Hello, everyone.

 

I’m trying to put a shortcut on the desktop for a new program I’ve just installed onto my Windows 10 PC, but can’t get the shortcut to work.  The shortcut appears on the desktop, but when I hit enter on it, nothing happens.

 

What am I missing?

 

Here are the instructions I used to create the desktop shortcut:

 

1. Press the windows key and search for the program.
2. When you find the program, do not press  enter, press the context key or shift F10.
3. Press enter on the open fie location option. The cursor is in the location of the executable file.
4. Press the context key or shift F10 again on the file.
5. Arrow to the send to submenu. Shortcut N.
6. Select the desktop create shortcut from this submenu, short cut D.
7. Check the desktop for the new shortcut.

 

 

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Tom Behler

 

 

Cathyanne:

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

Tom Behler

Cathyanne:

 

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

 

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

 

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

 

Tom Behler

 

 

From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of CathyAnne Murtha
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 10:33 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io; jfw list <jfw@groups.io>
Subject: Re: Having Trouble With Desktop Shortcut For Newly-Installed Program

 

You are creating a shortcut to a shortcut.

 

Follow your steps through number 3.

 

Copy the shortcut, CTRL-C.

 

Focus on the Desktop, WINDOWS KEY-D.

 

Paste the shortcut, CTRL-V.

 

That should fix your issue.

 

CathyAnne

 

---

CathyAnne Murtha

Access Technology Institute

www.blind.training

cathy@...

(520) 955-6611

 

CathyAnne Murtha

CEO

Access Technology Institute, LLC

www.blind.training

cathy@...

Phone: (520) 955-6611

On Mon, Sep 28, 2020 at 7:28 PM -0700, "Tom Behler" <tombehler@...> wrote:

Hello, everyone.

 

I’m trying to put a shortcut on the desktop for a new program I’ve just installed onto my Windows 10 PC, but can’t get the shortcut to work.  The shortcut appears on the desktop, but when I hit enter on it, nothing happens.

 

What am I missing?

 

Here are the instructions I used to create the desktop shortcut:

 

1. Press the windows key and search for the program.
2. When you find the program, do not press  enter, press the context key or shift F10.
3. Press enter on the open fie location option. The cursor is in the location of the executable file.
4. Press the context key or shift F10 again on the file.
5. Arrow to the send to submenu. Shortcut N.
6. Select the desktop create shortcut from this submenu, short cut D.
7. Check the desktop for the new shortcut.

 

 

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Tom Behler

 

 

OK, Just open the start menu and go to the programs and press shifgt plus F10 and then arrow to send to then arrow to send to desktop. This will place a shortcut on the desktop without messing around in files. If as sometimes happens in wildows 10 you dont get the option to send to then you will have to click open location then at that point copy and paste the shortcut to the desktop.

On 9/28/2020 7:42 PM, Tom Behler wrote:

Cathyanne:

 

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

 

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

 

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

 

Tom Behler

 

 

From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of CathyAnne Murtha
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 10:33 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io; jfw list <jfw@groups.io>
Subject: Re: Having Trouble With Desktop Shortcut For Newly-Installed Program

 

You are creating a shortcut to a shortcut.

 

Follow your steps through number 3.

 

Copy the shortcut, CTRL-C.

 

Focus on the Desktop, WINDOWS KEY-D.

 

Paste the shortcut, CTRL-V.

 

That should fix your issue.

 

CathyAnne

 

---

CathyAnne Murtha

Access Technology Institute

www.blind.training

cathy@...

(520) 955-6611

 

CathyAnne Murtha

CEO

Access Technology Institute, LLC

www.blind.training

cathy@...

Phone: (520) 955-6611

On Mon, Sep 28, 2020 at 7:28 PM -0700, "Tom Behler" <tombehler@...> wrote:

Hello, everyone.

 

I’m trying to put a shortcut on the desktop for a new program I’ve just installed onto my Windows 10 PC, but can’t get the shortcut to work.  The shortcut appears on the desktop, but when I hit enter on it, nothing happens.

 

What am I missing?

 

Here are the instructions I used to create the desktop shortcut:

 

1. Press the windows key and search for the program.
2. When you find the program, do not press  enter, press the context key or shift F10.
3. Press enter on the open fie location option. The cursor is in the location of the executable file.
4. Press the context key or shift F10 again on the file.
5. Arrow to the send to submenu. Shortcut N.
6. Select the desktop create shortcut from this submenu, short cut D.
7. Check the desktop for the new shortcut.

 

 

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Tom Behler

 

 

Tom,

Find the location of the actual programme on your computer (not the shortcut), and see if that runs

Will probably be installed in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86)

If you examine the file properties of the short-cut (alt-enter on the shortcut) it will tell you where the programme location  and executable filename is.

If you use the “run” command you should just be able to type in that name and if the programme doesn’t run still – you know the problem isn’t with the shortcut.

Cathyanne:

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

Tom Behler

Adding Desktop Shortcuts Under Windows 10
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041  

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
       ~ Lawrence Krauss

JM:

The program runs fine when I access it from the all apps list.

However, interestingly, I can’t access it via the windows R run command.  I double-checked the name of the program in the all apps list before entering the name into the run command edit box, but the program still won’t come up that way.

Again, though, it works just fine when accessing it from the All Apps list.

Tom Behler

Tom,

Find the location of the actual programme on your computer (not the shortcut), and see if that runs

Will probably be installed in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86)

If you examine the file properties of the short-cut (alt-enter on the shortcut) it will tell you where the programme location  and executable filename is.

If you use the “run” command you should just be able to type in that name and if the programme doesn’t run still – you know the problem isn’t with the shortcut.

Cathyanne:

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

Tom Behler

Hm…

When you use the run command though, do you get the “windows could not find…” etc error message, or does it just do nothing like when you activate the shortcut?

The name in alla pps and the name of the executable aren’t necessarily the same.

But it sounds like you already found the programme/location, anyway.

JM:

The program runs fine when I access it from the all apps list.

However, interestingly, I can’t access it via the windows R run command.  I double-checked the name of the program in the all apps list before entering the name into the run command edit box, but the program still won’t come up that way.

Again, though, it works just fine when accessing it from the All Apps list.

Tom Behler

Tom,

Find the location of the actual programme on your computer (not the shortcut), and see if that runs

Will probably be installed in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86)

If you examine the file properties of the short-cut (alt-enter on the shortcut) it will tell you where the programme location  and executable filename is.

If you use the “run” command you should just be able to type in that name and if the programme doesn’t run still – you know the problem isn’t with the shortcut.

Cathyanne:

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

Tom Behler

When using the Windows run command and going to the shellapps folder, the program does nothing, like was the case when hitting enter on  the original desktop shortcut.

Yet, when I use the shortcut key command that I created for the program, the program opens just fine.

At least I got that to work.

Tom Behler

Hm…

When you use the run command though, do you get the “windows could not find…” etc error message, or does it just do nothing like when you activate the shortcut?

The name in alla pps and the name of the executable aren’t necessarily the same.

But it sounds like you already found the programme/location, anyway.

JM:

The program runs fine when I access it from the all apps list.

However, interestingly, I can’t access it via the windows R run command.  I double-checked the name of the program in the all apps list before entering the name into the run command edit box, but the program still won’t come up that way.

Again, though, it works just fine when accessing it from the All Apps list.

Tom Behler

Tom,

Find the location of the actual programme on your computer (not the shortcut), and see if that runs

Will probably be installed in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86)

If you examine the file properties of the short-cut (alt-enter on the shortcut) it will tell you where the programme location  and executable filename is.

If you use the “run” command you should just be able to type in that name and if the programme doesn’t run still – you know the problem isn’t with the shortcut.

Cathyanne:

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

Tom Behler

Considering the shortcut key invokes the desktop shortcut – yeah that is pretty strange.

I personally never use the desktop by putting stuff on it and navigating around to find them. I’ll use it if I really want a keyboard shortcut to activate a programme, which, yeah, sometimes I do. Otherwise though, it always seems to me that there are more efficient ways to start something (for me, often that’s using the run box and just typing in the name, but I realise that isn’t going to be the case for everyone).

Does the programme have switches that are supposed to be invoked with the running? E.g.: programname /blahblah

If so, and the switches are not present causing the programme to terminate unexpectedly, maybe the programmer didn’t put in any error message to return on the display.

When using the Windows run command and going to the shellapps folder, the program does nothing, like was the case when hitting enter on  the original desktop shortcut.

Yet, when I use the shortcut key command that I created for the program, the program opens just fine.

At least I got that to work.

Tom Behler

Hm…

When you use the run command though, do you get the “windows could not find…” etc error message, or does it just do nothing like when you activate the shortcut?

The name in alla pps and the name of the executable aren’t necessarily the same.

But it sounds like you already found the programme/location, anyway.

JM:

The program runs fine when I access it from the all apps list.

However, interestingly, I can’t access it via the windows R run command.  I double-checked the name of the program in the all apps list before entering the name into the run command edit box, but the program still won’t come up that way.

Again, though, it works just fine when accessing it from the All Apps list.

Tom Behler

Tom,

Find the location of the actual programme on your computer (not the shortcut), and see if that runs

Will probably be installed in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86)

If you examine the file properties of the short-cut (alt-enter on the shortcut) it will tell you where the programme location  and executable filename is.

If you use the “run” command you should just be able to type in that name and if the programme doesn’t run still – you know the problem isn’t with the shortcut.

Cathyanne:

Unfortunately, that did not work for me.

In other words, I got the same results;  the shortcut shows up on the desktop, but nothing happens when I highlight it and press enter on it.

If you or any others have more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

Tom Behler

Brian:

I tried these instructions via the windows run command.  Once again, the shortcut was successfully created on the desktop, but hitting enter on the desktop shortcut does not launch the program.

Tom Behler

Adding Desktop Shortcuts Under Windows 10
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041  

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
       ~ Lawrence Krauss