Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Is it possible to create an icon on the Desktop for IE without re-installing?
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The questioner had somehow lost the desktop icon for Internet Explorer. IE was still on the machine, but it wasn't at all obvious how to get the icon back.
Fortunately creating desktop icons for any program is easy. As with anything there are about half a dozen ways to do it. We'll review just a few.
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What most people don't realize is that items on the Start Menu can be dragged around. They can be dragged onto other submenus within the Start Menu, which moves the item or they can be dragged onto the desktop, which copies it. Try it - locate a program on your start menu like Internet Explorer, click and hold (this can be just a little tricky. Windows doesn't always seem to recognize the hold for me), and then drag it onto your desktop. Instant shortcut.
Windows explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer) is another place you can drag from, but it requires just a little extra caution. Fire up Windows Explorer (I use the "start" windows key + E, or right click on My Computer and select "Explore") and navigate to a directory that contains the file you want a shortcut too. To create a new shortcut for Internet Explorer we'll look for IExplore.exe which is normally "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE". Navigate to "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer", click and hold on IEXPLORE.EXE, and drag it over to your desktop. As you drag it over the desktop you should see the little curved "shortcut arrow" appear indicating that if you release it onto the desktop you'll be creating a shortcut. For many programs or other files the default action is to copy the entire file to your desktop - in those cases holding down the ALT key before dropping the file will cause the shortcut arrow to appear, and dropping the file then will create a shortcut to the original.
For our last example you can just right click on the desktop, select New, Shortcut and in the dialog that results, select the Browse button. Now expand directories listed there to locate the file you want a shortcut to; for example My Computer, C:, Program Files, Internet Explorer. In there we'll see IEXPLORER.EXE; click on that, hit OK, and then Next. Now enter a name for your shortcut (that's what will show on the desktop) and press Finish. You should now have a new shortcut for Internet Explorer.