How do I customize the console properties for a shortcut to a console application?

You already know how to create a shortcut:

#include <windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <shlobj.h>
#include <atlbase.h>

// class CCoInitialize incorporated here by reference

int __cdecl _tmain(int argc, TCHAR **argv)
{
 // error checking elided for expository purposes
 CCoInitialize init;
 CComPtr<IShellLink> spsl;
 spsl.CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ShellLink);
 spsl->SetPath(TEXT("C:\\Windows\\system32\\cmd.exe"));
 CComQIPtr<IPersistFile>(spsl)->Save(L"Here.lnk", TRUE);
 return 0;
}

If you double-click the resulting shortcut from Explorer, it will run the command processor in a default console window.

Today's Little Program customizes the other console properties, so you can control settings like the console buffer size and whether QuickEdit is enabled by default.

We use the IShell­Data­List interface to attach "bonus data" to the shell link. The data we are interested in here is the NT_CONSOLE_PROPS. Remember, Little Programs perform little to no error checking, use hard-coded paths, and all that other stuff that make them unsuitable for shipping-quality code.

int __cdecl _tmain(int argc, TCHAR **argv)
{
 CCoInitialize init;
 CComPtr<IShellLink> spsl;
 spsl.CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ShellLink);
 spsl->SetPath(TEXT("C:\\Windows\\system32\\cmd.exe"));

 NT_CONSOLE_PROPS props;
 ZeroMemory(&props, sizeof(props));
 props.dbh.cbSize = sizeof(props);
 props.dbh.dwSignature = NT_CONSOLE_PROPS_SIG;
 props.wFillAttribute = FOREGROUND_BLUE | FOREGROUND_GREEN |
                        FOREGROUND_RED; // white on black
 props.wPopupFillAttribute = BACKGROUND_BLUE | BACKGROUND_GREEN |
                             BACKGROUND_RED | BACKGROUND_INTENSITY |
                             FOREGROUND_BLUE | FOREGROUND_RED;
                             // purple on white
 props.dwWindowSize.X = 132; // 132 columns wide
 props.dwWindowSize.Y = 50; // 50 lines tall
 props.dwScreenBufferSize.X = 132; // 132 columns wide
 props.dwScreenBufferSize.Y = 1000; // large scrollback
 props.uCursorSize = 25; // small cursor
 props.bQuickEdit = TRUE; // turn QuickEdit on
 props.bAutoPosition = TRUE;
 props.uHistoryBufferSize = 25;
 props.uNumberOfHistoryBuffers = 4;
 props.ColorTable[ 0] = RGB(0x00, 0x00, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[ 1] = RGB(0x00, 0x00, 0x80);
 props.ColorTable[ 2] = RGB(0x00, 0x80, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[ 3] = RGB(0x00, 0x80, 0x80);
 props.ColorTable[ 4] = RGB(0x80, 0x00, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[ 5] = RGB(0x80, 0x00, 0x80);
 props.ColorTable[ 6] = RGB(0x80, 0x80, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[ 7] = RGB(0xC0, 0xC0, 0xC0);
 props.ColorTable[ 8] = RGB(0x80, 0x80, 0x80);
 props.ColorTable[ 9] = RGB(0x00, 0x00, 0xFF);
 props.ColorTable[10] = RGB(0x00, 0xFF, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[11] = RGB(0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF);
 props.ColorTable[12] = RGB(0xFF, 0x00, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[13] = RGB(0xFF, 0x00, 0xFF);
 props.ColorTable[14] = RGB(0xFF, 0xFF, 0x00);
 props.ColorTable[15] = RGB(0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF);
 CComQIPtr<IShellDataList>(spsl)->AddDataBlock(&props);

 CComQIPtr<IPersistFile>(spsl)->Save(L"Here.lnk", TRUE);
 return 0;
}