How can I create a desktop shortcut for a Windows 10 Universal app using powershell?

Question

I have a UWP app I created and want to use powershell to create a shortcut on the desktop.

Creating a shortcut is easy for an exe

$TargetFile =  \"\\         


        

Answer 1

To prevent your shortcut from having the standard Explorer icon. Change the $Shortcut.TargetPath like this :

$TargetPath =  "shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUi"
$ShortcutFile = "$Home\Desktop\Cortana.lnk"
$WScriptShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WScriptShell.CreateShortcut($ShortcutFile)
$Shortcut.TargetPath = $TargetPath
$Shortcut.Save()

This way the shortcut will have the same icon as the application.

You can also create a shortcut *.url via URI (if the application in question supports it) (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/launch-resume/launch-default-app) :

$TargetPath =  "ms-cortana:"
$ShortcutFile = "$Home\Desktop\Cortana.url"
$WScriptShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WScriptShell.CreateShortcut($ShortcutFile)
$Shortcut.TargetPath = $TargetPath
$Shortcut.Save()