How to pin to start menu using PowerShell - powershell

Question

I can pin some programs to taskbar on Win7 using PowerShell.
$shell = new-object -com "Shell.Application"
$folder = $shell.Namespace('C:\Windows')
$item = $folder.Parsename('notepad.exe')
$verb = $item.Verbs() | ? {$_.Name -eq 'Pin to Tas&kbar'}
if ($verb) {$verb.DoIt()}
How do I modify the above code to pin a program to the Start menu?

Answer 1

Another way
$sa = new-object -c shell.application
$pn = $sa.namespace($env:windir).parsename('notepad.exe')
$pn.invokeverb('startpin')
Or unpin
$pn.invokeverb('startunpin')

Answer 2

Use the code below
$shell = new-object -com "Shell.Application"
$folder = $shell.Namespace('C:\Windows')
$item = $folder.Parsename('notepad.exe')
$verb = $item.Verbs() | ? {$_.Name -eq 'Pin to Start Men&u'}
if ($verb) {$verb.DoIt()}
Note: the change is in the fourth line.

Answer 3

The main problem with most of the solution is that they enumerate the verbs on a file, search for the string to perform the action (“Pin to Startmenu” etc.) and then execute it. This does not work if you need to support 30+ languages in your company, except you use external function to search for the localized command (see answer from shtako-verflow).
The answer from Steven Penny is the first that is language neutral and does not need any external code. It uses the verbs stored in the registry HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{90AA3A4E-1CBA-4233-B8BB-535773D48449} and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8}
Based on this, here’s the code we are now using:
function PinToTaskbar {
param([Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$FilePath)
ExecuteVerb $FilePath "taskbarpin"
}
function UnpinFromTaskbar {
param([Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$FilePath)
ExecuteVerb $FilePath "taskbarunpin"
}
function PinToStartmenu {
param([Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$FilePath)
ExecuteVerb $FilePath "startpin"
}
function UnpinFromStartmenu {
param([Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$FilePath)
ExecuteVerb $FilePath "startunpin"
}
function ExecuteVerb {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$File,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$Verb
)
$path = [System.Environment]::ExpandEnvironmentVariables($File)
$basePath = split-path $path -parent #retrieve only the path File=C:\Windows\notepad.exe -> C:\Windows
$targetFile = split-path $path -leaf #retrieve only the file File=C:\Windows\notepad.exe -> notepad.exe
$shell = new-object -com "Shell.Application"
$folder = $shell.Namespace($basePath)
if ($folder)
{
$item = $folder.Parsename($targetFile)
if ($item)
{
$item.invokeverb($Verb)
# "This method does not return a value." (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb787816%28v=vs.85%29.aspx)
# Therefore we have no chance to know if this was successful...
write-host "Method [$Verb] executed for [$path]"
}
else
{
write-host "Target file [$targetFile] not found, aborting"
}
}
else
{
write-host "Folder [$basePath] not found, aborting"
}
}
#PinToTaskbar "%WINDIR%\notepad.exe"
#UnpinFromTaskbar "%WINDIR%\notepad.exe"
PinToStartmenu "%WINDIR%\notepad.exe"
#UnpinFromStartmenu "%WINDIR%\notepad.exe"

Answer 4

See the script (international) here : http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/b66434f1-4b3f-4a94-8dc3-e406eb30b750
If you want to add an action like Pin to Modern UI interface (Windows 8), at $verbs, add 51201

Answer 5

Steven Penny's second answer above worked well for me. Here are a couple more tidbits.
It's doing COM through PowerShell, so you can do the same thing with pretty much any COM client. For example, here's an AutoHotkey version.
Shell := ComObjCreate("Shell.Application")
Target := Shell.Namespace(EnvGet("WinDir")).ParseName("Notepad.exe")
Target.InvokeVerb("startpin")
VBScript or InnoSetup would look almost the same except for the function used to create the object.
I also found that I have one program that pinned OK, but didn't have the right icon and/or description because of limitations in the compiler. I just made a little 1-line WinForms app that starts the target with Process.Start, and then added the appropriate icon, and the name I wanted in the Start Menu in the Title property in AppInfo.cs.