Bug: Pinning an EXE to Start menu results in displaying the wrong icon (Files app icon) in Start menu

[pratyakshm]

Description

When we pin an app (specifically, an EXE) to Start, the app icon in Start menu is that of Files app instead of it being that of the pinned app.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Open Files app
2. Locate any executable file
3. Right click > Show more options
4. Tap "Pin to the Start menu"
5. Open Start menu and observe the issue. While the app is correctly pinned, the icon is that of Files app instead of the EXE's app icon.

🧓🏻☁️⚠️
Rafael provided this GUID for your records: c65c0d4d-7e6a-4b3a-a2f6-9181f0f0743d

Requirements

Ideally, the pinned icon should be that of the executable file, not the app that made the pin.

Files Version

Version: 2.4.68.0, OS Version: 22624.1616

Windows Version

Windows 11 Beta 10.0.22624.1616

Log file

debug.log

[yaira2]

@pratyakshm thank you for your feedback, this is indeed a limitation we've had for a while, but one we that we should try to work around.

[pratyakshm]

@yaira2 Happy to help! Let me know if any other help is needed regarding this issue.

[Jay-o-Way]

As Simple as creating a .lnk shortcut, isn't it?

[yaira2]

As Simple as creating a .lnk shortcut, isn't it?

Unfortunately not, there are apis for pinning to the start menu but starting in Windows 11 they no longer allow you to set a custom icon.

[cardin]

Still reproducible in
Files 3.0.5.0
Windows 10.0.19045.3570

[gumbarros]

@yaira2 noob question to this problem (I also want this solved)

var path150x150 = new Uri("ms-appx:///Assets/tile-0-300x300.png");
var path71x71 = new Uri("ms-appx:///Assets/tile-0-250x250.png");

This is the cause of the problem right? We hardcode a generic Files icon because the Windows API wants a URI path, is this correct? What if we create a temp path with the icon encoded at base64 and pass to the URI? This would solve the problem?

Alternative solution, what if embed a base64 image (limitation: the image cannot be too large):
https://dotnetfiddle.net/1DsvtL

[yaira2]

That might work, alternatively we can try to find out how File Explorer accomplishes this and do it in a similar way.

[gumbarros]

That might work, alternatively we can try to find out how File Explorer accomplishes this and do it in a similar way.

I tried and it didn't work :(, also tried storing a custom icon at our appx directory, no success, just a blank icon. I saw some people at SO doing COM workarounds, but did not tried.