Shortcut to Open a URL With Your Non-Default Browser
When you create a desktop shortcut for a URL, it is going to launch the URL with your default web browser. What do you do if you want to create a shortcut to a URL, but have it open with a browser that isn’t set as your default? An example would be the Library Online Administration page. If Firefox is your default, you probably want to make a shortcut that will open it with Internet Explorer so that you can view the reports. Follow these instructions to create a shortcut that will open a URL with your non-default web browser:
Shortcut to Open a URL with IE When Firefox is Default
Shortcut to Open a URL with IE When Firefox is Default
- Click Start
- Click Programs
- Click-and-drag Internet Explorer to your desktop
- Right-click the new shortcut and select Properties
- On the Shortcut tab, click the Target field and move the cursor to the end of all the text
- Enter a single space and then enter your URL
- Click Apply
- Click the General tab
- In the text field at the top, give your shortcut an appropriate name
- Click OK
- Click Start
- Click Programs
- Click Mozilla Firefox
- Right-click the Mozilla Firefox icon and select Send To and then select Desktop (create shortcut)
- Right-click the new shortcut and select Properties
- On the Shortcut tab, click the Target field and move the cursor to the end of all the text
- Enter a single space and then enter your URL
- Click Apply
- Click the General tab
- In the text field at the top, give your shortcut an appropriate name
- Click OK
Nice. I like flexible, generic solutions with broad applications.
However, if Firefox is the default browser, users may prefer the IE View add-on to force specific pages into IE. It will switch to IE no matter how the site in question is launched (e.g. from another page, from email, from a shortcut, etc.).
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/35
Posted by: Greg Barniskis | 05/04/2010 at 11:19 AM
Thanks for this. I can now open gmail with Chrome even though IE is my default browser. However, I now get a Windows 7 Security Warning every time asking "Do you want to open this file?". How can I get rid of this?
Posted by: bobtarrel | 04/25/2011 at 12:16 PM
thank you for posting this information! Works great!
Posted by: Jo Burkhardt | 08/31/2012 at 07:17 AM
A client had the quotation marks in the wrong place so I am pleased that your post will help me sort it out for them.
Posted by: Steve Pringle | 09/06/2012 at 03:49 AM
This works with Chrome Also. I use it to open my gmail account. Love it.
Posted by: Bob | 11/13/2012 at 05:08 PM
Just what I needed, thanks much appreciated. Worked perfect.
Posted by: Eric | 02/24/2013 at 06:40 PM
Thanks for info....worked for me
Posted by: Mandeep | 04/26/2013 at 06:01 PM
I just wanted to say Thanks! This is a very useful tip...
Posted by: Michael | 01/13/2014 at 08:15 AM
Thank-you for such a great tip! Worked with Chrome also :)
Posted by: Carl | 02/17/2014 at 07:06 AM
Instead of telling people to drag the IE to their desktops you should tell them to copy and paste.
When I did this it removed it from my start menu and now I have no shortcut for IE in my start menu.
Posted by: xinunus | 04/01/2014 at 04:18 PM
What is the exact url for executing a shortcut on chrome? Just leave it here so I can paste it.
Posted by: Mephilel | 06/08/2014 at 07:11 PM
This was short and to the point, and it worked fantastically!
Thank you for the info!!
Posted by: Anonymous | 01/25/2016 at 03:14 PM
Thank you; you saved me hours of research.
I couldn't get Chrome to stop opening an
item on my desktop when I really wanted
Internet Explorer Version 11 (in Windows 7)
to open that file. Your first posting
worked perfectly on my first atttempt (even
though I'm not using Firefox).
Again, thank you!!
Chase
Posted by: Chase | 08/03/2016 at 01:02 AM
I tried this with Windows 10. After you set everything up and click apply, it enters http:// to the front of the shortcut. Of course then, it will try to open in the default browser and show an error. Any suggestions for Windows 10
Posted by: Jim | 08/09/2016 at 07:08 PM
@Jim, I got the same thing. Characters were added ahead of the shortcut, so it doesn't work.
Posted by: Pat | 09/12/2016 at 12:27 PM
If the above instructions are not working for you, then this will surely work. Even if you are in a work computer that will not let you change the default browser. This example is for Chrome, but will work with any other browser.
1) Right-click on your wall on the desktop. Go to New ► Shortcut
2) Click [Browse] and find the .exe file for your browser in your C: drive. My happen to be in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
3) When you see the location displayed, put the cursor at the end of the location and then space and put the webpage address link, in this example I use google's. DO NOT removed quotation marks from the browser address.
My looks like this: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" www.google.com
4) Click [Next], name your shortcut, and click [Finish]
5) Test the link. ☺
Posted by: Miguel Acevedo | 11/15/2016 at 02:50 PM
It worked just fine, Tks
Posted by: Dan | 12/19/2016 at 05:43 AM
Well it worked for me. Thanks for the post...
Posted by: David chris | 04/06/2017 at 02:09 AM
Thanks, just what I needed.
Posted by: Jean Bates | 04/07/2017 at 11:34 AM
If you already have a desktop link for the desired browser, then instead of steps 1-3 just do a copy-and-paste to create a copy of that desktop link, and then rename the copy as you wish (e.g., "HSBC in IE").
Posted by: Jack Gross | 05/11/2017 at 10:27 AM
Sir, if I open internet explorer I need to open google browser to open but it is opening some other. how to set has to open google browser.
Posted by: sai | 05/13/2017 at 01:42 AM
If you make a copy of your Chrome browser shortcut, or any browser (not a shortcut to a webpage, but the shortcut to the browser itself), you can follow the same steps as above.
E.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" http://www.microsoft.com/
However, if you try to do this from the shortcut to a webpage itself, it may not work. In my experience, the shortcut has to be to the browser, then you add the website at the end.
Good luck!
Posted by: David Rader | 05/16/2017 at 02:25 PM
If the Target website's name is too long, then this does not work
Posted by: Kevin | 06/07/2017 at 05:44 PM
Thank you very much, i need this, lately chrome is becoming stupid more and more, everything is blocked because 'connection not private'!!!
Posted by: Kiran | 06/10/2017 at 11:45 AM
FIREFOX KEEPS USING AN OLD PASSWORD
THIS MEANS I CANNOT OPEN A NUMBER OF FILES
WHEN I ENTER A NEW
PASSWORD FIREFOX OVERRIDES THIS AN ENTERS THE OLD PASSWORD AGAIN
HOW CAN I FIX THIS PLEASE?
Posted by: BILL ROWE | 07/20/2017 at 11:26 PM
Works like a charm! Thanks!
Posted by: Emil | 10/19/2017 at 08:40 AM
Works perfectly, thanks a lot!!!
Posted by: Lucia | 02/04/2018 at 09:55 AM
Is it possible to make weblinks in a similar way?
Posted by: TomasJsson | 03/15/2018 at 05:57 AM
Such a scenic view ,looks great. Lovely.
Posted by: Arsalan Ahmad | 05/14/2018 at 11:16 PM
mine just opens up a blank firefox session (i.e. does not navigate to the specified url)
is there anything you can think of that might be affecting this?
Posted by: Nick | 05/28/2018 at 05:42 PM
This worked great! Thank you for the information. Not only did I make the shortcut so that it opens my link in Chrome, but I moved the shortcut into my IE Favorites folder. So whenever I'm surfing the web like I normally do, when I need to go to that specific web site, it opens a new Chrome window - from IE!!
Posted by: Bob Campbell | 08/17/2018 at 10:52 AM
How do I do tho if I'm trying to open a link within html code so that hyperlink URL opens in Chrome instead of the default browser of IE (which we can't change, yet and we can't change any registry settings).
so I have URL That obviously doesn't work, it puts a file:/// in front of C:
Thanks.
Posted by: Kathy | 11/08/2018 at 04:27 PM
Great Tip!
Posted by: Jake | 10/05/2020 at 09:48 AM