Forum Discussion
User can not create Desktop shortcut
Hello,
i have migrated an application from MSI to MSIX. The application is used by 9000 users and some users created a desktop shortcut for themself.
Now, i delete the MSI on every PC and deploy the MSIX to the users. The desktop shortcut, which they manually created, doesn't work any more.
Now the users ask me how they can create a new desktop shortcut and i have no answer. The users can pin the app to the taskbar, but i don't know how the can pin the app to the desktop.
I think that Microsoft recommends that user preferences are exclusively chosen by the user. So the user should have the posibility to create an desktop shortcut for an MSIX application.
Best Regards
Frank
- Hello Frank
Try this command in a cmd box / terminal "explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder". There is a list of Appx applications. With the right mouse button you can then create a shortcut on the desktop.
6 Replies
- Hello Frank
Try this command in a cmd box / terminal "explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder". There is a list of Appx applications. With the right mouse button you can then create a shortcut on the desktop.My post was deleted, so I'll rephrase it. After a little time, two of the shortcuts I've created using this method disappeared, became white papers. After restarting the computer, only one remained with its original icon. After updating the only one who still had its icon, it completely disappeared (not leaving just a white paper, completely vanished from the desktop). This is a very failed solution; it's very difficult to find out and it only works for a little time. Hope my comment is not deleted again without an explanation.
This works, but after using the computer for a little time, or restarting, all the shortcuts lose their icons (replaced by a blank page). This is a very weird solution and a very weird behaviour. How is a normal user supposed to find this out for something so simple as creating a shortcut?
- So are you saying that there isn't an option for a user to right click a start menu shortcut provided by MSIX and pinning it to the desktop? I see the next insider release is catering for Desktop shortcuts using a dependency that must extend the functionality. It wasn't clear on the used case as it just said providing shortcuts to desktop which we would discourage being installed by the MSIX deployment in Enterprise environments as it will soon the clutter the desktop if enforced.
- It seems like the latest release of MSIX Packaging Tool 1.2023.1005.0 caters for creating a desktop shortcut if you include a pre-requisite in your package although i've not tested it yet. That said if that is the intended solution it will need configuration on every application to allow a user to create this for themselves again with the new MSIX package.
