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How to pin portable apps to the windows 7 taskbar?

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February 1, 2014 - 4:02am
#1
Crogge
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How to pin portable apps to the windows 7 taskbar?

Dear Portableapps Community,

First of all I would like to say that I really like Portableapps and use most apps on a daily base.

The only issue which I have is that I can't pin apps to my taskbar, I understand that a loader is used for each app so it are actually two different binary files.

I found also this tutorial:
https://portableapps.com/node/31515

It creates the shortcut but I CAN'T move it to the taskbar it shows a red icon (Cause its a external drive?), I created a pin with the app "TaskBarPinner" but in the end I get the same result as with a general shortcut:
The app starts and a 2nd icon appears in the taskbar (Because the loader closes and the app itself starts).

So is there any way to pin portable apps properly with a single icon?

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February 3, 2014 - 3:14pm
John T. Haller
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External

Windows won't let you properly pin apps running from external drives marked 'removable' to the taskbar even with the hack.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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February 3, 2014 - 7:18pm
(Reply to #2)
Crogge
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I use a simple trick now so

I use a simple trick now so Windows thinks its part of C: -> http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2013/02/28/converting_2d00_a...

Now I can move shortcuts from the SD card directly to the taskbar, but the way described on https://portableapps.com/node/31515 still doesn't works for me.

e.g
C:\Users\xxxxx\PRVSD32\PortableApps\WinSCPPortable>mkshortcut -output Winscp.lnk -target "%cd%\WinSCPPortable.exe" -appid "C:\Users\xxxxx\PRVSD32\PortableApps\WinSCPPortable\App\winscp\WinSCP.exe"

It makes the shortcut but the -appid part is kinda being ignored, it still creates 2 icons due to the different binaries.

What am I doing wrong?

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February 3, 2014 - 9:28pm
(Reply to #3)
Crogge
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Nvm I found the solution on

Nvm I found the solution on my own, may make a tutorial as blog entry sometime:

e.g mkshortcut -output FixedShortcut.lnk -target "%cd%\PChatPortable.exe" -appid "S:\PortableApps\PChatPortable\App\PChat\pchat.exe"

Is working just fine IF this command is being executed on the LINKED C: path!

e.g C:\Users\xxx\PRVSD32\PortableApps\PChatPortable

So basically everything as its written in the tutorial above, but the command must be executed on a fixed disk link so the Portable.exe is being seen as local file.

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June 16, 2014 - 2:24pm
(Reply to #4)
azdayton
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Less Complicated Method

The easiest way for me is just to pin some other shortcut to the taskbar, then right-click it, right-click the program on the Jumplist pop up, and in the Shortcut tab, simply change the TARGET, START IN, and (NAME) fields to whatever program you want on whatever drive you want.

Note that some programs don't start normally, such as MS Office Apps, which dig into the O/S. So I usually start with something like Notepad.

Also note that the portable drive MUST be in place when you do this, as Windows will check the path when it modifies the shortcut.

Finally, if the portable drive is not in place when the machine is rebooted, the icon on the taskbar may turn to the default. One fix for this is to change the icon using one that's on your hard drive. That way Windows will find it when it reboots.

So, step-by-step:
1. Find Notepad in the Start Menu, right click it, and select Pin to Taskbar. Now you have a Notepad icon on your taskbar.
2. On the taskbar, right-click the Notepad icon you just created. When you right-click, a Jumplist pop-up will appear. In that pop-up, right click Notepad. That will cause a pop-up menu to appear. Click PROPERTIES.
3. In the PROPERTIES dialog, go to the SHORTCUT tab. In the TARGET field, enter the full path/filename to your portable app on it's flash drive or wherever it is. In the START IN field, enter the full path to the program file (or wherever you want it to start).
4. In the GENERAL tab, change the name (top field next to the icon, it doesn't have a label) to whatever your portable app is called. Otherwise it will continue to show "Notepad" when you hover over it in the taskbar. Smile
5. Optionally, click on the SHORTCUT tab again, then click the CHANGE ICON button. If you know where your icon is, Browse to it. If you want to use one of the default icons, delete the field that says "Look for icons in this file", then click OK. This will show the icons in the SHELL32.dll. As long as the icon file is on a drive always present at boot time, the icon will always be shown on the taskbar.
6. Click OK, OK, etc. to close all the dialogs, then test the taskbar shortcut.

Caveat: You're making an icon that doesn't relate to an installed program. Therefore, when you launch it, it will create another icon on the taskbar, similar to when you launch a program that doesn't have an icon on the taskbar. The new button will have the icon from the program itself, not necessarily the one you set in step 5 above. I don't know of a work-around for this. I usually make the icon different, so as to distinguish the "Launcher" from the program itself when it's running.

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November 2, 2018 - 10:41am
microguru
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You're missing one important step...

You're missing one important step. When editing the shortcut, "Start in" must be your profile directory. For example, C:\Portables\GoogleChromePortable\Data\profile\Default. This will group all Chrome together.

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