Terminal: Add Windows Terminal on the Win+X menu

[SJang1]

Summary of the new feature/enhancement

Like #1060 but

1. just starting windows terminal. (not starting from the directory I am in.)
2. add at windows start button right-click context menu, not explorer right-click context menu.
   (Seems to be likely under Windows Powershell or replace Windows Powershell button.)

_Sorry that the language is not english, because of windows bug, I couldn't change language at this build of windows._

[arseny92]

off: inability to change system display language is not a bug for CoreSingleLanguage system SKU.

[SJang1]

@arseny92 I just can't get to language setting menu by the bug.

[markbarnes]

I agree. I also would like to see an option to have Terminal in the Power User menu.

[DHowett-MSFT]

There's a magic folder that contains shortcuts that show up in the Win+X menu, actually. It's somewhere in %APPDATA%\Microsoft!

[DHowett-MSFT]

We're tackling this in a different way; see #1466

[arseny92]

There's a magic folder that contains shortcuts that show up in the Win+X menu, actually. It's somewhere in %APPDATA%\Microsoft!

Just %APPDATA% is for Appdata\Roaming

The folder is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX (Not recommended to touch default groups, to not mess menu order). Just do a Group4 folder, put in a shortcut to shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App

CMD/Powershell Taskbar Settings toggle sets dword at HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced , DontUsePowerShellOnWinX and is pretty much not useful for this case. If only we could override that...

[Karl-WE]

There's a magic folder that contains shortcuts that show up in the Win+X menu, actually. It's somewhere in %APPDATA%\Microsoft!

Just %APPDATA% is for Appdata\Roaming

The folder is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX (Not recommended to touch default groups, to not mess menu order). Just do a Group4 folder, put in a shortcut to shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App

CMD/Powershell Taskbar Settings toggle sets dword at HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced , DontUsePowerShellOnWinX and is pretty much not useful for this case. If only we could override that...

There is a tool for this but beware the site is full of ads and lingering links
https://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.30
Download: https://winaero.com/request.php?21

[mikemaccana]

For an alternative idea, check out #1594 - which is about keeping the existing items in Win+X, but making them open using a preferred terminal app, that could be set to Windows Terminal (much like we set preferred web browser or preferred email client).

[zadjii-msft]

Or possibly #492, which is what I think @DHowett-MSFT meant

[BaconTentacles]

The folder is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX (Not recommended to touch default groups, to not mess menu order). Just do a Group4 folder, put in a shortcut to shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App

I tried doing the above, because that sounded awesome. Created a Group4 folder, and attempted to add some shortcuts. Noticed a couple of things straightaway:

1. Attempting to paste the shell:AppsFolder link into a shortcut (using right-click | New | Shortcut) results in the message that the file cannot be found. That was on my home PC. On my corporate PC, I think it said something to the effect that I couldn't use that file type or some such. Both PC's are running Windows 10 1909.
2. So, I went to shell:AppsFolder via Win-R, found terminal, right-clicked and saved a shortcut to the desktop, then copied that in.
3. Added a shortcut to Notepad for good measure. Just to see if something would show up.
4. Rebooted. Logged back in. Hit Win-X. Absolutely no change. Nothing shows up from "Group4".

I am reluctant to try the WinAero thing, but I guess I can give that a go.

EDIT: WinXMenuEditor did indeed allow me to add apps, but it also marked my original Group4 folder as "not supported". When I deleted it, then created a new group through the app, that worked (even with the same name). So I wonder if there is some special permissions that needed to be added.

What it did NOT allow me to do was add Windows Terminal. The shell:AppsFolder link absolutely did not work, and even navigating to %LOCALAPPDATA%/Microsoft/WindowsApps/wt.exe got me "The file cannot be accessed by the system." And pasting shortcuts into the newly-created folder also did not net me anything. So, this is frustrating as hell.

EDIT 2 - I was able to get this working by finding and downloading the HashLnk utility and "approving" the shortcuts in question. So, I created 2 shortcuts for WT (one straight up, one elevated), HashLnk'ed them, then was able to copy them into Group4, restart explorer, and have them show up. Hallelujah. And after prepending them with numbers, I was then able to see and edit them using WinXMenuEditor (which uses the Comment for the display value - sneaky). So, this is all set, but hoo boy what a fight.

[Karl-WE]

all suggestions around Win+X or default apps etc should be redirected to https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/492