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For convenience reasons I need to have a couple of desktop shortcuts for various sites which open in IE/Edge.

In Win8 I used the shortcut like "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" http://www.google.com/ to do so. Clicking on it opens a new IE window with a target site. Same shortcut works well in Win10, but, of course, it still opens the URL in IE, not in Edge.

Edge has different syntax, and a short googling around gave me the reasons to believe that cmd.exe "start microsoft-edge:http://www.google.com/" should do the trick. However, it does not.

Shortcut with this line just opens the cmd window and does little else. .bat file with the same string does the same. Opening cmd.exe manually and running start microsoft-edge:http://www.google.com/ works perfectly and does exactly what I want.

So, what I am doing wrong with the shortcuts? Any ideas?

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9 Answers 9

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Okay, I finally figured out how to make a desktop shortcut that will open a specific website in Microsoft Edge, even if Edge is not your default browser. My first solution previously posted here (under my real name Michael Kearney) only works the very first time you use it, then just doesn't work after that. Weird!

Note: If you already have shortcuts on your desktop created from another browser, skip to #4 below to modify those shortcuts. Also, if no shortcuts exist, it still might be easier to create the shortcut using a browser that allows you to drag your bookmarks (favorites) directly from the browser to a shortcut on the desktop, and then skipping to #4 below.

  1. In Microsoft Edge, add to the Favorites list the web page for which you want a shortcut. (To do this, click the star icon in the address bar once you're on the page you want.)

  2. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following location:

    %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe \AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default\Favorites
    
  3. Find your shortcut within the favorites folder, then right click it, then click "Send to" and then "Send to desktop (create shortcut)".

  4. (Only needed if Edge is not the default web browser) On the desktop, right click the newly created shortcut, then click properties. In the URL field, type microsoft-edge: just before the web address. For example: microsoft-edge:http://www.google.com

  5. (Optional) Right click the desktop shortcut, click Rename, and give it whatever name you want.

  6. (Optional) Right click the desktop shortcut, click properties, then click Change Icon. Browse to a folder you've previously created in C:/windows/system32 that contains custom icons (.ico files) that you've downloaded from various icon collection websites for free. You can also use already embedded icons, but those aren't any fun!

Hope this helps someone!

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Just try:

cmd /C start microsoft-edge:http://www.google.com/**
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  • This does exactly what OP is asking. I just tested it on my Windows 10 PC. The /c switch allows cmd to run the command then terminate.
    – Josh
    Sep 16, 2015 at 22:36
  • Simple and 100% working. Best answer!
    – MSX
    Sep 20, 2019 at 9:17
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You might try PIN MORE. I successfully used it for the same issue.

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(EDIT: Well, I tried my solution below, and I swear it worked for me the first time. After I posted this, I tried it again. This time, the shortcut simply opened Edge to it's default home page. So I'm not sure if I was imagining things or not. Ideas?)

There's another way to create specific website shortcuts on the desktop for Microsoft Edge. There's no need to write a batch file.

  1. In Edge, bookmark the page you want as a shortcut.
  2. While on that page, click the More Actions (3 dots ... in the upper right corner) button, then click Pin to Start.
  3. Minimize all windows so you have a view of the desktop.
  4. Click the Start button (welcome back!) and scroll to the bottom of the Live Tiles, where you'll find the newly created shortcut.
  5. Drag that shortcut to the desktop. The desktop shortcut to your specified web page is created!
  6. (Optional) Right click the desktop shortcut, click Rename, and give it whatever name you want.
  7. (Optional) Right click the desktop shortcut, click properties, then click Change Icon. Browse to a folder you've previously created in C:/windows/system32 that contains custom icons that you've downloaded from various icon collection websites for free. You can also use already embedded icons, but those aren't any fun!

That's it. Hope it helps.

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  • Checked - same result (opens the home page). I still haven't found a way to create native shortcuts with edge and use .bat files from the solution above.
    – Alexey
    Aug 9, 2015 at 22:10
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Here is what I done. I opened Microsoft Edge, once opened I then went to the three horizontal dots at the left hand side of the screen at the top. Click on that and once you do that a menu will appear click open in Internet Explorer. Once open create your shortcut like normal. Hope this help.

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You can open the page in internet explorer (right tab on upper corner three dots) and send the shortcut then to desktop. I hope this helps.

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Another technique to create desktop Internet shortcuts is to use the 3rd-party EdgeManage application. It will allow you to pick an existing favorite and quickly/easily generate a desktop shortcut.

It's actually a simple task... just do a "right-click" on a favorite and you'll find a "Create Desktop Shortcut" menu item

http://www.emmet-gray.com/Articles/EdgeManage.html

PS: I am the author

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Just create a shortcut with the following target:

%windir%\explorer.exe microsoft-edge:http://www.example.com
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  • This works for me perfectly under Windows 10 Pro 1809. I used "%windir%\explorer.exe microsoft-edge:" to create a shortcut that opens an empty tab page. Thank you.
    – Mario Awad
    Apr 25, 2019 at 22:27
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news opens BBC news providing edge is default browser: No need to mention edge. Works with any site and as often as you like. Activating the shortcut again, or another, opens a new tab: Haven't found a way to open new shortcuts in the same tab i.e. replacing last site.

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