Windows 10: create folders in start menu to organize

I'm experimenting with the half-baked Win 10 start menu and try to find a way to put my folder in the Start Menu and use it and see it

One more thing I use in my experiment are the Symlinks, give it a try: Link Shell Extension

Also SageLinks will list all NTFS junctions, symbolic links and hard link on your computer si it's more easy to see the "Real" folders and the Virtual one... Here's the link: raspopov/SageLinks: Shows and checks Window... - GitHub

Regards *Smile

 

the start menu is a folder = C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs = It functions as a folder and one can add as many folders and sub-folders as any other folder. The problem is that when those folders are read and displayed, anything in folders below the first gets displayed in the first folder. So it is a function of the start menu utility and not the folders.. There must be a reg hack for that.

 

I studied a lot the Windows search function + Indexing + the start menu. *Nerd

First the indexing: Nothing changed regarding the indexing since Win7 at least, everything basically is the same.

The Search Box beside the Start menu: It is completely revamped from Win7 and for the worst, lot of things have been removed...

Like: the ability to find *.exe file directly have been completely removed, With a workaround you always access *.exe file but you need first to make a shortcut and put the shortcut in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs" that's the ONLY way to find a *.exe file from the "search bar/box".

Even if you type "*.exe" in the "search box" and you chose "My Stuff" the results will NOT be ".exe" files but ".ink" files pointing to ".exe" files.

The Start Menu: It is completely different from Win7, the only objects that will be seen are the Shortcut AND Hardlinks (hardlinks are more powerful shortcuts). Only the first generation of Folder will be shown, so no sub-folders to manage like Win7.

The Location of the objects inside the Sub-menu are spread in 2 places: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs AND C:\Users\Michel\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs .

N.B.: We can put files in the folders of even crate subfolders in those 2 paths but they will not appear in the menu OR in the search bar unless they are .ink files or hardlinks.

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From my observations the "Start Menu" is closely tie to the SearchBar with the integration of Cortana and the fact that we can't search for .exe files in the Search Bar or see other files than .ink files in the Start Menu has been deliberately done by Microsoft because for "security purpose" they chosen to exclude .exe file to prevent Cortana to access directly .exe files.

Both the Search Bar (in fact Cortana) and the Start Menu use the search protocol: Querying the Index with the search-ms Protocol (Windows)

That's how they restricted the search from Cortana (AKA the SerachBar) and from the menu. In fact for Microsoft The menu + The Search bar are part of Cortana, it's the same thing, Cortana use the search protocol but can't access directly any executable it must pass by a shortcut or hard-links to start an .exe file.

Sadly this restriction (for the .exe files) is hard-coded in Cortana is NOT in the registry or XML files of .ini files, so we can't hack it or bypass it with a registry hack. *cry

If you use Explorer search it will use the search protocol but depending where you are it will be less restricted that's why with the explorer you can find other files than .ink files. ;-)

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Bonus if you want to make a FULL SEARCH of indexed places on your computer I will show you how to make a shortcut.

1- Right-click in any empty space on the Desktop and select New | Shortcut





2- On the Create Shortcut dialog box, enter the following in the "Type the location of the item edit box".

Code: search-ms: [/quote]
3- Name it what you want and click finish.

That's it !

You can pin it to the taskbar if you like or leave it on the desktop for quick access. It will find EVERYTHING that is indexed on your computer.

 

The start menu is really tough to figure out, things stored in multiple places. So far one of the few things in 10 that I don't like. In 7 I had my start menu really nicely organized, so far not so much in 10.

 

Actually, things stored in multiple places in W7 also.
The ALL USERS start menu and the logged in USER start menu are copied into the ProgramData start menu on login which is what is displayed.
The issue with W10 is that you can place multiple levels of folders into the start menu folder but it only displays the first level, now I can no longer see an organized list in the menu. Under a first level folder, ALL items contained in that folder and all sub-folders appear and all organization of the sub-folders is lost.
I thought I had found the items that are "Pin to Start", but I seemed to have lost that info. Any one know where those are??

 

OK, true but its a whole lots easier to navigate it in 7. I generally put all my stuff in all users as I'm the only user.

 

If u r navigating via file explorer, it is the same.
If u r talking about the UI, no argument there

 

Everything I install is installed for all User so it goes right in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder, the issue for me with Win10 is not that there is 2 folders but that I can't use it in an efficient way like Windows 7.

With Win7 I can drag and drop any files inside, with the right click menu I can use any entry:




I can put any kind of files in the folders directly: Zip .exe rar. doc, xls etc etc.. and I see it appear in the menu right away.

No (except if you use only .Ink files: Win10 menu is restricted to .ink files ONLY (including hard-links), you can put anything in the folders but it is of NO USE at all for me since you don't see it and even if you see it you have few option in the right click menu.

Lot of time for user the menu broke (especially with apps) it is not responding or is very slow for no reason except it's an half-baked OS. You have to use the powershell to reset it regularly it's not normal. *Banghead It's like Microsoft make the menu so unusable that they hope users will give up on the menu and use only Cortana....

IMO it could be in the registry, it's easy to know just pin an item with a unique that you give like "asdfdsa" and search for this unique name in the registry with Resplendence Software - Registrar Registry Manager Registrar Registry Manager, if you don't find it do the same thing but in the C: with Agent Ramsack Agent Ransack – Mythicsoft you can't search for a file name or inside and it is quick *Smile

Same thing for me here ! *Nerd

 

UNFORTUNATELY, I have no argument with any of that. There is nothing wrong with it because it is all design intent and Redmond knows best what is good for u. Whatsa matta wit ja?

 

Location of metro start menu items
C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\
rt clk an item, then "more", then "open file location"

 

I simply create 2 new folders, one for Universal Apps and one for Win32 Programs, add the shortcuts I wish, aptly name the folders 00xxxx so they remain at the top of the hierarchy, anything below that, I don't bother looking at.

 

I gave up on optimizing this smartphone like Win10 start menu for dummies. There are people out there who want to use their PC fast and effectively. My solution: Classic Shell and a custom folder ("C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\My Programs") containing copies of all important programs in a hierarchical structure. I just leave the two start menu locations unchanged.
- Why a third manually made folder you ask? Because most programs recreate an entry after an update in the root of the start menu again. Retarded developers.
- Why a hierarchy? Once I had about a hundred programs installed. Sometimes I knew I had a specific program (for example file recovery, stream demultiplexing, mass mp3 tag editor) but did not know its name.

 

[accidental double post, please delete]

 

Can something like this be leveraged using Classic Shell in both Win 8.1 and Win 10?