There is no programmatic way manage pinned items on the start menu or the taskbar. The problem with allowing you to modify pinned items is that you might try to do it; and that is wrong.
The problem is that people, who are not the user, might decide to add items to:
- the desktop
- the start menu fast items list
- the quick launch menu
- the favorites menu
- the start menu pinned list
- the taskbar pinned list
Suddenly these areas become a dumping ground for every bit of junk that someone thought was too cool.
Those areas are for users. Not installers. Not IT.
That is why there's no way for anyone, except the user, to pin items to the start menu or the taskbar. If they let you: you might try to do it. Microosoft learned their lesson.
Applications still try to stuff their garbage on the desktop, and the user's Quick Launch - even when there no longer is a quick launch. Even Git, the current darling, does it:
![enter image description here](../../I/static/images/faa205c137a572e357c15c4d61cae78371fd20a1ae45c60b6aea030f48e674ff.png)
Developers cannot be trusted to do what's right.
To quote Raymond Chen:
Why is there no programmatic access to the Start menu pin list?
We learned our lesson the hard way.
In Windows 95, we gave programmatic access to the Start menu "Fast
items" list - the items that appear at the top of the Start menu above
the Programs list. This area was meant for the user to customize with
their favorite links, but programs quickly saw the opportunity and
spammed themselves into it every chance they got.
In IE, we gave programmatic access to the Favorites menu, and once
again, programs spammed themselves into it.
In Windows XP we intentionally did not give programmatic access to the
bold list of items at the top of the Start menu (the "pin list"). The
pin list is for users to put their favorite icons. It is not the place
for a program to decide unilaterally, "I am so cool. I am your
favorite icon. I just know it. So I'll put myself there because, well,
I'm so cool."
Because we knew that the moment we let people mess with the pin list,
everybody would install themselves into it and it would become
meaningless (and annoying).
Next Microsoft needs to figure out how to stop programs from adding shortcuts to themselves to the desktop.
Bonus Chatter
Looking up my old Quick Launch folder in Windows 7:
C:\Users\ian\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
Shows Foxit Reader thought it simply had to add itself there. Along with
If you are the author of one of those programs, you are an idiot. Stop putting your icons in the quick launch. Stop putting your icons on the desktop. Stop putting your icon on the All Users desktop. And i see that nowadays Chrome has found a way to bypass the Windows rules, and pins itself to my taskbar on initial install. Programs belong in the start menu, and nowhere else.
The Quick Launch folder still exists, but now it's simply a decoy for ill-mannered applications to dump their garbage into.
The Desktop folder should go the same way.
Another way (though it only works when the application is not running), is to Shift + right-click on the taskbar icon, then choose Properties and edit the Target field. – Indrek – 2012-05-03T14:41:30.627
@Indrek Its the Same Thing as I said in the Alternative Method. – Akshat Mittal – 2012-05-03T14:43:33.383
@AkshatMittal Not exactly the same. – Indrek – 2012-05-03T15:31:58.257
@Indrek Pressing Shift then Right Click on non-Active app opens the Same Menu with "Unpin" Option and "Pin to Start" options as on Right Click pin, Then Right Click the Application – Akshat Mittal – 2012-05-04T10:36:47.573
@AkshatMittal You're doing something wrong, then. Shift + right-click should open the standard Windows context menu, just as if you had right-clicked on the shortcut in Windows Explorer. The end result is of course the same as your alternative method - the Properties dialog -, but it's one click faster if the application isn't running, so it's not exactly the same. Anyway, I only mentioned it for the sake of completeness. – Indrek – 2012-05-04T12:16:38.010
I am Saying the Same Thing.. – Akshat Mittal – 2012-05-04T14:09:01.397
Awesome answer. Maybe change
C:\Users\<Username>
to%USERPROFILE%
in the path to allow people to just copy/paste the path. Thanks. – Meligy – 2013-08-30T01:29:44.857@Meligy Yeah! Updated. – Akshat Mittal – 2013-08-30T09:38:52.947