Create folder start menu windows 10
Show The Windows 10 Start Menu is like the gift that keeps giving. Every corner is odd behaviour or barely documented fun which can lead to a high level of “WTF” moments. The latest one for me is all around the creation of custom folders within the Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 Start Menu, a simple request, that has next to nothing documented (that I could find) around the behaviours and expected outcomes. Big shout out to James Rankin who was my first point of call for any weird Windows 10 junk that I couldn’t wrap my head around. We beat the same wall on this with two different heads. Here was the simple request spawning from a Citrix Discussions post. “Add a custom folder to the Windows 10 Start Menu”. Easy you say (easy I said)….well it is, as long as you understand the limitations and behaviours around how the Start Menu behaves Vs what happens in the file system. This may be well known, and I am simply thick, but here goes the outline. The left-hand side of the Start Menu is made up of two main sources of “shortcuts”
The Start Menu will combine
The Lesser Known NastiesAs with all things Windows 10, there is a surprise in store. There are rules that apply. Rule 1: IndexingThere is some sort of index process that aggregates these sources together. As such, there is a rule that mandates the Start Menu will only display What this means in English is that while you can specify It appears that a custom created Start Menu Folder housed in the user profile The images below display the behaviour of the
Rule 2: The Empty VoidThe Start Menu will not display empty folders. That’s a lot of fun when you are testing the creation of a custom folder. The basics, I guess… Rule 3: Moving the ShortcutsIf you move the executable from one custom folder to another, the Start Menu will not always auto adjust on the fly if housed in the Common Start Menu Location This behaviour differs in the user profile based Start Menu
The last image outlined below shows the Start Menu Structure once I have moved the The keen eye can see that Windows is ignoring the move from
Summary and Lessons LearntMore I learn the more I realize the less I know. Seems to be a relevant statement in this era of Windows 10. I was disturbed to find post after post of people struggling with this concept, hit and miss results and even some simple feedback that was accepted as “couldn’t be done”. 5 bucks says everyone fell into the same trap of copying shortcuts or using common shortcuts that already existed in the Start Menu. So here are the lessons learnt:
That’s it. Until it’s not. Can you add a folder to Start menu in Windows 10?Add Folder Locations to Windows 10 Start Menu. To add or remove locations on the Start menu, head to Settings > Personalization > Start. The easiest way to get there is to right-click the desktop and then Personalize. Next, scroll down, and in the left panel, click Choose which folders appear on Start.
How do I add programs to the Start menu folder?How to Add Programs to Startup Windows 10. Right click on the app icon on the desktop.. Choose Open file location from the context menu.. The executable file (.exe file) will be selected in the opening folder by default.. How do I make a custom Start menu in Windows 10?Head to Settings > Personalization > Start. On the right, scroll all the way to the bottom and click the “Choose which folders appear on Start” link. Choose whatever folders you want to appear on the Start menu. And here's a side-by-side look at how those new folders look as icons and in the expanded view.
How do I create a group in Start menu?Create Your Own Tile Groups on the Start Menu
Just drag the tiles you want in a group to an open area of the Start menu. In the following example, I pinned some system settings to Start and made a group of system settings tiles. I dragged everything I wanted into an open area of the Start menu.
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