Those that live by the sword, die by the sword. Same goes for fans of Metro UI in Microsoft’s modern operating systems. Most fans of the new environment have completely transitioned to the new Start Screen and shiny new features like Live Tiles and charms.
But if you are the type that still lives and breathes the desktop, with only occasional ventures into the Modern UI, then this handy little trick is for you.
You can launch the Metro applications without going to the Start Screen — and all it takes is just a second or two. Microsoft has bundled in a way to access the very folder that houses the Modern UI apps installed on a particular computer.
Just launch the Command Prompt by typing “cmd” either via the search charm or on the Start Screen and once the window comes up, input this:
explorer shell:AppsFolder
Once you do that a folder will open up with all the Metro apps installed, and you can launch any Modern UI app by right-clicking it and selecting Open or just by selecting it and hitting the good old Enter key.
The fun does not stop here — there are a number of additional ways where you can create a simple script and place it on the desktop for quick access.
Just keep in mind that you can only access and run these Metro apps. Removing apps is not a possibility and the same goes for creating shortcuts to these on the desktop.
All Comments
Interesting discovery.
Yeah. Somewhat limited functionality, but interesting nevertheless.
Great discovery, but why take all that pain to do something you can achieve in just two simple steps? Still old habits never die,they say.
True, but could come in handy in some cases!
“The fun does not stop here — there are a number of additional ways where you can create a simple script and place it on the desktop for quick access.”
are there? what are they? that seems a better topic for an article than opening them from the command prompt.