Add to 
You’d know that most of the shortcuts and programs when right clicked shows the “Pin to Start menu” context. However this isn’t possible for the folders. Most of the visitors of my blog are die-hard music, games etc fans and they would access these folders frequently, which usually leads to making shortcuts on the desktop, leading to more clutter on the already crowded desktop. Wouldn’t a simple option to pin the folder to the start menu come handy. Here are the steps which works both on Windows Xp and Vista.
“Pin to start menu” is not available for folder by default
Steps to add Pin to start menu for folders on right click
- Type regedit on run box and enter .
- Follow this path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
- Right click on the right pane and Add a new key Key > New
- Name the key with this string including the bracket.
- Now you can exit the registry editor.
- Now go to any folder you want to add to start menu, Select it and press Shift Key and then do a right click on it. Now you should see the “Pin to start menu appearing there”
Add that registry key to ContextMenuhandler
Now “Pin to start menu” Appears for folders
Being a simple hack its extremely useful for people who tend to access certain data in folders frequently. This is applicable to both XP and Vista. Enjoy fellows. I also would like you fellows to send me your findings and tips, easter eggs etc.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Simple Registry hack. Thanks for sharing. :-) Stumbled.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
thanks for the reply and stumble…. if you have such cool tips feel free to share.
October 31st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Cool little hack. Recently found your site, not sure where to put this, you guys seem up on your tech companies: Radical Spark (www.radicalspark.com) says they have this very cool web app, I hear people talking about it at conferences, speculating. I talked with a developer at the Ruby East conference in PA who said he was working on something *really* cool and I’m very curious as to what this is… Any idea what these folks are up to? Thanks.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I am fairly new to using computers and have no education in computing. I just learn things on a need-to-know/use basis. Therefore, forgive me if i am addressing a different task than the one in the article.
A lot of people don’t like, or have the confidence, to go dabbling in the Registry. Surely, i have found a very simple and quick way to achieve the task without going anywhere near the inner workings of one’s PC?.
I have a CCTV system that has a motion detector which - amongst several options - will send a series of images to my C:/Temp folder. In order to be able to access this instantly i undertook the following simple steps.
After typing into the IE address bar ‘C:/temp’
(1)Click the Favourites tab and ‘add to favourites’.
(2)Click the Favourites tab and right-click the icon for ‘C:Temp’, then send to desktop.
(3)Drag the icon to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
You will now have the ‘folder’ instantly available and the icon in view at all times.
Is this what is desired in the article or have i comically gone off at a tangent?. Please don’t fire a load of abuse, just let me know if i am on the wrong track.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Doesn’t work on Vista Home Basic 64bit with SP1.