app}\mptrack.ini; Section: Paths; Key: UseAppDataDirectory; String: 0; Flags: createkeyifdoesntexist; Tasks: portable
; internet shortcut
Filename: {app}\ModPlug Central.url; Section: InternetShortcut; Key: URL; String: http://forum.openmpt.org/; Flags: createkeyifdoesntexist

here for the .url file, {app} should be {group} because the .INI format .url file is supposed to be created in the start menu, not in the application directory! both .lnk and .url files are shortcuts (different kinds, one is a document/program shortcut, and the other is an internet shortcut).
I used to do this too: in nsis (I know you use innosetup) I used to make the .url file in the app directory and then create a shortcut to it in the start menu, because that (I thought) was the only way I could get URL's to work. I had never considered writing the .url file directly into the start menu, which is the proper way to do it. now things look and work great.

I hope this helps.

Placing LNK files instead of the actual URL file in the start menu is common among all kinds of software and there is no Windows guidline that forbids doing that.