The Windows 11 power user menu (Win+X) can be enhanced with custom shortcuts to your preferred applications and files. While Microsoft doesn’t officially support this customization, you can accomplish it using a specialized tool.
Adding custom shortcuts with hashlnk tool
The process requires careful attention to detail but isn’t overly complex. Here’s the complete walkthrough:
- Visit the Hashlnk GitHub page and download the
hashlnk_xxx.zipfile to your system.
- Navigate to your downloads folder, find the
hashlnk_xxx.zipfile, right-click it and choose ‘Extract all’.
- Select your preferred extraction location and click the ‘Extract’ button.
- Find
hashlnk.exein the extracted folder, right-click it and select ‘Properties’.
- Copy the file location path shown in Properties - you’ll need this later.
- Access the WinX folder by entering this path in File Explorer:
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX
- Inside the WinX folder, you’ll find Group1 (bottom), Group2 (middle), and Group3 (top) folders. Select the appropriate group for your shortcut.
- Right-click in the group folder, hover over ‘New’, and select ‘Shortcut’.
- Click ‘Browse’ in the shortcut creation window.
- Select the application or file you want to add to the menu.
- Click ‘Next’ to continue.
- Name your shortcut and click ‘Finish’.
- Verify that your shortcut appears in the group folder.
- Open Terminal through the Start menu search.
- Switch to Command Prompt using the dropdown menu.
- Run the hashlnk command with your paths:
"C:\Users\YourUsername\Downloads\hashlnk\hashlnk.exe" "C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX\Group2\YourShortcut.lnk"
- Sign out and back in to Windows to apply the changes.
- Press Win+X to see your new shortcut in the power user menu.