Solved How do I locate program icon that is not on desktop?

[persius]

Hello
I would like to begin by apologizing if my question has been posted in the wrong thread.

Today I installed a video editing program but the launch icon failed to appear on the desktop. The only way I can launch the program is by going to "search" and typing in the name. This is rather inconvenient so I would like to know how to correct this issue in Win 8.1 and place it onto the desktop?

Thank you.

 

[cbwilsha]

In File Explorer, click on your C Drive and then on Program Files or Program Files (X86). Find your Program listed there and click on it. There will be one file in the ensuing list that ends in .exe. Right click on that file and select "Create Shortcut". It should be created on the Desktop or ask if you want it on the Desktop. And in most cases, there will be a unique Icon shown with the shortcut on the Desktop.

 

[strollin]

Instead of right-click and create shortcut which will create a shortcut within the same folder and then need to be moved to the Desktop, try right-click, then Send to->Desktop. Just a slightly more direct way to accomplish the same thing.

 

[cbwilsha]

strollin, your way is the way I used to do it also. But on my 8.1 laptop, right click produces a message "You can't create a shortcut here. Would you like to have it on the desktop instead?". Then you answer yes and it appears on your desktop.

EDIT: And I just checked my laptop with Win 10 OEM and another with Win 10 Insider Preview and they both are the same as the 8.1 machine.

 

[strollin]

Doesn't work that way on any of my Win 8.1 or Win 10 machines. Since you say it used to work my way for you, my guess is that you probably installed some 3rd party software that makes things work differently.

 

[cbwilsha]

"my guess is that you probably installed some 3rd party software that makes things work differently."

Nope!

 

[persius]

Hi guys.

To begin, cbwilsha, I followed your suggestion but on my PC (no fault of your own) the files I should have located were not there! Oh what a surprise. I actually did do that before posting my question but because I couldn't find it, I thought it was due to some new feature in Win8.

I finally got it to work when I sent to "search". I typed in the name of the program and selected and when the options listed, I selected "open file location" and just went there to create a shortcut.


Thanks to both of you for replying. Learning all the time.