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I have a .jar that I run frequently, and I'd like to pin it to the taskbar. I've tried pinning the .jar itself, and I've tried pinning a .bat file that has the command to run the .jar, but it doesn't work either. Is there a way to accomplish this?

gunit888
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  • I changed my answer choice to the javaw.exe version because it eliminates the command window issue. However, the cmd.exe is still a very useful trick to have available. – gunit888 Mar 14 '11 at 20:27

6 Answers6

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Similar to MJH's answer, but instead of cmd.exe, you could specify the following path to the executable to avoid having the Command Prompt showing up:

javaw.exe -jar "C:\path\to\your\executable.jar"

If you are the developer of the Java project, you might want to see my answer on StackOverflow as to getting it to play nicely with Windows 7.

Community
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Paul Lammertsma
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  • Thanks, this matches perfectly with what I wanted to accomplish. – gunit888 Mar 14 '11 at 20:26
  • Except maybe a pretty icon, perhaps. I couldn't get this to work (maybe a reboot is required?) but you could try `Shift` + right-clicking the icon, selecting properties and specifying an icon. I'm curious if you can get that to work. – Paul Lammertsma Mar 14 '11 at 23:22
  • I was able to assign an .ico file to the shortcut, but it was external to the .jar. Windows 7 doesn't seem to be able to look inside .jar files for icons, as far as I can tell anyway. – gunit888 Mar 15 '11 at 13:59
  • That's correct. Unless to wrap the JAR as a Windows executable (using [Launch4j](http://launch4j.sourceforge.net/), [JSmooth](http://jsmooth.sourceforge.net/) or some similar tool), this is really the only way of associating an icon with it. – Paul Lammertsma Mar 15 '11 at 14:01
  • eh, i dont get this answer properly. Should I make the *.bat as the command prompt execution using the above code? then make it (bat) pinned to the taskbar? coz i dont see any 'Pin to Taskbar' menu from that file.... – gumuruh Sep 18 '18 at 03:32
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    This is an extremely old answer and may be outdated, but the idea here was to create a shortcut as described in MJH's answer below. – Paul Lammertsma Sep 18 '18 at 09:23
  • Note: Replace the entire target string with Paul's answer. (Don't leave the cmd path or \C in there.) – takanuva15 Oct 30 '19 at 14:34
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  1. Create shortcut for cmd.exe

  2. Right click the shortcut and select properties.

  3. In the box for Target, go to the end of %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe.

  4. After that Target, type a SPACE and then /C, another SPACE and the path to the .jar file.

  5. Pin the shortcut to the taskbar.

You can also change the Icon or click the General tab and change the name of the shortcut if you wish.

Tamara Wijsman
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MJH
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    Thanks, that works. However, the cmd.exe window stays open, is there a way to have that automatically close once the .jar is running? – gunit888 Mar 14 '11 at 15:47
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as this answer says, you should only type in your target properties of your shortcut:

explorer "path_of_jar_file"

just this!

Mohammad_Hosein
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So, I solved this without needing to involve command prompt and the extra window. Basically you just create a shortcut to the .jar and then edit the path with a link to windows explorer in front. Windows explorer will almost always be on your C drive

The .jar i'm linking to is ripme

Here's what it looks like on my spare D drive. The line below is exactly as it appears in my shortcut.

C:\Windows\explorer.exe D:\ripme.jar

Here's what it looks like if i wanted to have the .jar on my c drive

C:\Windows\explorer.exe C:\Users\R\Documents\ripme.jar

screenshot example enter image description here

The aplication will launch as usual and you'll be able to pin the shortcut to the taskbar and change the icon as you please. Hope this helps!

Jim Pena
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For those having issues with the CMD window remaining open, you can do exactly like MJH described, but instead of /C try /C START and then the path to your jar file.

Patherros
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With MJH solution you can opt to run the cmd minimized instead of normal window to avoid having to close the window

Murtaza Chiba
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