Solved Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

frustratedJP · Dec 14, 2009

I cannot locate my Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned folder. I have searched everywhere, and it appears to be non-existent. I have "hidden files" displayed. I have numerous items pinned to the start menu. The only items showing in the Quick Launch folder above are actual shortcuts reflecting the Taskbar and not the Start menu or the pinned items.

Clearly not a deal breaker for me, but frustrating as all get out. I have been relatively good this year, so I don't think Santa should be doing these kinds of things to me!

Can anybody tell me "where it went"???? Would be much appreciated.

Brink · Dec 14, 2009

re: Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

Hello JP, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Close, but the pinned items in the Start Menu are located in the hidden system folder below instead.

C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu

Hope this helps,
Shawn

frustratedJP · Dec 14, 2009

re: Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

Shawn, thanks!

My apologies - I was in the C:\User\(user-name)\ path. I should not have abbreviated as I did.

You refer to the file as "_hidden_": to make sure I am not missing something, I have Folder Options set to "Show Hidden Files and Folders" as well as to NOT "Hide protected operating system files".

If all of this is correct ---- the folder User Pinned is simply not present (or visible) inside the Quick Launch folder. Yet, there are 8 items pinned to the start menu.

Is there a way to find it's location thru the Registry??

I am running Vistax64 Home Premium, SP2 and all updates.

Thanks again for your initial reply.

Brink · Dec 15, 2009

re: Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

Strange, it should be there. Run a sfc /scannow command to see if it may be able to restore it for you. If not, then create a new adminsitrator account to see if it has one. If so, then you can copy all of the contents from your old user accounts C:\Users\(user name) folders into the corresponding new account's C:\Users\(user name) folders to copy most of your settings over to the new account. Aftrer everything checks ouy, you can delete the old account from within the new one.

kenny111111 · Dec 15, 2009

re: Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

Brink said:
Hello JP, and welcome to Vista Forums.
C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu[/B]

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hello

Mines not there either. I just tried it to see.

@JP. what is it you are trying to do?
If your trying to get rid of something on start menu just right click it and choose "remove from list"

If you trying to add something. here's some good information. if this is not what you are trying to do. I apologize. and i will just follow along. (and learn)

@shawn. Hope i'm not out of line. (breaking in like this)

good luck

PS: this is what I did. it lets you add almost anything to start menu.

Brink · Dec 15, 2009

re: Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

No problem Kenny.

JP,

It appears that location has been removed. I just checked in a new VM of Vista Ultimate SP2, and it's not there anymore.

It seems the only option is to manually pin and unpin them from the Start Menu instead.

frustratedJP · Dec 15, 2009

re: Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

Thanks guys for the replys and efforts. And Shawn, thanks for confirming what I was seeing - that it doesn't seem to be there anymore!

Of course, that begs the question ".... so, where DID they put it??"

As I said, it isn't a a critical issue for me. Started as a simple thing, and then escalated to one of those "but it can't be this tough" things.

Kenny, my original reason for wanting to know was: I use VMWare a bit and their command line args allow you so launch VMWare AND start the VM at the same time. Seemed like a great thing to pin to the Start menu. But if pin the vmware.exe, there is no apparent way to specify a command line. You can create a shortcut; specify the command line args there; then pin the shortcut to the Start menu -- but that indirection seemed "unnecessary". So I thought if I could find where the "pinned reference" way, I might be able to modify/create what I needed manually and have the best of both worlds. Hence, my quest for "where does it live"!

I've tried a couple of file and registry searches using text from the names of the pinned items and a few other "obvious guesses", but to no avail.

Ultimately, it just became one of those typically dangerous "runs down a rat hole" for something that bugged me and seemed like it ought to be pretty simple. Anyway...

Thanks again Shawn for confirming "it ain't there anymore".

JP

Brink · Dec 15, 2009

JP,

If it helps any, it is in Windows 7 if you plan on upgrading in the future.

frustratedJP · Dec 15, 2009

Thanks - yes it looked and you are right --- by some "magic" it appears as if it has returned! And of course, since it stores shortcuts there, it allows me do exactly what I wanted (which is to avoid having to create and store a shortcut "somewhere else" and create a level of indirection that is unnecessary.

OH well .... I think I'll just accept that in Vista SP2 it has been moved to someplace else and consider this closed for now.

Thanks for all the help.
JP

Brink · Dec 15, 2009

You're welcome JP.

It returned for you in Vista?? That's great news.

frustratedJP · Dec 15, 2009

Sorry, I din't mean to imply it was back in Vista. I did confirm what you had - that it is back in Windows 7 (which was what I meant to imply). It is still missing in my Vista x64 SP2 - so I guess Microsoft decided to put it someplace "not readily discoverable", as I still cannot find.

Brink · Dec 15, 2009

Oh, ok. Thank you for clarifying it.

Solved Help locating "User Pinned" for Start menu

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