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Add Run to Start menu in Windows 10 on the left or right side

Unlike the good old Start menu in Windows 7, the Start menu in Windows 10 do not come with an easy option to add the Run command. Many users prefer to have a clickable item to open the Run dialog. Personally, I love and always use Win + R keyboard shortcut, but for mouse and touchpad users who really miss the Run item in Windows 10's Start Menu, here is a very simple way to get something similar to Windows 7's Run command.

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This article is related to one of pre-release builds.
Please read the following article instead: Add Run to Start menu in Windows 10 RTM

Recently I covered how to customize the Start list (the left side of the Start menu) and how you can pin any app to the left or right side. Let's use the same trick for the Run command!

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Click All apps in the bottom left corner of the Start menu.
  3. Go to the Windows System folder at the bottom of the Apps list and expand it. You will find the Run command inside.
    windows system folder
  4. Right click it and pick Pin to Start from the context menu.
    add run to Start menu in Windows 10
  5. After that, the Run command will appear on the right side of the Start menu in Windows 10.
    Start menu with run in Windows 10

If you try to move it to the left side, you will be surprised to see that you cannot just drag and drop the Run command to the top left side!
Here is a workaround for that:

  1. Create a new shortcut by right clicking an empty area of the Desktop and enter the following command as the shortcut target:
    explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f3-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

    Run shell location in Windows 10
    The command above is a special Shell location, you can get the complete list of such locations here: The most comprehensive list of shell locations in Windows 8.

  2. Name your shortcut as 'Run' and set the proper icon from the C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll file as shown below:
    Name the shortcutRun icon from imageres
  3. Now drag the shortcut you just created from Desktop to the left side of the Start menu. You will get exactly what you want:
    Windows 10 run command in left

That's it.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

16 thoughts on “Add Run to Start menu in Windows 10 on the left or right side”

    1. But you can already.
      You can use drag and drop, it is mentioned in the related post.
      It just does not work for special items like Run.

  1. I prefer run commands over other ways as it seems faster to me. Here are some run commands which I use daily for opening various windows applications .
    On screen Keyboard – osk
    Calculator – calc
    WordPad – write
    Windows Media Player – wmplayer
    Windows Fax and Scan – wfs
    Snipping Tools – snippingtool
    Paint – mspaint
    Notepad – notepad
    Task manager – taskmgr
    Sticky Notes – stikynot

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