Windows 10: How can I add programs to the All Apps start menu list?

Ok that got the folder to show up in all apps, and the indexing options to shop up, however other programs are not showing up in that folder.

 

How do you get your start menu looking like that? Utility, Drives etc etc?

 

You can rename the spacers by clicking the space to the left of the == when you create a new tile.

 

I don't know at this point ... the two times (DotA 2 and Indexing Options) you created new shortcuts outside of Start, they worked.

Try refreshing Explorer : explorer.exe Process - Restart in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums


Do the other shortcuts show up at all on the list (alphabetical makes it easy to find), just not in the 10 test folder you created?

The thing to keep in mind is that Start keeps track of items (where they are, what the names are).
For the best and easiest results building a folder in Start:
create new shortcuts from the .exe
give the new shortcut a new name
don't try to fool Start with two shortcuts to the same program, that won't wok.

When you have the shortcuts in a folder - move the folder to Start.

 

I have been working through this with the Microsoft support community and the Microsoft technical support as well. I have been abLe to reproduce the inability to add programs. It seems that any program that I have not previously pinned as a metro tile will work fine and be added to the all apps list but any program added as a metro anytime in the past is again added as a metro tile. It's repeatable with any file type.

It looks like what I need to find is the registry files that keep track of metro shortcuts and delete them. Tier 1 tech support was just baffled when I talked to them so I have to wait till Friday to talk to tier 2. The community support hasn't been any help after this realization either.

Any ways I can't test out any new solutions till tonight my power just went out so I am unable to access my desktop.

The file location in Programs Data has not worked at all for these programs as well I've had to use the folder in Appdata. Can't remember the exact file location but it can be accessed by opening Run and running "shellrograms"

 

Got my power back and while it was out I thought of a temporary solution till we can figure out what is wrong. I made a batch file that ran the exe I was trying to pin, made a shortcut to the .bat then added that shortcut. Its not perfect, but it works till we can figure this out.

 

I made this for the windows community support forums and figured I might as well link it here as well. This is how I can reproduce the issue. [youtube]R1PHWqaRXRA[/youtube]

 

That's pretty much what I've been trying to say - I couldn't find the Powershell script I had before, but I dis find this on MSDN. It might describe the timedate stamp a little better than I did. This goes back to Win8 and is specific to customizing Start with XML.

Still it might make things more clear. The key is the lastwritetime and the PowerShell updates that with the current time.

To use the script, you'lll have to change it to accept a parameter or modify it with the real name of the shortcut (.lnk)

[/quote] Source

That's all I have - good luck.

 

Thank you very much Mercarcher for a very exact pinpoint of this behavior.
The behavior is annoying from my point of view: Writing installation programs and instructions on how to open my programs. I think that shortcuts placed under Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs should always show up under "All Apps". No matter if they are also a tile.

I did some more testing and can add that

• The behavior is the same with the Windows 10 anniversary update (1607), for which I have also found that:
• Restarting Windows after removing the tile but before copying to Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs does not help. Same problem.
• If you do it in the more normal order: FIRST add to Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (often done by an installation program), THEN the user pins the shortcut to Start so a tile is shown you get a good behavior: The shortcut is BOTH shown as a tile AND shown under "All Apps" (I keep the term "All Apps" even though after the anniversary upgrade "All Apps" is now always visible as the second to the left column in the start menu). And if then the user then chooses to remove the tile, the shortcut is still shown under "All apps".
• If more than one shortcut to the same exe file is placed under Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs then only one of them is shown under "All Apps". This seems to apply even if the shortcuts have different names and are placed under different sub folders (sub menus) [not thoroughly tested].
• But if the Destinations in the shortcuts to the same exe file have (different) options (e.g. C:\Temp\MyProgram.exe /MyOption) then they are all shown under "All Apps" [not thoroughly tested].

Note that I did these tests on a PC with Windows 10 anniversary upgrade. It may be different prior to the anniversary upgrade.