Create shortcut to open URL in non-default browser
If like me you have Firefox set as your default browser in Windows XP 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:
Method 1 – Create from Scratch
Right click on the desktop and select New -> Shortcut:
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:
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
After copying the blue text above 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 http://blog.scoopz.com/ that always opened in Internet Explorer it would look like:
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" http://blog.scoopz.com
Method 2 – Modify a shortcut to the browser
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.
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.
You should now have a shortcut to the browser on your desktop. In this example I have chosen Internet Explorer (see icon to the left).
Next right click on the shortcut you just created and select properties from the popup menu. This should then load the shortcut’s properties page.
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.
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.
UPDATE Jan 2010 – As several users have pointed out in the comments, the above techniques do not work if you are running Vista or Windows 7 as the path to internet explorer EXE file has changed. In this case or if you want to apply the above to other browsers here’s what Xygris recommends:
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.
Thanks for the heads up Xygris.
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Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for
Do you know if it’s possible to include passwords in the shortcut field for html websites? I know it’s possible for ftp sites like this: ftp://user:pass@host.com
It doesn’t work for html websites though
Send me an email if you know how! Thanks in advance.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Thanks, this worked like a charm.
I know it was that easy but your website made me feel better about doing it and not looking like I did not know what I was doing.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Thanks, this was exactly what I was looking for!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Cheers, I was trying to get my hotmail shortcut to open up in ie and not firefox (default) without changing my default browser for web shortcuts. It was too easy
July 10th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Similiar to what I was looking for. Is it possible to have a bookmark located in the “bookmarks” list in your default browser (i.e. firefox) and when you open it, it opens in a different browser (i.e. IE)?
January 9th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
@Corey Z – It would be nice if you could have a bookmark in Firefox that then opens the bookmarked page in another browser (IE for example) but I don’t think that is possible. I’ve just tried a few different ways in my FF but couldn’t get anything to work.
There are plenty of plugins for FF though so it may be worth looking at some of them to see if one already exists, if not ask the FF community if somebody could be kind enough to knock up a simple plugin for you, I’m sure there can’t be too much involved.
If you do find a FF plugin that gives the desired result please do report back here with a link to it.
Scoopz (Admin)
January 12th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Do know if this what u r looking for but I use it for pages that only display correct in IE – http://ietab.mozdev.org/
January 29th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Cool tip
Thanks!
Btw, UK_Andy’s IE Tab is very useful as well. Goodbye IE
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:57 am
Nice answer; clear, correct and to-the-point. What answers should look like!
July 26th, 2009 at 1:01 am
I don’t know if it could help you guys, but i’ve programmed a dinamic website to run in my XP’s Active Desktop.
I had the problem that i wanted the desktop, which runs on IE, to open the links not in some IE window but in FF.
I achieved this by linking the FF.exe and passing the url as parameter.
Link from IE to FF
Notice the double quotes around the url as well!!
It keeps always asking if i want to open or save the exe but, it’s best i could.
Do you have any idea to avoid having to accept executing files??
I’m not building malware, only shortcuts to my most used folders, files and websites. I already tried LaunchinIE plugin but it won’t work for me :S
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Oh sorry i forgot i shouldn’t write correct HTML syntax to avoid the site hiding the code lol
Link from IE to FF
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
WTF?! I promise i wrote it unproperly!!
Well let’s write only the content of the A tag’s href attribute which is the important:
“…/firefox.exe “http://your_url”"
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
@David – Thanks for the info, sorry about wordpress giving you a hard time with the embedded HTML tags
I like the idea of having an active desktop with links to most used content and programs. I’m not sure how you could get around the nag prompt to open or save .exe files from the links though, there probably is a registry hack somewhere but I’ve not come across it yet. Let me know if you find out though.
Scoopz (Admin)
October 4th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
While using either method I get a message saying “problem with shortcut” then under that it says “‘C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”mail.yahoo.com’ specified in the Target box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct.
And all I can do is hit “ok”
I copied everything correctly (copy and paste) and as far as I can tell, did everything right.
Can someone tell me where I may have gone wrong or am I just the lucky one who can’t do this?
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:36 am
@LeonardG – It looks like you’ve missed a space after /iexplore.exe” [SPACE] and you also need to have the http:// infront of mail.yahoo.com
So it should look like
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” http://mail.yahoo.com
Try pasting that and see if that works?
Scoopz (Admin)
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
The previous poster that complained his shortcut does not work likely edited a firefox icon.
Also people that have installed IE7 or IE8 may need a new path for IE. Search for iexplorer and create the shortcut from the found program by right clicking and select send shortcut to desktop.
November 21st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Thanks for the thread.
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.
December 12th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I had the same problem as LeonardG.
Scoopz’ solution did not work. (Pasting the exact link he posted in his comment to Leobard G)
Xygris’ solution did work.
I’m running vista with IE8.
Credit to Scoopz. This is exactly what i needed.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:09 am
@Alex - Thanks for the feedback. I don’t have Vista on any work computers but now that a few people have said it doesn’t work with Vista I shall update the main blog entry with instructions for those on Vista based on Xygris comment.
Scoopz
January 15th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Hey Scoopz I just downloaded Chrome and i’m having some troubles with my original IE shortcuts ..
When I open the IE shortcuts i’m expecting it to go to the IE browser instead of the Chrome, but it won’t work ):
January 20th, 2010 at 6:49 am
Ok guys, that’s nice solution…But I’ve question here..I use Iron browser (sometimes FF), and I need IE for some work pages..
It would be perfect to modify a desktop shorcut in the way that it opens new tab in IE 7
any ideas?
kafe
May 6th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Thanks, works awesome i google chrome
May 16th, 2010 at 2:53 pm