How do I put a shortcut icon for solitaire on Windows 8 desktop?

I have a copy of Windows 8 RTM and I want to put a shortcut icon for solitaire on the desktop, not on the taskbar. Does anyone know how to do that?

What version of solitare are you referring to? The "real" version copied from another computer, or the messed up metro version?

I'm not sure if there is a way to shortcut individual items but, what you can do, is make a desktop shortcut to the legacy desktop, if you think this helps. (The Metro desktop is only a click away!) Do this:


Right Click on the desktop main screen, then choose "New" - "Shortcut" option
You will be prompted to paste the command for the location.
Paste this in the location field,

C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}

Then click "Next"

Name the shortcut anything you fancy (Metro Apps?)

P.S (for phailyoor). What is it you find "messed up" just curious.?

Hey Phailyoor and davehc. Thanks for your input. I have no Solitaire at present except the one that came with Windows 8 and it is on the tiles. I have tried to put it on the regular desktop but to no avail.The version of Solitaire that came with XP would be fine if I could just figure out how to put it on the desktop.

The one on the tiles is a Win8 app and doesn't run on the desktop. You'll always have to launch it from the Start Screen.
Probably there are some tweaks similar to davehc's, but a normal shortcut doesn't help.
I made my own desktop shortcuts from back in DP and they don't run like normal programs would.

So even if you manually try to make shortcuts from its location (Program Files) doesn't run because it will complain with something like "unable to run without a container". So the new Start Screen UI (part of the Explorer.exe) is the app container in this case, or that's what it looks like (no app developer here just a tester on my own).

Hey Hopachi,

Thanks for your input. I have three computers, all dual booted. I started with XP about 2000 which I still have and like.Then I tried Vista and didn't like it but it is still on one of the SSD's. I have XP on one SSD and Vista on the other on one machine. Each machine has two SSD's.

On the second machine I have XP, which my wife likes, and Windows 7, which I like.

On the third machine I have Windows 7, which I use all the time, and the RTM version of Windows 8 which I don't care for very much. Of course I am using keyboards and mice. I don't really care for the start screen on Windows 8 and am using the desktop. Since the computer is dual booted I have it set to open with the desktop instead of the start screen.I have all my icons on the screen except Solitaire and I have not been able to get that icon on the screen.

I have several HP printers and I have not been able to get any of them to work with Windows 8.

rilbet2
Midland, Texas, USA

rilbet2 said:

Hey Hopachi,

Thanks for your input. I have three computers, all dual booted. I started with XP about 2000 which I still have and like.Then I tried Vista and didn't like it but it is still on one of the SSD's. I have XP on one SSD and Vista on the other on one machine. Each machine has two SSD's.

On the second machine I have XP, which my wife likes, and Windows 7, which I like.

On the third machine I have Windows 7, which I use all the time, and the RTM version of Windows 8 which I don't care for very much. Of course I am using keyboards and mice. I don't really care for the start screen on Windows 8 and am using the desktop. Since the computer is dual booted I have it set to open with the desktop instead of the start screen.I have all my icons on the screen except Solitaire and I have not been able to get that icon on the screen.

I have several HP printers and I have not been able to get any of them to work with Windows 8.

rilbet2
Midland, Texas, USA

Click to expand...

You're welcome.

So you get to choose between XP / 7 / 8 that's nice.
I stopped with the dualboots when I decided to virtualize: you probably know that this allows you to run XP and 7 or any other system at the same time on Win8 (or on 7 or XP, you decide which one is the main system) and that the printers work there again, but this time no more dual boots.
If one day you decide to use this for printers in virtual machines: I recommend VMware Player. You can of course keep the dual boot systems if they work well for you and you use XP and 7 when you need them.

As for Win8 and the printers it's just a matter of finding the right drivers.
If there are no Win8 driver available yet, you can try installing the Win7 drivers (compatibility mode to Win7 can help) and if this also doesn't work, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until they make new drivers. Since you're dualbooting, print everything in Win7 for now if that's working fine.

As for the game solitaire: the new game in Win8 should be launched from the tile but if you still like the old one from Win7, you can get it working in Win8 again: What Happened to Solitaire and Minesweeper in Windows 8? - How-To Geek This is useful for people who use Win8 only and don't dualboot. This one can have a shortcut on the Desktop. If that looks too complicated, don't apply it, you are booting with Win7 and those games still work there.

Thanks

Hopachi