Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Add Your Favorite Application Shortcut in Desktop Context Menu in Vista

Today I was doing some R&D in Vista registry as usual and I found that MS ppl hv also included "Open Command Windows here" option in desktop context menu, which is displayed while pressing the key (bcoz of the extended key). They put this option in following registry key:

Code:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\cmd

Which was not present in XP or other versions of windows. So a wicked idea came in my little naughty mind.

I created another key under "shell" key and set its "command" value to WMP path and VOILLA, it worked. I got it in desktop context menu and it was working fine.



So here is the full tutorial to add any application shortcut in desktop context menu:

1. Open regedit and goto:

Code:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell

now under this key create another key with any name and in right-side pane set its value to the label, which you want to show in desktop context menu, like Media Player, Winamp, Firefox, anything else.

2. Now create another key under this newly created key with name command. and in right-side pane set its value to the exact path of application, like:

C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe
C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe
etc...

3. Thats it. Now you can check your favorite application shortcut in desktop context menu.

4. You can create as many shortcut as you want. Simply create a separate key for all the applications.

5. Following is a ready-made code:

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\WMP]
@="Windows Media Player"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\WMP\command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Windows Media Player\\wmplayer.exe"
Just change the label and path to ur desired application and save with the name "vishal.reg" (including the quotes) and run it.

U can also set the application shortcut to show only when u press key by adding "Extended" String value in right-side pane of the newly created key:

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\WMP]
@="Windows Media Player"
"Extended"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\WMP\command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Windows Media Player\\wmplayer.exe"

Now thats another benefit to use Vista.
I hv checked this in XP but it wasnt working...

source : here

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi vinaya,
interesting posts you got out here. i'm a friend of Ajith John,and from him i learnt that you are quite a geek and a network administrator(saw the pingman blog).In fact recently I had this thing for ccna, but I havent got a clue about how the exam would be,or anything for that matter.I've come to know you've acquired both the ccna and the rhce.kudos to you man:)
so i thought you could shed some light on this matter...hoping for a reply soon.my mail id is jithug87@gmail.com