Apps Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps in Windows 11


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This tutorial will show you how to create a desktop shortcut to open an app from the Microsoft Store for your account in Windows 11.


Contents

  • Option One: Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps from Start Menu
  • Option Two: Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps from Applications folder
  • Option Three: Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps using URI Command
  • Option Four: Create Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps using AppID Command




Option One

Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps from Start Menu


1 Open the Start menu :win:, and click/tap on All apps. (see screenshot below)

Create_shortcut_of_Windows_App_from_Start_menu-1.jpg

2 Drag an app (ex: "Cortana") you want from All apps to your desktop until you see Link above the app icon you are dragging, then drop the app on the desktop. (see screenshot below)

Create_shortcut_of_Windows_App_from_Start_menu-2.jpg

3 You can Pin to Taskbar, Pin to Start, add to Start menu All apps, assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy usage.




Option Two

Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps from Applications folder


1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Type shell:appsfolder into the address bar of File Explorer, and press Enter to open the Applications folder. (see screenshot below)

Create_shortcut_of_Windows_App_from_Apps_folder-1.png

3 Perform one of the following actions: (see screenshots below)
  • Drag an app (ex: "Cortana") you want from the Applications folder to your desktop until you see Create link in Desktop below the app icon you are dragging, then drop the app on the desktop.
  • Right click or press and hold on the app (ex: "Cortana") you want, click/tap on Create shortcut, and click/tap on Yes when prompted.
Create_shortcut_of_Windows_App_from_Apps_folder-2.jpg
Create_shortcut_of_Windows_App_from_Apps_folder-3.png
Create_shortcut_of_Windows_App_from_Apps_folder-4.png

4 You can Pin to Taskbar, Pin to Start, add to Start menu All apps, assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy usage.




Option Three

Create Desktop Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps using URI Command


1 Right click on the desktop, click/tap on New, and click/tap on Shortcut. (see screenshot below)

app_URI_shortcut-1.png

2 Enter the app's URI command (ex: "calculator:") from the table in the tutorial below, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

www.elevenforum.com

List of URI Commands to Open Microsoft Store Apps in Windows 11

This tutorial will provide you with a list of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) commands to open Microsoft Store apps via the command prompt, Run (Win+R) dialog, and scripts. You can also use these URI commands to create shortcuts. See also...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

app_URI_shortcut-2.png

3 Type the app's name (ex: "Calculator"), and click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)

app_URI_shortcut-3.png




Option Four

Create Shortcut of Microsoft Store Apps using AppID Command


An app shortcut created with this option will have the File Explorer icon by default, but you can change the shortcut's icon to anything you like.


1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Windows PowerShell.

2 Copy and paste the command below into Windows Terminal, and press Enter to see a list of installed apps along with their AppID. (see screenshot below step 3)

Get-StartApps | Where-Object { $_.AppId -notmatch '{' } |Sort-Object Name​

3 Make note of the AppID (ex:"Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App") of the app Name (ex: "Phone Link") you want to create a shortcut to. (see screenshot below)

AppID.png

4 Create a new shortcut using the target location below, and any name you want.

You can also use this target location to open the app from a command line or script.


explorer shell:AppsFolder\AppID​

Substitute AppID in the target location above with the actual AppID (ex:"Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App") of the app Name (ex: "Phone Link") you want to create a shortcut from step 3.

For example: explorer shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App


5 You can Pin to Taskbar, Pin to Start, add to Start menu All apps, assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy usage.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


Related Tutorials

 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
The two methods described here do indeed create shortcuts to the corresponding Microsoft Store apps, but the associated icon is faulty: it is smaller and the icon is in a blue square instead of being cropped (see the penultimate image above). But even worse: If such a shortcut is located in the folders C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs or the alternatives C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, an empty icon is displayed in the taskbar when the app is started. This problem has bothered me (and many others) for 2 years, only now have I found the solution. If you create a shortcut not as described here, but using the URI (see List of URI Commands to Open Microsoft Store Apps in Windows 11 Tutorial), then there are no problems with blue squares or empty icons in the taskbar.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER
Clover said:
The two methods described here do indeed create shortcuts to the corresponding Microsoft Store apps, but the associated icon is faulty: it is smaller and the icon is in a blue square instead of being cropped (see the penultimate image above). But even worse: If such a shortcut is located in the folders C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs or the alternatives C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, an empty icon is displayed in the taskbar when the app is started. This problem has bothered me (and many others) for 2 years, only now have I found the solution. If you create a shortcut not as described here, but using the URI (see List of URI Commands to Open Microsoft Store Apps in Windows 11 Tutorial), then there are no problems with blue squares or empty icons in the taskbar.
Click to expand...
I am glad it works for you. and thank you for sharing.
I must admit however that I never had small or empty icons as you describe, regardless of being a UWP app or an ordinary executable shortcut.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & IGB Orange-fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly-Chrome Dev-Chrome Dev
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 13 (Trixie)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
As I wrote, I also had the problem for 2 years with a Win10 computer. I hoped that the problem was solved when I bought a Win11 laptop a week ago, but I was wrong. Two days ago I asked the IT service of my university, where I teach, for a laptop with very freshly installed Win10 (version 22H2) and the very first thing I did was to create two shortcuts on the desktop, one created as described above, the other using URIs as described in the other tutorial I mentioned:

Screenshot1.png


And if I copy the shortcut with the small picture to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, the Calculator has an empty icon in the taskbar:

Screenshot2.png


Three times the same result, and I'm not the only one with this: here or here or etc.

I almost can't believe that you don't have this effect on your computer. I would almost bet ...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER
Clover said:
As I wrote, I also had the problem for 2 years with a Win10 computer. I hoped that the problem was solved when I bought a Win11 laptop a week ago, but I was wrong. Two days ago I asked the IT service of my university, where I teach, for a laptop with very freshly installed Win10 (version 22H2) and the very first thing I did was to create two shortcuts on the desktop, one created as described above, the other using URIs as described in the other tutorial I mentioned:

View attachment 84618

And if I copy the shortcut with the small picture to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, the Calculator has an empty icon in the taskbar:



Three times the same result, and I'm not the only one with this: here or here or etc.

I almost can't believe that you don't have this effect on your computer. I would almost bet ...
Click to expand...

Screenshot 2024-01-20 152101.png


I remove the shortcut arrow on all shortcuts, but as you can see, I created the camera shortcut and it looks fine to me.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & IGB Orange-fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly-Chrome Dev-Chrome Dev
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 13 (Trixie)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
Hm, I'm completely at a loss (can you explain this?). Only: In the penultimate screenshot of the original post, the camera icon also has a blue square. My experience is (without exception) that the shortcut on the desktop looks exactly like the one in the applications folder, if created with Windows. I therefore claim more precisely that at least on this computer (Shawn Brink's) the shortcut on the desktop would also have the wrong icon...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER
Clover said:
Hm, I'm completely at a loss (can you explain this?). Only: In the penultimate screenshot of the original post, the camera icon also has a blue square. My experience is (without exception) that the shortcut on the desktop looks exactly like the one in the applications folder, if created with Windows. I therefore claim more precisely that at least on this computer (Shawn Brink's) the shortcut on the desktop would also have the wrong icon...
Click to expand...
Got you!
I modified the icon.
Come on, I had you going didn't I and you fell for it like a blind roofer.:giggle:

But seriously, I have never had a blank icon on my taskbar.
The calculator one is fourth from the right side.

Screenshot 2024-01-20 155632.png
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & IGB Orange-fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly-Chrome Dev-Chrome Dev
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 13 (Trixie)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
You joker :-);-):LOL:. But it could have been... So a Windows bug?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER
Clover said:
You joker :-);-):LOL:. But it could have been... So a Windows bug?
Click to expand...
There might have been a need to differentiate between UWP apps & standard executables.
I am only guessing there and I don't like doing that. (n)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & IGB Orange-fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly-Chrome Dev-Chrome Dev
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 13 (Trixie)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
That's right: there are no problems with the old .exe. Many of the UWP's have the mentioned problem, but not all of them. The preinstalled "Sticky Notes" app e.g. is still unresolved for me, as it apparently has no URI...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER
I think the problem with most Apps is..., the app manifest is still telling it to use a lousy 50x50px logo asset...

0006243.jpg


0006242.jpg


... plus the default background, and you get...

0006236.jpg


If you enable software that has pathed, or created the proper dll...
(MS just doesn't think of these things!!!) ;-)

0006239.jpg
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS ROG Strix
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS VivoBook
@Edwin Thanks for this input (which tool did you use to analyze apps?). I've never observed icons that small, but that could be a clue.
But the real reason for my observed problem is the wrong method that Win10/11 offers for creating shortcuts. Somewhere I read that shortcuts to UWP's have to be internet shortcuts (and indeed the shortcuts created with URI are essentially just a URL, as you can check with a hex editor). However, the first two (of the now three) methods of the tutorial above create ordinary shortcuts with all the usual informations, e.g. path of the icon.

Screenshot.png


It is a little "miracle" that these (common) shortcuts still work. It would be better if Win10/11 no longer offered this option of creating shortcuts, as they can produce completely unpredictable effects (such as missing icons in the taskbar).
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS ROG Strix
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS VivoBook
Tutorial update to add option four. :alien:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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