Windows – Create MS Edge-specific URL shortcut

Surprisingly I found that IE9+ has this built-in:

In Firefox you can simply Paste & Go in the address bar (don't think there's any shortcut assigned to it).

I'm sure there are plenty of extensions for FF, Chrome and other browsers to open URLs directly from the clipboard.

If you want to stick with desktop shortcuts, here's something that might help. Get NirCmd, then modify your shortcuts such that they launch NirCmd first and it in turn opens the specified browser with the URL from the clipboard:

As the names state the shortcut on the left will launch IE with the URL currently in the clipboard, and the one on the right will do the same with FF. These are generic shortcuts that don't need to be modified every time.

The full Target lines from the screenshot are:

I:\nircmd.exe exec max "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" ~$clipboard$
I:\nircmd.exe exec max "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" ~$clipboard$

Modify as required, obviously. See the NirCmd help file for many more useful commands, variable names (such as "~$clipboard$") and the like. You could, for example, create a batch file that uses NirCmd to read a list of URLs from a text file and copy each one to the clipboard, or launch different browsers with each one and so on.

Okay, I finally figured out how to make a desktop shortcut that will open a specific website in Microsoft Edge, even if Edge is not your default browser. My first solution previously posted here (under my real name Michael Kearney) only works the very first time you use it, then just doesn't work after that. Weird!

Note: If you already have shortcuts on your desktop created from another browser, skip to #4 below to modify those shortcuts. Also, if no shortcuts exist, it still might be easier to create the shortcut using a browser that allows you to drag your bookmarks (favorites) directly from the browser to a shortcut on the desktop, and then skipping to #4 below.

1. In Microsoft Edge, add to the Favorites list the web page for which you want a shortcut. (To do this, click the star icon in the address bar once you're on the page you want.)

2. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following location:

   %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe \AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default\Favorites
   

3. Find your shortcut within the favorites folder, then right click it, then click "Send to" and then "Send to desktop (create shortcut)".

4. (Only needed if Edge is not the default web browser) On the desktop, right click the newly created shortcut, then click properties. In the URL field, type microsoft-edge: just before the web address. For example: microsoft-edge:http://www.google.com

5. (Optional) Right click the desktop shortcut, click Rename, and give it whatever name you want.

6. (Optional) Right click the desktop shortcut, click properties, then click Change Icon. Browse to a folder you've previously created in C:/windows/system32 that contains custom icons (.ico files) that you've downloaded from various icon collection websites for free. You can also use already embedded icons, but those aren't any fun!

Hope this helps someone!