Pinned app shortcuts: Windows cannot find C:\Program Files...\<versionNumber>\identity_helper.exe

Brass Contributor

Our users have pinned shortcuts to Edge apps on their taskbars.

 

Lately, every few days users will get an error when clicking the Edge app shortcuts on the Taskbar:

 

Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\89.0.774.76\identity_helper.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

 

When you look in the Edge\Application folder, there's usually a folder with a different version number in there.

 

A reboot or logoff/logon usually clears the issue up, but users are (understandably) getting annoyed.

 

Any idea what's causing this and how to resolve it?

8 Replies
Hi,
please have them update to the latest version 90.0.818.39 and see if it still happens.
can download offline installer from here and deploy it on their computers too:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download
That's just it—I think this happens every time Edge is updated.

Is there a fix for this issue in that version?
I'm not sure but it's always good to stay up to date, don't know exactly what is fixed in that version.
what helps a lot is sending feedback from the Edge installation that is experiencing this problem.
from Edge's (...) menu button => Help and feedback => send feedback

that will send additional diagnostic data to developers.
We are aware of this one internally and are working on a fix. It's not fixed yet, though, so you may continue to see this. One interesting bit is that it doesn't happen to everyone - it's a timing issue when the browser updates and we do a bunch of work swapping out additional exe's (like identity_helper.exe).

Thanks for reporting this.
-John
I got the same message or the program would just not open when using any icons on the task bar, but when I went to the search and entered the program from there, the icons on the task bar started working. But I had to open all of the from the search before they would work on the task bar. All but one. One pinned app will not work and will cause message to activate. But can run it from startup or desktop, just not from the task bar. I have had this issue before no being able to open the files store for the task bar.

@Andrew Colombino 


It's some kind of joke!  - to hardwire as it were, the shortcut to a directory that has the version number as part of it's name. And then to update the version automatically  -breaking this shortcut!

 

My fix was to copy the directory within the parent directory and rename it to the directory it was expecting - fixed.

John, is there any update on this issue? Has it been fixed?

I can't tell if it's stopped happening or if my users have just stopped nagging me about it. :)