Windows run menu

Reformist · Post by **Reformist** » December 12th, 2002, 4:13 pm

I'm wondering how to get phoenix to work with the windows run menu as other apps do. What I mean is, when I hit the run menu and type an installed program name, such as iexplore, opera, control panel, [desktop folder name], notepad, etc., they are all run by being given the program name.

I know phoenix currently extracts from a zip file and isn't installed "system wide" through install shield or some nonsense like that, but where can I place a shortcut so that when I run "phoenix," the browser starts up? In linux it's put in /usr/bin, so I can of course do it in linux, but windows..?

flii · Post by **flii** » December 12th, 2002, 4:16 pm

you can't go to your Program Files folder (or wherever you unzipped phoenix to) and send a shortcut somewhere? it almost sounds like you didn't unzip it... then again, maybe your comparison to linux is just going way over my head. dunno.

JediJawa · Post by **JediJawa** » December 12th, 2002, 4:34 pm

You could add the directory you unzipped phoenix into to your path variable.

On XP:
Control Panel->System->Advanced->Enviromental Variables->System Variables->path

xfranky · Post by **xfranky** » December 12th, 2002, 5:16 pm

Edit: [deleted... probably I was asleep when I wrote this... was tinking about WinXP's "most run"start menu...]

Post by **djst** » December 12th, 2002, 5:21 pm

This is the proper way to do it:

1. Use regedit and go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths"
2. Create a new key called "phoenix.exe"
3. In the default value, enter the full path to Phoenix.exe

Btw Sébastien, if you didn't add this key in your installer already, you should do it!

Reformist · Post by **Reformist** » December 12th, 2002, 6:15 pm

Adding the key (in the post above me) worked the way it should, thank you much for the helpful info. The path idea was interesting, but not the right way to do it, because the path variable had nothing in it besides 2 microsoft dirs, and it seemed strange to add phoenix to it. If there is going to be an installer, please have the reg entry in there, very important for us users with no start menu / desktop =)

flii · Post by **flii** » December 12th, 2002, 8:01 pm

wow. you must be completely out of my realm of understanding then. i still have no idea what the heck you wanted or why david figured it out and told you how to fix your registry from what you said. i must be getting old. (no comment from you, stefan.)

Post by **old Neil Parks** » December 12th, 2002, 8:19 pm

djst wrote:This is the proper way to do it:

1. Use regedit and go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths"
2. Create a new key called "phoenix.exe"
3. In the default value, enter the full path to Phoenix.exe

Btw Sébastien, if you didn't add this key in your installer already, you should do it!

Only if it's an option that I can reject when installing. I don't need or want Ph in my path.

Thumper · Post by **Thumper** » December 12th, 2002, 9:17 pm

Flii wrote:wow. you must be completely out of my realm of understanding then. i still have no idea what the heck you wanted or why david figured it out and told you how to fix your registry from what you said. i must be getting old. (no comment from you, stefan.)

the Windows Start menu has a "Run..." command which is sort of like shall invocation without having to open a command prompt. I find it's often quicker to go into that and stab in "mspaint" or "notepad" or whatever rather than having to clutter up my desktop with shortcuts or navigate menus. It's a bigger issue on Win95 without Quick Launch, but I still use it.

- Chris

flii · Post by **flii** » December 12th, 2002, 9:20 pm

he said he didn't have a start menu or a desktop though.... i know what the run feature is. however, i have all my links on quick launch on my start bar. two clicks, max.

Thumper · Post by **Thumper** » December 12th, 2002, 9:24 pm

Flii wrote:he said he didn't have a start menu or a desktop though.... i know what the run feature is. however, i have all my links on quick launch on my start bar. two clicks, max.

I'd wager he's using Litestep or another shell replacement.

- Chris

David James · Post by **David James** » December 12th, 2002, 9:34 pm

Would putting a shortcut to it in C:\Windows work? (that's where notepad and winipcfg, etc, are located). Mind you, I'm thinking as if a shortcut works sort of like a symlink in linux, which it probably doesn't.

scratch · Post by **scratch** » December 13th, 2002, 4:29 am

David James wrote:Would putting a shortcut to it in C:\Windows work? (that's where notepad and winipcfg, etc, are located). Mind you, I'm thinking as if a shortcut works sort of like a symlink in linux, which it probably doesn't.

That would probably work...

HW71 · Post by **HW71** » December 13th, 2002, 4:53 am

scratch wrote:That would probably work...

It works here on my side, but only, if I modify the original name of the created link

"Shortcut to Phoenix.exe.lnk"

to

"phoenix.lnk"

In this case the extension "lnk" is not displayed in explorer and I just have to enter "phoenix" in the "Run"-dialog and phoenix starts...

btw: I use also the possibility to add phoenix to the quickstart-bar, but if I want to call phoenix with the option "-ProfileManager" I need the possibility to call it from the "run-dialog" to do this in an efficient way... Of course there would be also the possibility to add a shortcut to the desktop or somewhere else, which calls phoenix.exe with the correct option, but starting from run-dialog is fine for me...

Post by **djst** » December 13th, 2002, 5:37 am

Neil Parks wrote:
djst wrote:This is the proper way to do it:

1. Use regedit and go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths"
2. Create a new key called "phoenix.exe"
3. In the default value, enter the full path to Phoenix.exe

Btw Sébastien, if you didn't add this key in your installer already, you should do it!

Only if it's an option that I can reject when installing. I don't need or want Ph in my path.

Just FYI: Virtually any installer adds this path to the program it's installing. It's not adding anything to the PATH environment variable.