Solved Dragging A Web URL To The Desktop To Create A Shortcut

Chris Nicola · Sunday at 7:06 AM

On my older PC running Win 10 I always used to be able to drag a url from my browser address bar to the tiny "Show Desktop" icon on the bottom right of my taskbar and immediately drag to the visible Desktop to create a web shortcut.

Now on Windows 11 it is a bit hit-and-miss.
Dragging the url to the "Show desktop" icon and immediately to the desktop does not work. Sometimes the monitor will flash black and I just see an hour glass and nothing happens.

However, if I drag the url to the "Show desktop" icon and pause it there for a couple of seconds and wait for the desktop to do its flashing thing and then drag to the desktop I might be successful at creating a shortcut.

If I make my browser window smaller than I can drag the url to an empty space on the desktop to create a shortcut without any problems. But that takes some extra steps.

I can also create a shortcut on the desktop using the browsers provision for making shortcuts, but that takes a bit longer. Right clicking the desktop to select New/Shortcut takes too long.

Have others experiences this behaviout using browsers on Win 11, or is it just my PC?

Are there any other solutions available that I might try?

Kind regards
Chris

Edwin · Sunday at 7:43 AM

Chris Nicola said:
Are there any other solutions available that I might try?
If I make my browser window smaller than I can drag the url to an empty space on the desktop to create a shortcut without any problems.

Leaving the browser window smaller is probably the easiest, unless you're tight on screen real estate.

Edwin · Sunday at 7:52 AM

Edwin said:
Leaving the browser window smaller is probably the easiest, unless you're tight on screen real estate.

I have all my application windows set to a pre-determined size and cascading configuration so that the first 2 columns, and the top row of desktop icons are always visible..., ultra-wide monitors are a big help!

Bree · Sunday at 7:57 AM

Chris Nicola said:
Have others experiences this behaviour using browsers on Win 11, or is it just my PC?

Just you, I think. I do that all the time.

You don't say which browser, but I've just tried it with Firefox and Edge without a problem.

Chris Nicola · Sunday at 3:58 PM

Thank you all for your replies.

I get this behaviour using any browser. (Edge, Firefox or Chrome) I can't create a shortcut by dragging directly to the "Show Desktop" icon (unless I wait 2 seconds for the desktop to stop flashing!

As has been suggested, making my main browser window smaller and dragging to an empty space on my desktop is the fastest solution.

Kind regards
Chris

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 24H2
Installed on ‎14/‎05/‎2025
OS build 26100.4351
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.107.0

Edwin · Sunday at 4:19 PM

Chris Nicola said:
I can't create a shortcut by dragging directly to the "Show Desktop" icon

Are you using an actual 'Show Desktop' shortcut...

... or the Corner Peek-Show Desktop...?

Bree · Sunday at 6:15 PM

Edwin said:
Are you using an actual 'Show Desktop' shortcut...

... or the Corner Peek-Show Desktop...?

There is no 'Peek at desktop' option in a standard unmodified Windows 11. Without the aid of 3rd-party tools we just have 'Show desktop'.

Peek at desktop was a Windows 10 thing, no longer available in Windows 11's Settings app.

Brink said:
Peek at desktop has been removed from the Show Desktop button in Windows 11, but you can still press and hold the Win+, (comma) keys to peek at the desktop, and release to keys to stop peeking.

Levitate11 · Sunday at 6:59 PM

I'm not sure what you're doing, but I just drag by grabbing the little icon to the left of the URL in any browser and then dragging directly to the Desktop and release the mouse. No intermediaries needed.

Edwin · Sunday at 7:12 PM

Bree said:
Peek at desktop was a Windows 10 thing, no longer available in Windows 11's Settings app.

I hear ya...

Chris Nicola said:
if I drag the url to the "Show desktop" icon

... I kinda wondered what Icon the OP was referring to.

Bree · Sunday at 7:20 PM

Levitate11 said:
I'm not sure what you're doing, but I just drag by grabbing the little icon to the left of the URL in any browser and then dragging directly to the Desktop and release the mouse. No intermediaries needed.

That is what The OP is trying to do, but for them it's proving to be a bit temperamental/unreliable.

Chris Nicola said:
....on Windows 11 it is a bit hit-and-miss.
Dragging the url to the "Show desktop" icon and immediately to the desktop does not work. Sometimes the monitor will flash black and I just see an hour glass and nothing happens.

However, if I drag the url to the "Show desktop" icon and pause it there for a couple of seconds and wait for the desktop to do its flashing thing and then drag to the desktop I might be successful at creating a shortcut.

The question is why it works reliably for you and me, but not for Chris. I suspect it is a graphics driver issue. Without knowing more details of the specific graphics on their PC I can only suggest that Chris checks that the drivers are up to date.

Edwin · Sunday at 7:41 PM

Chris Nicola said:
the tiny "Show Desktop" icon on the bottom right of my taskbar

What is the OP referring to???
Quick Launch? I thought that was also impossible in W11 vanilla!
Pinned to the Taskbar? I didn't think that was possible either!

Bree · Sunday at 9:07 PM

Edwin said:
What is the OP referring to???

'Show desktop' is a little vertical bar that appears in W11 vanilla at the far right of the taskbar when you hover the mouse there. You can click on it to minimise open windows and show the desktop. Click again to bring the windows back. If you drag a url there, it will show the desktop so you can drop it on the desktop to create a shortcut.

This is what the OP is trying to do (and works reliably for the rest of us).

.

Levitate11 · Sunday at 11:18 PM

Bree said:
'Show desktop' is a little vertical bar that appears in W11 vanilla at the far right of the taskbar when you hover the mouse there. You can click on it to minimise open windows and show the desktop. Click again to bring the windows back. If you drag a url there, it will show the desktop so you can drop it on the desktop to create a shortcut.

This is what the OP is trying to do (and works reliably for the rest of us).

View attachment 136983
.

Oh, I see... Me, I just make sure the part of the Desktop where I want to drop it is showing and drop it there. I never tried to do the two-step boogie. But yeah, that does work on mine too.

Chris Nicola · 2025-06-16T04:15:21-0400

Thank you all for your replies. I can confirm I am dragging the url to the the "Show Desktop" button on the far right of the taskbar. The reason I like to use this method is that I usually view by browser full screen, so the desktop is not usually visible.

I am wondering if the problems I am experiencing has something to do with the settings on my Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card.

Kind regards
Chris

Bree · 2025-06-16T07:24:22-0400

Chris Nicola said:
I am wondering if the problems I am experiencing has something to do with the settings on my Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card.

That's my suspicion too, as I said in post #10.

Bree said:
I suspect it is a graphics driver issue. Without knowing more details of the specific graphics on their PC I can only suggest that Chris checks that the drivers are up to date.

trevo · 2025-06-16T09:20:46-0400

Bree said:
'Show desktop' is a little vertical bar that appears in W11 vanilla at the far right of the taskbar

Thanks for that, didn't know it existed and used Windows+D, which is slower.

Chris Nicola · 2025-06-16T11:56:49-0400

Bree said:
The question is why it works reliably for you and me, but not for Chris. I suspect it is a graphics driver issue. Without knowing more details of the specific graphics on their PC I can only suggest that Chris checks that the drivers are up to date.

Thank you all for your comments and help.

You were right Bree!

I went to my Nvidia RTX 4060 Graphics settings and disabled "NVIDIA Overlay". Now I can drag a url to the "Show Desktop" button to create a shortcut on the Desktop without any problems!

Kind regards
Chris

Bree · 2025-06-16T12:03:46-0400

Chris Nicola said:
went to my Nvidia RTX 4060 Graphics settings and disabled "NVIDIA Overlay". Now I can drag a url to the "Show Desktop" button to create a shortcut on the Desktop without any problems!

great news!

Please click the 'Solved' button at the top right of your first post.

Levitate11 · 2025-06-16T16:18:15-0400

FWIW, you can create a much more useable Show Desktop icon by creating a shortcut to:

Code:

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}

You can even choose the old Show Desktop icon by using this as your desktop icon file:

Code:

%windir%\explorer.exe

There's likely a step-by-step tutorial around here on doing it.

This "better" Show Desktop icon will also function as the OP wanted... with his system tweak in place.

Chris Nicola · 2025-06-17T04:55:45-0400

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check it out.

Kind regards
Chris

Levitate11 said:
FWIW, you can create a much more useable Show Desktop icon by creating a shortcut to:

Code:

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}

You can even choose the old Show Desktop icon by using this as your desktop icon file:

Code:

%windir%\explorer.exe

View attachment 137042

There's likely a step-by-step tutorial around here on doing it.

This "better" Show Desktop icon will also function as the OP wanted... with his system tweak in place.

Solved Dragging A Web URL To The Desktop To Create A Shortcut

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