Learn how to create shortcuts to your browser’s desktop in the Windows operating system. You can easily create a desktop shortcut using these two methods.
One of the biggest reasons why people prefer to create desktop shortcuts for various applications is the fact that they can be easily accessed with a single click. Instead of opening the search menu and finding that application or going to its installation directory, you can launch them directly from the desktop.
In this regard, it’s hard to argue that web browsers could be among the most used applications on your Windows PC. So it only makes sense to have its shortcut on the desktop screen. And most of these browsers offer a shortcut creation option when you are about to install them.
But what if you didn’t check this option at the time of installation? Or even if you did, you have deleted it from the desktop and now you want to get it back?
Well, in any of these scenarios, this guide to creating desktop shortcuts for your browser is here to help. Here are the steps to add shortcuts to the browser desktop on your Windows PC.
Before we start the guide, there is something important that we would like to draw your attention to. In Windows, there are two different types of apps: modern apps and desktop apps. The first are the ones that came pre-installed on your PC.
Keeping our focus on the browser domain, you could consider and Internet Explorer as modern applications. On the other hand, desktop apps are the ones that you have manually downloaded from the web. Again, limiting it to the browser segment, , Y are some popular names.
We bought this theme here because the steps are different when it comes to creating desktop shortcuts for modern app and desktop app browsers. We have listed the instructions for both in separate sections, please refer to the one that meets your requirements.
Just to reiterate the facts, this section deals with desktop application browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and others, which are treated as user-installed.
Here are the steps to create desktop shortcut for web browser in Windows :
- Go to the menu Start .
- Find the app of your choice. (say, Google Chrome)
- Right-click on the label of its Name and select open file location in the quick menu.
- You will now be taken to the directory where all Start menu programs and their shortcuts are stored.
- This location will be:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
- Navigate to the Google Chrome icon (or your browser of choice) and right-click to select the option Create Shortcut
click on Yes
That’s it. The shortcut for Chrome will now be created on the desktop. In the same vein, you could also create shortcuts for other browsers that you have manually downloaded from the web like Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge Chromium, etc.
When it comes to modern applications like the legacy version of Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer, then you would not be able to create your shortcut through the above mentioned instructions. This is because these app icons are not present inside the Programs folder and you would have to take a separate path to access them.
Here are the steps to create desktop shortcuts for modern legacy browser apps :
- Launch the Run dialog via Windows + R shortcut keys.
- Type cmd in the box and press Enter on the keyboard.
This will launch the command prompt. - Run the following command at the CMD prompt window:
browser shell: AppsFolder
- It should be taken to the Applications folder.
- Select the browser of your choice (for example, Edge Legacy).
- Right click to access to a quick menu and choose the option Create Shortcut
Hit the Yes.
This will create the browser shortcut for legacy Microsoft Edge. Similarly, you can create the desktop shortcut for Internet Explorer. You can also use the same method to create a desktop shortcut for desktop apps like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.
So, with this, we conclude the guide on how to add shortcuts to browser desktop in Windows. We have listed the steps for desktop and modern legacy applications.
That said, it would have been much easier if Windows had provided the option to create these shortcuts directly from the start menu something it does to pin apps to both Start and the taskbar.
But since there is no such option, the aforementioned steps are the only way to go. You can also drag these shortcuts to the taskbar to create shortcut icons on the taskbar with one click.
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