windows 8
Desktop applications pinned to the new Windows 8 start menu have the icon centered inside the tile and a default background color (like in the left image). Is there any way to make a "metro" looking tile (like in the right image) for a desktop application?
You can open C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and add a shortcut there. It will appear both in the All apps list (on the Start screen, open the bottom menu and choose "All apps") and as a tile on the start screen itself. And it will also be available in app search. You then have to unpin the icon from the start screen by right-clicking on it and choosing Unpin from Start from the bottom menu.
For the local user's path, use C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder.
Those tiles are limited to Modern UI apps. It's possible for such an app to launch normal desktop applications, so all that's needed is to make a simple app that launches the proper desktop application and customize that app's tile.
However, making an app for each shortcut may be a bit annoying. Luckily, one app can have multiple tiles, so called Secondary Tiles. So what's needed is an app that can make custom tiles that launch different programs.
Even more luckily, someone has begun making such a program. It's called OblyTile. This will allow you to create cool looking tiles for non-Modern UI apps (desktop shortcuts).
Features:
Create an PNG image that will cover the entire tile. The size should be 120x120px. This image can have transparency (then the tile's background color will show). Optionally, also create a small version of the image, 30x30px.
My icons for a Firefox icon: small - big
They are white and transparent, so a bit hard to see. On grey background:
Run the OblyTile program.
Fill inn the name of the program, browse for the .exe file (or what you want) and select the two images. Then select a background color for your tile. Example:
This can also be done through command line / batch scripts:
start ob.exe "Firefox" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "" "fx_big.png" "fx_small.png" #f58d00 show
After doing this with a few tiles (Mail&Desktop tiles are not custom):
And the small image:
To remove a tile, just right click it and select Unpin from start
My icon are from this icon pack, but there's no need to go for the same minimalistic style as I did.
Best Answer
OblyTile will let you create Metro tiles to launch your desktop apps:
See Color 1, 2, 3,4 in the above screenshot.