How to pin FirefoxPortable (or other portable apps) to the Windows 11 task bar?


michielper

michielper

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I have several portable apps, such as FirefoxPortable, installed on a USB drive, that I would like to start from the task bar. I have searched for ways to do this but none of the suggested methods works so far. E.g. dragging a shortcut onto the task bar does not work. Is there another way?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo
michielper said:
I have several portable apps, such as FirefoxPortable, installed on a USB drive, that I would like to start from the task bar. I have searched for ways to do this but none of the suggested methods works so far. E.g. dragging a shortcut onto the task bar does not work. Is there another way?
Click to expand...
Hi @michielper , welcome to the Forums! :-)
When the app is open, right click on the Taskbar icon and choose Pin to taskbar.

6556.jpg

Problem is, if you eject the thumb drive, the pin will become an orphaned object and possibly leave a blank or dead taskbar icon!
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS ROG Strix
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS VivoBook
michielper said:
Is there another way?
Click to expand...
Copy the shortcut onto your desktop [assuming it is on an internal disk] then add explorer.exe to the start of its target field. Its context menu will then include Pin to taskbar.
e.g.
explorer.exe F:\Explorer++\x64\Explorer++.exe



Denis
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3447
Try3 said:
Copy the shortcut onto your desktop [assuming it is on an internal disk] then add explorer.exe to the start of its target field. Its context menu will then include Pin to taskbar.
e.g.
explorer.exe F:\Explorer++\x64\Explorer++.exe



Denis
Click to expand...
This seems to work indeed! Thanks for the tip. The target is now: C:\Windows\explorer.exe "G:\Program Files\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe". A little weird, I don't understand why this is necessary but it works.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo
michielper said:
I don't understand why this is necessary
Click to expand...
It's just a side-effect of how MS wrote the Taskbar code.
It's been like this since Windows 10 or possibly even earlier.
Pin to Taskbar an App, Drive, File, Folder, or Site - ElevenForumTutorials

You'd be able to pin other shortcuts using the same method - folder shortcuts used to work like this in Windows 10.
The one on the left is a shortcut to a folder. Pin to taskbar is not offered.
The one on the right is the same shortcut with explorer added to the Target field. Pin to taskbar is offered.
normal folder shortcut - normal.png - folder shortcut with explorer added to target field.png

I've added ExplorerPatcher to my Windows 11 so I cannot test standard Windows 11 behaviour in this respect at the moment. But here are the two equivalent Windows 11 shortcuts.
folder shortcut - normal - Win11.png - folder shortcut with explorer added to target field - Win11.png



Denis
 

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Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3447
michielper said:
I don't understand why this is necessary but it works.
Click to expand...
It's all about the 'path', how the OS gets to the executable file to run it. It's just like knowing which streets or roads to take to the store.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe M.2
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 4TB Seagate HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
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