Windows 10: Create Shortcut of Microsoft Edge in Windows 10

How to: Create Shortcut of Microsoft Edge in Windows 10

How to Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut in Windows 10


Microsoft Edge is a new web browser that is available across the Windows 10 device family. It is designed for Windows 10 to be faster, safer, and compatible with the modern Web.

This tutorial will show you how to download or create a Microsoft Edge shortcut that can open to a specified website, and can use where you like in Windows 10.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Download a Microsoft Edge Shortcut
• Option Two: To Manually Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut
• Option Three: To Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut from Start Menu
• Option Four: To Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut from Applications folder
• Option Five: To Create Custom Microsoft Edge Shortcut that Opens to a Website

EXAMPLE: Microsoft Edge









OPTION ONE [/i] To Download a Microsoft Edge Shortcut
1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .zip file below.
Microsoft_Edge_shortcut.zip

Download
2. Save the .zip file to your desktop.

3. Unblock the .zip file.

4. Open the .zip file, and extract (drag and drop) the shortcut to your desktop.

5. If you like, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.

6. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .zip file if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Manually Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut
1. Right click or press and hold on an empty area on your desktop, and click/tap on New and Shortcut.

2. Copy and paste the location below you want to use into the location area, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow %windir%\explorer.exe microsoft-edge:

OR

*Arrow %windir%\explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge




3. Type Microsoft Edge for the name, and click/tap on the Finish button. (see screenshot below)

*note You could name this shortcut anything you would like though.



4. Right click or press and hold on the new Microsoft Edge shortcut, and click/tap on Properties.

5. Click/tap on the Shortcut tab, and click/tap on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)



6. In the line under "Look for icons in this file", copy and paste the location below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow %windir%\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\MicrosoftEdge.exe




7. Select the icon highlighted in blue above, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot above)

*note You could use any icon that you would like instead though.

8. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 5)

9. If you like, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.





OPTION THREE [/i] To Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut from Start Menu
1. Open the Start menu.

2. Drag and drop the Microsoft Edge app from the All apps list in the Start menu to your desktop. (see screenshot below)



3. If you like, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.





OPTION FOUR [/i] To Create a Microsoft Edge Shortcut from Applications folder
1. Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2. Type shell:appsfolder into the address bar, and press Enter to open the Applications folder showing your installed apps. (see screenshot below)



3. Drag and drop the Microsoft Edge app from the Applications folder to your desktop. (see screenshot below)



4. If you like, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.

5. When finished, you can close File Explorer if you like.





OPTION FIVE [/i] To Create Custom Microsoft Edge Shortcut that Opens to a Website
1. Right click or press and hold on an empty area on your desktop, and click/tap on New and Shortcut.

2. Copy and paste the location below into the location area, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow %windir%\explorer.exe microsoft-edge:website URL address

*note Substitute website URL address in the location above for the actual website URL you want this Microsoft Edge shortcut to open to.

For example: %windir%\explorer.exe microsoft-edge:https://www.tenforums.com




3. Type a name you want for the Microsoft Edge shortcut, and click/tap on the Finish button. (see screenshot below)



4. Right click or press and hold on the new Microsoft Edge shortcut, and click/tap on Properties.

5. Click/tap on the Shortcut tab, and click/tap on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)



6. In the line under "Look for icons in this file", copy and paste the location below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow %windir%\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\MicrosoftEdge.exe




7. Select the icon highlighted in blue above, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot above)

*note You could use any icon that you would like instead though.

8. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 5)

9. If you like, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to 'Pin to Start' a Website in Microsoft Edge in Windows 10
• How to Share Web Pages in Microsoft Edge in Windows 10
• How to Create Shortcut to App, File, Folder, Drive, or Website in Windows 10
• How to Create Website Shortcut in Windows

:)

 

How do I create a short cut for website in Windows10?

This may be helpful for creating an IE shortcut but that wasn't the question. I use Edge and posted an easy way to create a desktop shortcut in Windows 10 for websites using Microsoft Edge.

 

Installing microsoft edge over Internet explorer

1. Do a Cortana search for Edge. When/if it's found, right-click> Pin to Start.

2. Create an Edge shortcut

Create Shortcut of Microsoft Edge in Windows 10

3. Reinstall/re-register Edge

Reinstall and Re-register Microsoft Edge in Windows 10

Don

 

This tutorial has been updated to add OPTION THREE to create a shortcut that will open Microsoft Edge directly to a website you want. *Smile

 

I just tried all 3 methods above, and all of them make a short cut that brings up File Explorer open to PC\Documents. I'm using a new HP computer with Windows 10 build 10240, following the directions in an unprivileged account.

I earlier had the Temporary Profile problem, and lost much of my AppData, including all of my tiles in the Start Menu. Even though the Edge tile exists in other accounts, there seems to be no way to make a shortcut for it from the tile, which is why I was looking here. But perhaps something about the loss of AppData is creating this strange behavior with shortcuts produced by methods above?

 

Hello Bruce, *Smile

Are you able to open Microsoft Edge normally from the taskbar icon or All apps in Start menu?

 

In the account where I am trying to create the shortcut, Edge doesn't exist in any of those locations and a search for it does not show an app or application. In my admin account (local) and my other user account (a Microsoft online account), Edge appears in the tiles pane and the All Apps listing (Microsoft Edge, under M), and starts normally in both. So I know it is still on the computer, just can't figure out where!

 

Interesting, the shortcuts in the tutorial still work for me in build 11082. Please post the target paths you used to create the shortcuts with to see if anything may be wrong with them.

 

The most recent shortcut I created using method 2 has target location %windir% and target
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge

Copied right now from method 2
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge

They look the same to me, and I created the target by copying from your directions, so they should be the same. I just checked the shortcut properties for spaces at beginning or end, and found none.

 

Did you change or move the default location of where apps get installed?

What happens when type shell:Appsfolder in the address bar of File Explorer and press Enter? Does it open Applications?

 

No, I didn't change where apps are installed.

shell:AppsFolder does exactly what you said - opens Applications. No Edge or Microsoft Edge in the folder, though.

I went back to my other user folder, ran Edge, and used Task Manager to look at the properties of the running program:
- Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe
- Type: File folder (.Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe)
- Location: C:\Windows\SystemApps
I checked shell:AppsFolder in that account, and Applications contains Microsoft Edge. I right-clicked it and made a shortcut for it on the desktop, and checked properties:
- Target type: Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microso (cut off by right edge of pane)
- Target location: Applications
Target type was greyed out, so I couldn't mark, copy or scroll, but it was the same as Target type. All seems consistent with your directions.

 

I must admit that I'm not sure why the shortcut won't work for you then. *Confused

Microsoft Edge should be in the Applications folder though.

 

First attachment is list of items in problem account Applications folder.
Second is list of items in working account Applications folder.

Do you know from which folders the contents of the Applications folder are derived? I think the contents of AllApps comes from the superset of the following folder/directories:
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
I would assume that the contents of Applications are the superset of all executable shortcuts (i.e. not folders, not data files) within the directory trees beneath these directories? Plus others? I thought it was supposed to be everything on the machine, but that is obviously not true, if you compare the 2 attachments.

If/when I figure it out, I will post the solution . . .

 

To recap, my problem was that my Edge shortcuts in Start Menu and Taskbar got deleted, and the methods specified by Brink didn't work for me to recreate an Edge shortcut. I finally resolved my problem by (1) in an account where Edge was working, going to Applications (shell:AppsFolder), right-clicking on Microsoft Edge, and thus creating a shortcut on that accounts Desktop; (2) back in the problem account, copying the shortcut from the other user's account to the Desktop of the problem users account.

Somewhat strange behavior followed. First, the shortcut had a default icon, like a document page, but after 30 seconds or so, the Edge icon appeared by itself - I didn't have to use Properties to change the icon. The shortcut worked right away, bringing up Edge when double-clicked. Second strangeness - I suspected some automatic behavior was going on when the icon magically corrected itself, so I went back to Applications (shell:AppsFolder) and Microsoft Edge has magically reappeared. So somehow, a side effect of copying a good shortcut from another user to this user caused these side effects! Finally, the shortcut that I earlier created using Brink's Option 2 now works. I conclude that the reason it didn't work was that Microsoft Edge was not in the Applications folder, so now that it is there, the shortcut works.

Comparing the 2 shortcuts, both of which now work, there are notable differences:
- the Target type for the shortcut generated by Option 2 is Application, while for the shortcut copied from the other user, it is Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microso (right end truncated by edge of field).
- the Target location for the shortcut generated by Option 2 is Applications, while for the shortcut copied from the other user, it is %ewindir%
- the Target for the shortcut generated by Option 2 is "%windir%\explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge" and can be modified, while for the shortcut copied from the other user, it is "Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Micros" (right end truncated by edge of field) and is greyed out, i.e. not editable.

If anyone can point me to a resource that would explain all this strange behavior, I would be very appreciative. In any case, I have found a workaround to fix my problem!

My thanks to Brink for posting solutions in this thread, and for responding to my requests for help. While he didn't find the solution for me, he helped me to get there.

 

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted Bruce. Thank you for posting back with your solution. *Smile