Desktop Shortcuts

[StuartR]

It seems extremely difficult to add a desktop shortcut to Windows 11.

For example I want a shortcut for the DuckDuckGo web browser on my desktop. There doesn't seem to be an option to create a shortcut from the start menu, or from the taskbar, and the executable is not in a fixed location. Today it is at
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\DuckDuckGo.DesktopBrowser_0.67.0.0_x64__ya2fgkz3nks94\WindowsBrowser

How do other people manage this?

[HansV]

Try the following:
- Click the Start button or press the Windows key.
- Click 'All apps'.
- Scroll down until you see DuckDuckGo.
- Drag the app icon to the desktop and drop it there.

[StuartR]

That seems to have worked. I will now have to wait till Windows and/or DuckDuckGo get updates to see if it sticks this time.

[stuck]

As far as I understand it...

The path is not fixed because the application is a 'WindowsApp', i.e. it's an .MSIX thing not an olde worlde .MSI thing. Such apps are sometimes known as 'sandboxed' versions. If you use a traditional shortcut it is likely to fail when the WindowsApp updates. To handle shortcuts to these apps, the app in question needs to support 'application aliases'. Try this article:
    https://www.makeuseof.com/app-execution-aliases-guide/

That's all I 'know' of this behaviour and I'm not sure my understanding is right. I learnt it when Serif released version 2 of their Affinity suite of applications it caused no end of grief for users because users lost their Desktop shortcuts and trying to make new ones came up was tricky because the install location is a protected folder. In the face of user reaction Serif fairly quickly relented on only providing a .MSIX installer and peace broke out again. You can read about why Serif chose (and still push / prefer) .MSIX over .MSI here:
    https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index. ... nstallers/

Hope this helps.

Ken

[StuartR]

Thank you for the explanation Ken