Solved Where is the "START" menu folder in Win7?

I guees under Win7 the START menu is internally represented as a folder where new, individual, own shortcuts to the actual files are inserted (similarly to WinXP).

Where EXACTLY is this folder located (under 64bit Win7).

Or are my own START menu files coded as Registry entries?

Peter

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1401-startup-programs-change.html

Per-user Startmenu: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
All user's Startmenu: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Hmm, this is not true:

I dragged the shortcut from one *.txt file on partition D: to the START menu
so that it appears as a clickable entry.

Now I look into the two folders mentioned by you.

But none of them contains a link/shortcut file to the just dragged file.

So is there another folder?

Peter

No, the locations I told you about are the locations for the startmenu.
Its not rocket science. Open the startmenu > right-click All Programs > Open (repeat for Open All Users)

I do NOT mean links inside "All programs"!!!

I mean for example the links "todo.txt" and to "WIndows XP Professional,vmx" (=virtual machine on Vmware basis).

See the attached snapshot and you will understand what I mean.

These links and shortcuts are NOT in the mentioned folders.
Again: They are NOT created by the installation procedure but by myself.

Try it out on your own system.

But where are these shortcuts placed physically?

Peter

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned

logicearth said:

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I needed.
Perfect!
Thank you
Peter

Alternate place to look...

It may also be that the shortcut you're looking for is under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Some programs in the start menu are inside one or more folders. I went to the Start Menu folder to create shortcuts that I could then place in the start menu OUTSIDE any folder to make starting the program a one-click process. However, some programs that are in the All Programs section of the start menu are not in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu. Where are they?

Start Programs Location

C:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs

That's the only place I was able to find where ALL of the actual things on my start menu were located.

Not everything is there

I would like to create a shortcut to Revo Uninstaller that does nor require going into a second folder. Revo IS on the start menu, but IS NOT in C:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs. Also, not all shortcuts on the desktop show up in C:\Users\Donn\Desktop.

Link shows in pink/salmon and can't be removed.

My W7 (Pro) start menu shows one link (QuickTime Player) as pink/salmon background and I cannot remove QuickTime Player from the start menu. (The option is there but it won't remove.)

The properties of the link points to \ProgramData\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs\QuickTime\"QuickTime Player.lnk"... the same place All Programs->QuickTime->QuickTime Player is.

If I go into the directory and change the name of the link to QT (no extension) it removes it from the Start menu and Programs->QuickTime-> is now QT (but I'd like it to remain as it was, QuickTime Player.

If I then change the link to QT.lnk it puts it back into the Start menu (as QT).

This is a non-admin user so if I change the user to be a member of Administrators (in case it requires Admin to remove from the Start menu) and log back into the user account the entire Start menu changes, adding on other links and the QuickTime Player link is no longer there. (I'm guessing administrators have some group policy menu difference.)

In the Unix world there are hard links and soft links. It seems M$ never got it right and the main link (Start->QuickTime Player) is pointing at the other link Programs->QuickTime->QuickTime Player so when the name is changed it changes in two places. (Kind of like a URL can be displayed as Click Here (or an image) when the URL is something else entirely.)

Why Start->QuickTime Player can't be deleted and why it's pink/salmon I have no idea. Does anyone out there know? How can I remove it from Start without affecting All Programs->QuickTime->QuickTime Player?

(Note QuickTime Player does not show up in the \Users\... directory structure either.)