Pin multiple Windows Explorer icons to Taskbar

[Mike Connor]

Give me a few minutes to edit together a quick video, I'll upload it to Youtube.

A video of you doing it? Oh well, if it helps.

I know it works, I have done it lots of times, because there are lots of people who want direct links to folders on their taskbars. The sequence I just did was practically "real time", and as you can see, it works.

If it is not working for you, then something else is amiss.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Mike Connor]

Ah, I think I may finally have an inkling of what is bothering you!

When you click on the icon, it naturally opens an explorer window to the target. This means that an explorer icon also opens on your taskbar.

There is nothing you can do about that, that's how the system works.

Is that the problem?

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Mike Connor]

Well, past my bedtime now. I am sure we can solve the problem. If you had it working as you wanted it before, then we can get it working like that again, as soon as we are on the same wavelength. I will have a look at your video first thing tomorrow.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Sorry for how long it took, I recently reinstalled Windows and was having trouble finding an editing program that could cut it together properly. Camtasia Studio wasn't accurate enough, Vegas wouldn't open the AVI files, neither would After Effects, so I had to convert the AVI files from Camtasia and the 3GP file from my phone into MP4 files, then edit it, then render...then upload. At any rate:

YouTube - drive pin test

As close to one continuous shot as possible. If you can, watch it in HD, just you can see what's going on.

And yes, I think that's the problem. You'll see in the video what I mean by "opening in it's own icon".

 

[Mike Connor]

Hmm....OK.

I think I know what you want. I will see if I can do it, and then post again.

Just to make sure I have everything straight. When you click on an Icon that the taskbar thinks is an application, it opens an explorer window, and an explorer icon on the taskbar.

If you click on another similar icon in the taskbar, then it too opens an explorer window, but uses the same explorer icon on the taskbar. You want two separate explorer icons in the taskbar, each pointing to a different window.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[allend66]

I have shortcuts to different folders in my "Links" folder with that open as a toolbar. I can customise the icons.

 

[Oaken]

Managed to do it for one drive the way you want it... if that's all you need?

Edit; works though only for one instance and any further explorer windows do not show in the Taskbar.

 

[Mike Connor]

As far as I know, there is no way to directly open separate instances of explorer as icons on the taskbar. When explorer is running then there is normally only one icon that points to whatever explorer window is active. You can use some tricks to open shortcuts from a folder, but I don't think that is what you want.

If you want two entirely separate taskbar icon instances for open explorer windows, then you need to use another application like "explorer++";

Explorer++ - A small and fast file manager for Windows

This will do exactly what you want. The two instances shown here, ( one is explorer, and the other is explorer++ , are pointing to the same target;



Here to different targets;



Here, with various tabs loaded in explorer++;





This is what the windows look like; ( I have switched off the toolbars etc in explorer++ as I don't need them, it is quite customisable);




Is that a workable solution for you?

Also, if you want more instances, then you can have multiple instances of explorer++ on the taskbar, ( it is considerably more versatile and powerful than Windows explorer ).



Each instance will open and close in its own Icon.

I made my taskbar a lot larger so you can see the results better;




Furthermore, if you want to save yourself a lot of hassle due to the limitations of windows explorer, you can use explorer++ as well. And you can also use this special add on for explorer which uses the basic explorer, but adds tabs and other extensive capabilities to it. It is actually a lot faster than explorer, as the developer has streamlined and very considerably improved some explorer functions;

http://qttabbar.sourceforge.net/

( This also works perfectly well alongside explorer++)

Here a couple of screenshots showing various functions etc;












Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Oaken]

Ok, here's the basics which will get you multiple Dives/Explorer instances pinned the way you require (will NOT open/show new/separate icon in taskbar)though you'll have to play with how new Explorer instances are grouped...

1. Create a folder such as "TaskBar (specials)" somewhere convenient for you.

2. Create shortcuts for the Drives you want to pin and move them to this folder.

3. R-click each shortcut > go properties > and change the Target to "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe A:\" (without quotes and substituting the drive letter/s you require).

:note: Note the space after ".exe" and before the drive letter.

4. R-click each shortcut and select "Pin to Taskbar"

Change Icons for each...

1. Hold down shift, right click the icon, and select properties.

3. Navigate to your chosen icon via the change icon button (apply/ok).

4. Restart Explorer by typing "TSKILL EXPLORER" (without the quotes) in the start/search box and hit return.

And that should do it?

 

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

I don't want to use a toolbar, I don't want to download any software or replacements. I didn't do either of those things before I reinstalled, when I had this working, so I know that's not what needs to be done.

Oaken, in reply to your second-to-last post (not the immediate previous one), I need two instances. One shortcut will, when clicked, open up an explorer window to my E: drive. The other will open up an explorer window to my site's FTP. I had this set up like this before I reinstalled, two separate icons, two shortcuts, each opened their own windows using their own icon. You can see in the video what I mean by "using their own icon". Instead of clicking it and having a new taskbar item appear, I should click it and the icon that I clicked should expand out and become the window's taskbar item. Here's a link to the exact point in the video where I try to explain what I mean:

YouTube - drive pin test

If it doesn't automatically, go to 1:56, the part where I'm talking about clicking Internet Explorer.

That's how I had it before, and I just don't remember how I did it. Something is making me want to think that I might have simply made a copy of explorer.exe, named it explorer2.exe, and pointed one of the shortcuts to it, that way one of the shortcuts would use explorer.exe and the other would use explorer2.exe. I'll try that and see where I get, and I'll also try Oaken's suggestion in his most recent post.

 

[Mike Connor]

Well, sorry if none of that helped. Hope you manage to find what you want.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Oaken]

Oaken, in reply to your second-to-last post (not the immediate previous one), I need two instances. One shortcut will, when clicked, open up an explorer window to my E: drive. The other will open up an explorer window to my site's FTP. I had this set up like this before I reinstalled, two separate icons, two shortcuts, each opened their own windows using their own icon.

The instructions in my very last post should do it - I have managed to pin all of my various drives separately in the way I understand you want it.

 

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Oaken, I followed your suggestion and, while it does pin the drives to the taskbar, clicking the shortcuts creates new taskbar items. I want the icon that I clicked to turn into that window's taskbar item.

I just noticed something though. Currently, opening an Explorer windows from anywhere, be it the Computer shortcuts on the desktop or Start menu, or My Documents, or anywhere else, opens a window using the E: drive shortcut as it's taskbar item. Clicking the E: drive icon itself does what it should, uses that icon as the taskbar item, but clicking the FTP site's shortcut also uses the E: drive icon as the taskbar item, and not the FTP shortcut's icon. I made another video explaining exactly what I mean by all this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Qqd6X6iTQ

Hopefully it can better explain what I'm having trouble explaining with words.