Rename Win + X menu shortcuts in Windows 10

Microsoft introduced a feature menu from Windows 8, which is displayed by right-clicking in the lower-left corner of the screen or by pressing Win + X at the same time.

In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you can simply right-click the Start button to display it. This menu has shortcuts to useful management tools and system functions. However, it is not an adaptable part of the operating system.

The user can not add to the Win + X menu the applications and commands he wants. Today we will see how you can rename a Win + X menu shortcut without using third-party tools.

To access the Win + X menu in Windows 10, you have two options:

Right-click the Start button. Instead of the taskbar context menu, Windows 10 displays the Win + X menu.
Or, press the Win + X shortcut keys on the keyboard at the same time.

Win + X menu entries are all shortcuts (.LNK), but customizing the menu is not an easy task because Microsoft deliberately made it difficult to customize to prevent third-party applications from being abused and their own shortcuts being placed .

The shortcuts are all specific, transmitted via a hashing Windows API (shredding function) and the hash is then stored within these shortcuts. The presence of the hash in the Win + X menu says that the shortcut is special and only then will it appear in the menu, otherwise it will be ignored.

However, you can slightly modify the default shortcuts in the Win + X menu. Changing the "Comment" field to a shortcut does not break the hash sum and still allows Explorer to read it and use it as a name for the Win + X menu entry. This way, you can rename any shortcut in the Win + X menu. If you are confused by the hash function, just see that you can rename the commands in the Win + X menu easily and without any functionality problems.

How to rename Win + X menu shortcuts in Windows 10:
1. Open File Explorer and go to the disk where you have Windows installed (usually C).
2. Navigate to C> Users> Your_Name> Microsoft> Windows> WinX (alternatively copy-paste the following into the file exploration address bar:% LocalAppdata% \ Microsoft \ Windows \ WinX)

3. Open the Group1 (bottom), Group2 (center) or Group3 (up) folder to find the desired shortcut.

4. Right-click on the shortcut you want and select "Properties" from the context menu.
5. Enter the new name you want to assign to the shortcut in the Comment field.