How to create a link to a website on the Windows desktop

If you regularly visit a particular site, it is possible to create a shortcut for such sites on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 desktop: when you launch it, the site will automatically launch in the default browser or the browser it was created with that shortcut.

This step-by-step tutorial details how to create a link to a site on desktop using Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Yandex Browser. It is possible to create a shortcut in a similar way in other popular browsers.

Create a link to a site or page on the desktop

Before I start describing ways to create a desktop web shortcut separately for each browser, I'll point out two universal ways that work the same almost everywhere.

Universal ways to create a shortcut to a website

The first is to use the drag and drop function (Drag and Drop):

1. Open the desired site in your browser and highlight its address in the address bar.
2. Drag and drop to your desktop.
3. A shortcut to this site will automatically appear on your desktop.

The second method is to manually create a shortcut:

1. Right-click on an empty area of ​​the desktop and select "Create" - "Shortcut" from the context menu.
2. Enter (or copy from the address bar) the full address of the site, including the protocol – https or http – in the “Specify object location” field.
3. Click “Next” and specify the display name of this shortcut and click the Done button.

Later, you can change the icon that appears in the shortcut's properties, to make it more in line with the site's content (it's also often easy for sites to the original favicon.ico icon and use it as the shortcut's icon) .

Create a desktop website shortcut in Google Chrome

If you use Google Chrome, all you have to do to create a website shortcut on your desktop is to follow these simple steps:

1. Open the browser menu (three dots to the right in the top bar), select More tools – Create shortcut.
2. Specify the name of the shortcut to create. If necessary, you can check the “Open in a separate window” option (otherwise it will open in a new tab) and click “Create”.
3. This will create a shortcut to the selected site on the desktop, and for most sites – already with the original icon.

In Microsoft Edge

In Microsoft Edge, the steps to create a website shortcut are as follows

1. Open the browser menu (the three dots in the upper right ).
2. Select “Applications” – “Install this site as an application”.
3. Set the name of the website and press “Install”.
4. The site will restart in application mode and you can check "Create desktop shortcut" in the window that appears.

If it is not necessary to open it as an application, you can do it in another way: in the Microsoft Edge menu, use “Other tools” – “Pin to taskbar” or “Pin to Start menu”.

Link to a website on desktop using Yandex Browser

Creating a shortcut to a website on the desktop in Yandex.Browser is implemented very similarly to Chrome, you just need to follow these steps:

1. Open the Yandex browser menu (three bars to the right in the title bar).
2. Go to “Advanced” – “Advanced Tools” – “Create Shortcut”.
3. Specify the name of the shortcut, check "Open in a separate window" if necessary.
4. Confirm the creation of the shortcut with the "Create" button.

That's it – the necessary website shortcuts have been created, you can use them. If there are any questions, ask them in the comments.