Solved Pin a shortcut to Start Menu

Brink · Dec 2, 2023

Hello mate,

Usually, only apps have the "Pin to Start" context menu item by default.

You should be able to use option 6 in the tutorial below as a workaround to "Pin to Start" the BAT file though.

Pin to Start an App, Drive, File, Folder, or Site in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to pin an app, drive, file, folder, library, or web site to Start for your account in Windows 11. The Start menu is comprised of three sections: Pinned, All apps, and Recommended. The Start menu contains shortcuts of all your apps, settings, and files. The...

www.elevenforum.com

WildWilly · Dec 2, 2023

Then I had a brainwave. I ran

dir "c:\Start Menu" /s 1>"a txt file"

Here is that txt file:

___________________________________________________

Code:

 Volume in drive C is Windows 11
 Volume Serial Number is 2066-6331

 Directory of C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows

05/07/2022  12:24 AM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows

05/07/2022  12:24 AM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

05/07/2022  12:24 AM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Local\Packages\Clipchamp.Clipchamp_yxz26nhyzhsrt\LocalCache\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

12/02/2023  12:45 PM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

12/01/2023  11:28 PM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

11/30/2023  09:37 PM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Local\Packages\MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalCache\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

11/28/2023  11:59 PM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Local\Packages\NotepadPlusPlus_7njy0v32s6xk6\LocalCache\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

11/29/2023  12:57 AM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Local\Packages\NVIDIACorp.NVIDIAControlPanel_56jybvy8sckqj\LocalCache\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

12/01/2023  12:53 AM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

 Directory of C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

11/28/2023  11:59 PM    <DIR>          Start Menu
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

     Total Files Listed:
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
              10 Dir(s)  1,883,115,188,224 bytes free

___________________________________________________

I then pasted my shortcut one by one into some of these Start Menu directories. Actually, I pasted it into a subdirectory of the Start Menu directories in my listing above. Each one of these Start Menu directories contains a Programs subdirectory. In each case, this Programs subdirectory does contain shortcuts for objects I have pinned to my Start Menu. I didn't paste into the ones with \Packages\ in the path. That didn't seem appropriate. Perhaps more mistaken logic. In any case, after pasting the shortcut into each of those alleged Start Menus, I did a sign off of the user & signed back in. I thought maybe that could be a requirement to get something like this recognized.

Total failure in all cases. Something this simple should not be this difficult.

Scott · Dec 2, 2023

WildWilly said:
I have a .bat file. I have created a shortcut for it.

Option 6, asp posted by @Brink in post #2

Right-click bat file, select properties

Then do as eplained below.

WildWilly · Dec 2, 2023

WHAT?!?!?!? That worked! Brink strikes again.

I didn't do exactly what you describe in that tutorial because I had already done some of the steps. I had already created the shortcut & changed its icon. But the shortcut resides in a directory, not on my Desktop. Those are all cosmetic differences. Inserting "explorer" in the front of the path on the Shortcut tab of the shortcut's Properties makes the Pin to Start option appear in its context menu when it hadn't been there previously. That is completely non-intuitive. Further, it shouldn't be necessary. It shouldn't be that complicated. Shortcuts are intended by their very nature to be pinned to the Start Menu (and wherever else, like the Start Bar). The Pin to Start option should just be there without all this other fancy footwork.

How does this work? What does prepending "explorer" do? I want to understand. I don't want to just add a pinch of salt, stir for 10 minutes, bake for half an hour, let cool, eat. I want to understand.

By the way, my shortcut now appears in one of the directories where I had already tried to copy/paste it myself:

C:\Users\WildWilly2\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

I don't understand why my copy/paste didn't work, but putting explorer in the beginning of the path made it eligible to be pinned. I bet I could probably now copy/paste the modified shortcut into that directory, and maybe even into any of the others, instead of using the Pin to Start option in the popup context menu, & it would make the object appear on my Start Menu. I'm not going to try that since the problem is fixed now. Finally. But I still want to understand. What is it about that prepending that makes it work?

Brink · Dec 2, 2023

It didn't work since it wasn't considered an application file.

The workaround of adding explorer.exe to the front of the target path makes it think it's an app file.

WildWilly · Dec 3, 2023

In other words, the rule is that the only category of objects you can pin to the Start Menu is apps. OK. If that's the rule . . . I hope somebody is thinking about changing that. You should be able to pin whatever you want there. The Recommended section of the Start Menu contains other categories of object. It all seems rather arbitrary.