create shortcut for non default browser

• General Windows

Create shortcut to open URL in non-default browser

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If like me you have Firefox set as your default browser in Windows but need to create a desktop shortcut to a web page but force it to open in Internet explorer or any other non-default browser there are two methods to achive this:

11 Steps total

Step 1: for windows 7.

For those with other browsers, different operating systems or just updated versions with different paths try just copying the shortcut from your start menu to your desktop (via drag & drop) and them appending the new shortcut with the URL.

Step 2: Method 1 – Create from Scratch

You will then be asked for the location of the item for the shortcut. Ordinarily you would just type http://the_url_you_want/ here but that would cause the page to open in your system’s default browser which is not what you want. Instead, copy and paste one of the following depending which browser you want to force the shortcut to open in

Step 3: Method 1 – To force open a URL in Internet Explorer:

To force open a URL in Internet Explorer: “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” http://url_you_want

To force open a URL in Firefox: “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” http://url_you_want

Step 4: Method 1 –

After copying the text, you simply past that into the item location field, replacing the “url_you_want” with your chosen url. For example, if you had firefox set as your default browser but wanted to have a shortcut to the url you want that always opened in Internet Explorer it would look like:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" http://google.com

Step 5: Method 2 – Modify a shortcut to the browser (step1)

What if you want to open in a browser other than IE or Firefox (Opera or Safari, etc). You can acieve the same result as Method 1 by first creating a shortcut to the browser program itself and then modifying this shortcut to include the URL or web page you want.

Step 6: Method 2 – Modify a shortcut to the browser (step2)

Click on Start, Programs and find the browser you wish to use. Click and drag the icon for the browser to the desktop from the Programs menu whilst holding down the CTRL key.

Step 7: Method 2 – Modify a shortcut to the browser (step3)

You should now have a shortcut to the browser on your desktop. In this example I have chosen Internet Explorer (see icon attached)

Step 8: Method 2 – Modify a shortcut to the browser (step 4)

All you need to do now is click on the target field in the properties page and scroll to the very end (or hit the End Key on the keyboard). You now need to type the URL that you wish to open at the end of this field, in the example to the right I have chosen http://blog.scoopz.com and appended this to the end of the target. Leave all the other settings the same for now and that’s the new shortcut done.

Step 9: Method 2 – Modify a shortcut to the browser (step 5)

From this shortcut page you can easily choose a Shortcut Key combination (CTRL+ALT+B, etc) to launch your shortcut instantly and choose whether to open the web page in a maximised, minimised or normal sized window.

Step 10: for x64 bit internet explorer is located (attached image)

(attached image)

Step 11: For IE10

Attached Image

• Create shortcut to open URL in non-default browser Opens a new window

Great write up thank you for sharing this how-to, the images help a lot.

Have to agree, having ready-made hyperlinks (that open in the appropriate browser) speed things up!

oh yes especially having a specific app open in a browser works really well

Thanks for this nice post but pls. add that a space is needed after the quotation marks " , and before we paste the web page address at the end of the target location of the Firefox shortcut-Properties as below:

“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” http://url_you_want

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How can I make a WIN 10 desktop shortcut open a link in Edge, even though Chrome is the default browser?

Chrome is set as the default browser on my Windows 10 computer. However, I want to create a shortcut on the desktop to YouTube.com that opens in Microsoft Edge. How can I do this?

• google-chrome
• microsoft-edge

• Just create a shortcut to Edge and set the home page to YouTube. –  Ramhound Jul 5, 2016 at 21:40
• See How to open URL in Microsoft Edge from the command line? . –  dxiv Jul 5, 2016 at 22:37

Create a new shortcut with the following Path:

You can then change the icon by right clicking and going to the Shortcut tab. From there, click "Change Icon" and click browse. Then go to C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe and click MicrosoftEdge to get its Icon. Finally click OK on all open dialog boxes.

• This worked great, thank you! If you happen to know of a way to hide the CMD window that briefly pops up, I'd love to know, but it's not a big deal. –  Richard M. Jul 6, 2016 at 2:23
• Create a shortcut with the following target, leaving out the CMD.. and Start part: microsoft-edge:http://www.youtube.com And, if you want to add Edge to the right-click menu, this script might help. Open .URL Files Using Different Browsers from the Right-Click Menu –  w32sh Jul 10, 2016 at 14:50

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