Can't pin certain desktop shortcuts to taskbar

Edwin said:

@ donwb :
Take that document and file it somewhere in C: not to be moved.
Go to your desktop and right click, choose 'New'>'Shortcut',
In the dialog type explorer then a space, then go to that file, press and hold 'Shift' then right click on the file and choose 'Copy as path', then paste that into the shortcut creation dialog and press 'Next'; name it whatever you wish and click finish.
File explorer icon will be the default but you can change it by right clicking on the shortcut, choose 'Properties'>'Change icon'. (You may have to round up an appropriate icon from the internet and store it in a place not to be moved, (remember it has to be an .ico type (icon file).
Then you can drag that to the taskbar and delete the desktop shortcut if you wish.

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First of all, my sincerest apologies for necroing this thread, but I needed to give credit where credit is due. This is my very first post in Windows TenForums and I hope to become a viable member of the community with what limited knowledge I may have.

I wanted to thank Edwin for his suggestion to tag the shortcut as an explorer file, thus tricking Windows into believing it is part of the explorer executable family. Through this quick and easy fix, I was able to pin a BAT file to my taskbar that was driving me absolutely INSANE. I went so far as attempting to make it into an executable file, but Defender would always flag it as a virus. By using this method and entering the BAT file path after "explorer", I was able to change the icon as well as set it up to execute as administrator, which bybasses all UAC warnings and other popups. Now, when I click the icon on my taskbar, it performs the BAT flawlessly and goes directly to my program, exactly what I was hoping to do from day one.

Thanks again, Edwin.

Some minutia about the result:

1) Even though you change the icon displayed in the taskbar, while the program actually runs it will display the default icon. That's because Window uses the icon built into the .exe.

2) What if you want multiple files displayed independently? For instance, I have an \Administration folder with loads of shortcuts to CCleaner, Belarc, etc., and a \Media folder with shortcuts to graphics editing software, etc.

Create a folder C:\Program Files\Taskbar-duplicates\ In that copy and rename Explorer. I have files Admin-explore.exe and Media-explore.exe. When you pin those, Windows doesn't see them as Explorer, so it displays them separately in the taskbar.

I have read.researched nearly every thread online and still can NOT get one thing to pin to the taskbar. Only icons are the 4 standard ones. What I have tried to pin does reside in the Taskbar folder, but every attempt is blocked. Added Taskbar to my "Send To" menu and didn't work. Tried creating bogus files, paths, etc. Need to find out just what could be preventing anything I choose to pin (all Program icons, such as Firefox, etc.) from being blocked! Running Win 7 Ultimate here and a nearly fresh install a month ago.

In some cases, you have to pin something completely different, then right-click the taskbar icon, select Properties, and change everything--file name and path, icon, etc. When you reboot you should see your program.

For multiple files of the same type you will need to combine that with my "copy and rename the executable" approach. Do copy and rename, pin something different, and then change the properties to those of the renamed copy.

Just a curiosity, let see if I can explain my situation. I keep all my files I create out of C drive. For many reasons. Like documents, notes, pictures and all data created from my apps installed. They will be saved on my D Drive (easy to backup). In this case, I want to have a shortcut of that folder from D drive on my taskbar. I like to keep my desktop clean. I don’t understand, it will let me create a shortcut to Star (that I never use) but not to taskbar. I do use hotkey a lot in Windows 10 but that’s bug me a little bit about not be able to do something simple as previous Windows

PS: I find an amazing app (and free) for Hotkey call MaxLauncher. I know we have more powerful Hotkey apps on the market but in my case that’s my main utility apps from now. I can setup everything in it and it’s user’s friendly I have many way to access my apps and folder (shortkey, touchscreen, select the Letter of the apps (without a specific hotkey) or by selecting with the cursor. So many way to access what I want without using explorer. PS: Make sure you backup your files for MaxLaucher if you gave a try because during windows update it didn’t like the reboot.

Thumb Up to you Guys that's a Great place here, with so much knowledge, it blow my mind every time I come

Yidam said:

... documents, notes, pictures and all data created from my apps installed ... will be saved on my D Drive (easy to backup). In this case, I want to have a shortcut of that folder from D drive on my taskbar.

You need to use a combination of the two techniques I described--use a renamed copy of explorer.exe and to link to that on the taskbar pin some other program, then change all the properties.

You do need to be aware that every time MS comes out with a version upgrade (Win 10 ver 1803, 1809, etc.) you'll need to re-copy explorer.exe. I wound up creating a batch file to re-do all the copies. This works with Win 7, 8, 8.1, and the various versions of Win 10, both Home and Pro.

Here are some examples. Each icon with T or H is linked to a renamed copy of explorer.exe, and clicking on the icon opens the appropriate folder.

Thanks mate, well done, I really appreciate your time and effort in this case. I can understand the idea behind. I will gave a try, meanwhile I will probably head up using my hotkey system. The idea to maintain at every Windows update sound an endless project to me.

Yidam said:

The idea to maintain at every Windows update sound an endless project to me.

It's a minor annoyance--you just have to copy explorer.exe from C:\Windows, then make copies with the substitute names. If you do the updates regularly, you have to do it once every 6 months. And if you set up a batch file it's even easier.