How to pin a website to the Windows 8 Start screen without Internet Explorer as default browser?

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[+32] [7] Paul Gregoire

[2012-11-04 15:46:28]

[ google-chrome windows-8 start-screen ]

[ https://superuser.com/questions/499486/how-to-pin-a-website-to-the-windows-8-start-screen-without-internet-explorer-as ]

I'm not sure if I like the whole idea of Start screen yet, but I would find it more useful with Stack Overflow as a tile in the group.

Is there a way to add the Stack Exchange sites to this screen and if so how?

My default web browser is Chrome.

If you switch to chrome in windows 8 mode, the option simply becomes available under bookmarks. And in case you don't like windows 8 mode: the tile still works after you switch back to desktop mode. - Dennis Jaheruddin

[+24] [2012-11-05 15:41:46] Matsemann

No need to use special programs to achieve this! First method works for all browser, and can be used to create shortcuts to all range of things. Second method is a Chrome only feature.

What we do is just to create a shortcut somewhere to the browser you'd like to open with websites as parameters.
Right click, select New -> Shortcut Select the browser you'd like. Mozilla Firefox is in Program Files, Google Chrome is in AppData.

enter image description here

Give the shortcut a name and finish. Then right click the new shortcut and select Properties. In the Target field, add the webpage to open.

enter image description here

Press OK, and then right click the icon again and select Pin to Start. enter image description here

Chrome only:
Chrome even has special built in features for this. Open up the webpage you want in Chrome. Then click on the menu icon, select Tools and then Create application shortcuts. Make sure the Start Menu is ticked and press Create. Tada! Now you have a Tile on your start menu, with the proper icon for the website, even.

enter image description here

Very nice! Too bad you didn't post this yesterday :) - Paul Gregoire

This other question ( superuser.com/questions/500134/… ) is for IE users only; you should post this there - Paul Gregoire

@Mondain hmm, that one got closed.. :) - Matsemann

[+19] [2012-11-04 15:52:58] Matthew Wong [

ACCEPTED]

The only way that I can think of is by using a app called OblyTile.

OblyTile ^[1]

What you want to do is create a tile that opens up Chrome or whichever browser you want to use but in this example I will use Chrome. Once you have found the file path for Chrome, in the arguments section below it you might want to use "--homepage http://stackoverflow.com" so that when you open the tile it opens up StackOverflow. (Someone can feel free to correct me on this)

[1] http://www.xdafileserver.nl/index.php?dir=Other/Oblytile

Worked like a champ - Paul Gregoire

No need to use OblyTile for this, see my answer. - Matsemann

[+8] [2012-11-04 15:55:18] Louis Waweru

Method for Internet Explorer (If not default browser)

Edit: This only works for IE and is not ^[1] necessary ^[2] if you already use IE as your default browser..

You can copy a URL shortcut to the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu folder, and it will appear as a tile on the Start Screen.

For example:

drag a shortcut from your browser to the desktop
drag the shortcut from the desktop to the Start Menu folder

For either method, if you want to change the icon, check out the program in Matthew Wong's answer, OblyTile ^[3].

[1] https://superuser.com/a/499491/68111
[2] https://superuser.com/a/499492/68111
[3] http://www.xdafileserver.nl/index.php?dir=Other/Oblytile

Now that is clever - Paul Gregoire

its not really necessary though - Taylor Gibb

(3) @TaylorGibb some people, myself for example, don't have access to the Metro version of IE because IE is not our default browser. - Louis Waweru

do you mean you cant use IE if its not your default browser? - Taylor Gibb

I just added a shortcut in that folder, but it doesn't seem to show on the start menu? - Razor

@Razor really, can I try to reproduce what you did? - Louis Waweru

(1) @TaylorGibb you can't use the metro ui of IE if its not set the defualt. - avirk

oh I guess I learnt something then :) - Taylor Gibb

@TaylorGibb yes, that's right. See this question. - Louis Waweru

@Louis right click on the desktop -> new -> shortcut -> www.google.com -> Google -> drag and drop on C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu -> press win key and no shortcut name "Google" - Razor

@Razor Sorry, you are right this isn't an answer. I used IE to create the shortcut, but it creates a Pinned Site Shortcut and not what I was expecting. - Louis Waweru

@Razor: When I create a shortcut like that, it also doesn't work. When I drag & drop the favicon out of IE onto my desktop and move that shortcut to the given folder, it works. - Oliver Salzburg

If you like my answer you should upvote it, not copy it. - Matsemann

@Matsemann I honestly didn't see it. - Louis Waweru

Ah, np then. Just leave your answer as it was, including our method. :) - Matsemann

[+7] [2012-11-04 15:56:07] page4096

If you're using IE10 just click the button on the address bar and click Pin to start.

Thanks for the answer but Chrome is my default - Paul Gregoire

This must be a Metro or RT thing because when I click on IE I don't get this interface from Start. - Paul Gregoire

[+5] [2012-11-04 15:56:23] Taylor Gibb

Open the Metro Internet explorer.
Browse to the website.
Click on the Pin and choose "pin to start".

Heres a picture of what it looks like on the start screen.

enter image description here

Thanks for the answer but Chrome is my default - Paul Gregoire

(3) Well why didn't you add that useful piece of information to your question? You got the answer you deserve. - Jeremy Visser

I didn't think about it at the time; it was my mistake - Paul Gregoire

[+3] [2012-11-29 14:29:38] Charles Boyung

You can do this in Chrome without anything additional. Just do the following:

Click on the settings button in the upper right
Hover over "Bookmarks"
Select "Pin this page to Start Screen..."

I don't know what version of Chrome added this, but it is available in the current version (23.0.1271.91 m)

Note: Chrome must be launched in Windows 8 Mode for this option to appear.

How do I launch Chrome in windows 8 mode you ask ?support.google.com/chrome/answer/2762879?hl=en - George

[+3] [2014-02-27 13:57:56] matli

None of the previous suggestions here really did what I wanted. So my solution is very similar to Louis', and it works fine with Chrome and probably other browsers as well:

Drag the favicon from the browser's address field to the desktop.
Drag the created shortcut from the desktop to the folder

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Go to the Start page, and move over to the page with all apps (the down-arrow in the lower left corner).
Locate your shortcut, right-click and select "Pin to start"