Windows 7 - Start Menu - Enable Folder and Library Pin to Start Menu

**Brink**

How to Enable or Disable Pin Folders and Libraries to Windows 7 Start Menu

Information

This will allow all users to use Pin to Start Menu on any folder or Library to pin it to the Windows 7 Start menu for easy access. By default, you can only pin programs to the Start menu in Windows 7 and not folders or libraries.

Note

Normally you can drag a folder to the Start button until you see Pin to Start Menu and drop it to pin the folder to the Start Menu.

This tutorial will the add the Pin to Start Menu option to the context menu of the folder or library so that you can also have the this option here.

Tip

A Pinned folder or library to the Start Menu will not expand to see it's contents. For this you will need to pin the folder or library to the taskbar instead.

Warning

From the Start menu All Programs area, you can only pin the folders you have added and not any of the default Accessories, Administrative Tools, Maintenance, and Startup folders. You can pin any folder or library from within Windows Explorer to the Start Menu.

EXAMPLE: Pin to Start Menu Enabled for Folders
NOTE: You will need to press and hold Shift and right click on a folder to see Pin to Start Menu.

EXAMPLE: Pin to Start Menu Enabled for Libraries
NOTE: You will just need to right click on a library to see Pin to Start Menu.

OPTION ONE

Through a Download

1. To Enable Folder and Library Pin to Start Menu -
A) Click on the Download button below to download the
Enable_Folder_Library_Pin_to_Start_Menu.zip file below.

B) Go to step 3.

2. To Disable Folder and Library Pin to Start Menu -
A) Click on the Download button below to download the
Disable_Folder_Library_Pin_to_Start_Menu.zip file below.

3. Click on Save, and save the .zip file to the desktop.

4. Open the .zip file and extract the .reg file to the desktop.

5. Right click the .reg file (On Desktop) and click on Merge.

6. Click on Run, Yes, Yes, and OK when prompted.

7. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg and .zip files on the desktop if you like.

OPTION TWO

Manually Through the Registry

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the search line, type regedit and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

3. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes to approve.

4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below)
Code:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
5. To Enable Folder and Library Pin to Start Menu -
A) In the left pane, right click on ContextMenuHandlers, and click on New and Key. (See screenshot above)

B) Type {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

6. To Disable Folder and Library Pin to Start Menu -
A) Right click on {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} and click on Delete. (See screenshot above)

B) Click on Yes to confirm the deletion.

7. Close regedit.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

Darius Darksaber · 04-13-2009

Hi,

I pinned a custom library (named Downloads) to the Start Menu without downloading the registry entries found in this thread. The problem was, I was unable to unpin the item from the Start Menu. Whenever I right clicked on it, I would get two options, open or properties. I tried deleting the library. Not only did the Start Menu entry not go away, but now when I right clicked and selected properties, I was informed the item did not exist. Still no option to unpin though, even for a non-existent item. So I went googling. With the enable registry keys provided here the issue was corrected. So this is more of an FYI, if this is released without those registry keys, then the custom libraries will need to be prevented from being pinned to the Start Menu.

**Brink** · 04-13-2009

Thank you Darius, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Interesting, I'm curious as to how you managed to pin the folder to the Start Menu without these registry entries though?

Darius Darksaber · 04-13-2009

Thanks. Well as to that, I didn't know about these registry entries, so I went looking for a solution myself. I'm a tinkerer at heart, so I tried a number of ways to get it to pin in place. The method that worked was to create a custom library, use the context menu to create a desktop shortcut, then pin the shortcut to the start menu. Then I deleted the shortcut and everything worked as intended. At least for 2 days until I decided I did not really want a downloads link on my start menu after all. What I really wanted was the ability to add it to the list of libraries on the right side of the menu. Haven't quite figured that one out yet

Darius Darksaber · 04-13-2009

After a little more poking around, this works without the custom library. To pin any library to your start menu, you can simply create a desktop shortcut, then drag that to the start menu to pin it. You just can't unpin it.

**Brink** · 04-13-2009

Using this tutorial, you should be able to just right click on any library in the Libray folder and click on Pin to Start Menu to do so instead, and Unpin from Start Menu to remove it.

**bobo3atlon** · 04-15-2009

Hi!

We can just drag folder from anywhere to start menu and pin...

**Brink** · 04-15-2009

Hello Bob, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yes, thank you that is true, but this will add the Pin to Start Menu option to the folder or library context menu so that you can also have it as an option to use to pin a folder or library to the Start Menu as well. Either way is good though.

bardos · 01-01-2010

thing is, if it doesn't display as a menu on mouseover, it's kind of worthless.

**Brink** · 01-01-2010

Hello Bardos,

It can be helpful if you wanted to use it as a quick shortcut to just open the folder from the Start Menu Pin To area. I agree though, you would be better off pinning the folder to the taskbar instead to be able to expand it.