Copying shortcut from Start Menu to Desktop in Win 10 (without Classic Shell)

This used to be so easy in Windows 7 and earlier...

Suppose you install a program and it creates an entry in the Start Menu |
All Programs | Software Package menu structure that is a shortcut to the
program's EXE file. To put a copy of the shortcut onto the desktop, you
right-click on the shortcut in the start menu structure and then select
Copy; then you right-click on a vacant bit of desktop and Paste Shortcut.
Job done.

Windows 8 didn't have a start menu, unless you installed Classic Shell which
gave you back the Win7 mechanism above.

Windows 10 does have a start menu tree structure with shortcuts to EXE
files - but... if you right-click on one, it does not have a Copy action.
:-(

I've found suggestions (eg on Tom's Hardware
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id...s-windows.html)
which suggest using File Explorer to navigate through the Program Files
structure to find the EXE file - making sure that you identify the *correct*
one - and then you can do the normal copy and paste shortcut.

But there must be an easier way of copying directly from the entry in the
start menu - surely...

I've not yet had chance to see whether installing Classic Shell solves the
problem, because so far I've only had access to other people's Win 10 PCs
(I'm not letting it bugger up my own PCs by removing Windows Media Centre
etc!). But I'd have thought that if MS have restored a start menu they'd
restore the ability to copy shortcuts from there to the desktop. Otherwise
how are you supposed to put icons for commonly-used apps onto the desktop?

On 26-Sep-15 10:33 PM, NY wrote:
This used to be so easy in Windows 7 and earlier...

Suppose you install a program and it creates an entry in the Start Menu
| All Programs | Software Package menu structure that is a shortcut to
the program's EXE file. To put a copy of the shortcut onto the desktop,
you right-click on the shortcut in the start menu structure and then
select Copy; then you right-click on a vacant bit of desktop and Paste
Shortcut. Job done.

Windows 8 didn't have a start menu, unless you installed Classic Shell
which gave you back the Win7 mechanism above.

Windows 10 does have a start menu tree structure with shortcuts to EXE
files - but... if you right-click on one, it does not have a Copy
action. :-(

I've found suggestions (eg on Tom's Hardware
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id...s-windows.html)
which suggest using File Explorer to navigate through the Program Files
structure to find the EXE file - making sure that you identify the
*correct* one - and then you can do the normal copy and paste shortcut.

But there must be an easier way of copying directly from the entry in
the start menu - surely...

I've not yet had chance to see whether installing Classic Shell solves
the problem, because so far I've only had access to other people's Win
10 PCs (I'm not letting it bugger up my own PCs by removing Windows
Media Centre etc!). But I'd have thought that if MS have restored a
start menu they'd restore the ability to copy shortcuts from there to
the desktop. Otherwise how are you supposed to put icons for
commonly-used apps onto the desktop?

For installed programs, you do have the right click option to "show file
location"; doing so takes you to the shortcut which you can then copy &
paste to the desktop.

"NY" wrote:

I've found suggestions (eg on Tom's Hardware
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id...s-windows.html)
which suggest using File Explorer to navigate through the Program Files
structure to find the EXE file - making sure that you identify the *correct*
one - and then you can do the normal copy and paste shortcut.


C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

C:\Users\[user account name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs


Those two folders should contain the shortcuts you wish to copy.

--
Joel Crump