Creating Shortcut that opens program at a specific desktop location

Question

Is there a way to create a desktop shortcut that opens a program at a specific location on the desktop? (assuming the program is either less than full screen or there are multiple monitors)

Answer 1

For applications that save their location in the registry this can be accomplished by changing those registry values before launching the application.

As an example the following batch file opens Notepad at a specific size and location relative to the primary monitor.

@echo off
reg ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Notepad" /v iWindowPosDX /t REG_DWORD /d 800 /f
reg ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Notepad" /v iWindowPosDY /t REG_DWORD /d 400 /f
reg ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Notepad" /v iWindowPosX /t REG_DWORD /d 50 /f
reg ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Notepad" /v iWindowPosY /t REG_DWORD /d 100 /f
start Notepad

Answer 2

In general: no. It is up to each application to remember its own layout.

(Some applications could provide some kind of mechanisms -- as console mode shortcuts do -- to specify position, but that is unusual.)

Answer 3

open a program at a specific location on the desktop

This can be achieved with window management. Apply rules to any program window and specify size, location, transparency, etc.

Eusing's Auto Window Manager is a nice freebie, Actual Window Manager offers even more sophistication but it ain't free (for me, Actual Window Manager is a "must have", even more so with a multi-monitor setup), both programs work with Windows 7.

Answer 4

The version of UltraMon that I used on XP made this possible - haven't tried it on 7 tho.