How to create a Shortcut to a Windows Store App?

[them8os235 47]

Not quoting anyone from the first page regarding the discussion about beta and possible final/release delivery -- I understand why you want to use Store delivery of the beta and sounds great to me -- but I do have one observation regarding MS Store delivered apps in general.  That is I have not found a way to easily a) create a shortcut of it (preferred), and b) rename it.  So when I wanted to rename this beta from 'Emby' to 'Emby (beta)' I could not.  And Microsoft doesn't provide a way via the pop-up menu to make a shortcut, which could be renamed.

[softworkz 5066]

1 hour ago, them8os235 said:

Not quoting anyone from the first page regarding the discussion about beta and possible final/release delivery -- I understand why you want to use Store delivery of the beta and sounds great to me -- but I do have one observation regarding MS Store delivered apps in general.  That is I have not found a way to easily a) create a shortcut of it (preferred), and b) rename it.  So when I wanted to rename this beta from 'Emby' to 'Emby (beta)' I could not.  And Microsoft doesn't provide a way via the pop-up menu to make a shortcut, which could be renamed.

Start > All Apps > Emby > Emby

Now, drag-drop the icon onto the desktop or into an Explorer Window. This creates a shortcut which you can rename and put it anywhere you like.

[them8os235 47]

17 minutes ago, softworkz said:

Start > All Apps > Emby > Emby

Now, drag-drop the icon onto the desktop or into an Explorer Window. This creates a shortcut which you can rename and put it anywhere you like.

Silly me! lol. A big thank you.

Been using computers since the time of punch-cards. It reminds me of the 1st time I went to install a Mac app from a package a few years back and it popped up a panel showing two large icons and a swoopy (Amazon logo-like) arc'ed arrow from the left to the right one.  It was completely foreign and lost on me that that meant I needed to drag the left icon to the right one to trigger the installation process. very big lol !

[them8os235 47]

3 hours ago, softworkz said:

Start > All Apps > Emby > Emby

Now, drag-drop the icon onto the desktop or into an Explorer Window. This creates a shortcut which you can rename and put it anywhere you like.

I wanted to circle back to this.  I thought this would address the ability to rename Windows Store icons pinned in the Start menu.  Just got around to replacing the icon I had pinned.  And I'm finding that, tho I created a shortcut named 'Emby (beta)', pinning that to the Start will pin the original that is named 'Emby'. 

I'd normally go to the target at its location and make a shortcut of that and how I want it named would be maintained.  But as this is a Store app that location is unavailable to load, at least from the shortcut.  I did determine it from the Task Manager > Details.  But making a shortcut of that didn't load; not surprised. 

Sheesh ... From the "the grass is always greener" memories of the past wearing rose-colored glasses, forgetting about the warts of Windows of old ...can I have Windows XP back please?  Or even Win 10, 8, 7 (probably the best) or even Win Server 200x; everything was so much easier back then. lol

 

[softworkz 5066]

13 minutes ago, them8os235 said:

But as this is a Store app that location is unavailable to load, at least from the shortcut.  I did determine it from the Task Manager > Details.  But making a shortcut of that didn't load; not surprised. 

Yup, there's a lot of special sauce involved, unfortunately.

Here's a way that should allow you to achive what you want:

 

Manually Creating a Shortcut

you can manually create a shortcut using the app's URI.

Find the App's URI:

• Open PowerShell as an administrator.
    
• Run the following command to list all installed Windows Store apps:

• Locate the app you're looking for, and copy its AppID (typically in the form of Microsoft.YourAppName).

 

Create the Shortcut:

• Right-click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut.
   
• In the location field, enter the following:

Replace YOUR_APP_ID with the actual AppID you found in PowerShell.

Name the Shortcut and finish the process.

 

Edited September 18, 2024 by softworkz

[them8os235 47]

30 minutes ago, softworkz said:

Yup, there's a lot of special sauce involved, unfortunately....

Fantastic!

My good, however forgetful new friend "Google Gemini" has been doing a pretty good job answering PowerShell specific questions I ask it, and I would have got there after a few other tasks.  But Thank You for this, saving me from asking it for help in this regard.  Saves me the aggravation of where the conversation always seems to lead ... me telling it I need an answer that works on PowerShell v7, all starts good but it's not long into prompt/answer cycles into evolving my code that it ignores that and gives me an answer that doesn't work. Further queries uncovers it's for PowerShell v5.  And we get into this back and forth ... I don't want to hear apologies Gemini, I just want you to remember I only want answers for PowerShell v7, I've told you like 7 dozen times!!!  But I digress [grin]

Thanx Again!

edit: Confirmed, worked! 

For any readers wanting to do this too, I'll add I changed the short-cut's icon from the explorer shell to Emby's by getting it from this binary: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system\EmbyServer.exe ; tho that assumes your client is also the server, but it can be gotten from other places too.

Edited September 18, 2024 by them8os235

[softworkz 5066]

21 hours ago, them8os235 said:

but it can be gotten from other places too.

Like here: EmbyIcon.ico

[softworkz 5066]

(moved this into its own topic)