Windows Vista and XP users can enable a pin to start menu for folders in the Windows Explorer. This will make it easier to access folders and files. To enable the pin to start menu for folders, follow these steps:

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Right-click on a folder and select Properties from the menu that appears.
  3. On the General tab, under Advanced, click on the button that says “Enable Pin to Start Menu for this Folder.”
  4. Click OK to apply the changes and close Windows Explorer. ..

There’s a registry hack that you can do to add this capability for folders as well… it’s not new, but still very useful.

Manual Registry Hack

To manually set up this context menu item, we’ll need to add an item to the right-click context menu. Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search box, and then browse down to the following key:

Once there, you’ll need to create a new key called {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} with no value.

That should be the only thing you need to do. If you want to disable this, just delete the key.

Downloadable Registry Hack

You can choose to just download and use the registry hack files I’ve provided at the bottom of this article. Once you unzip the file, you should see two registry files:

EnablePinToStart. reg – Enable the menu DisablePinToStart. reg – Disable the menu (deletes the key)

Using Pin to Start Menu

Find the folder you want to pin to your start menu, hold down the Shift key, and then right-click on the folder. You’ll notice the new item for Pin to Start Menu.

Now your folder should be pinned to the start menu…

 

I’ve found this to be very useful if you want to use the start menu for quick access to folders.

Note: This tip will not work if you are using the classic start menu.

Download EnablePinToStart Registry Hack