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Smalls 2 Junior Developer

Find the file you want to have a run command for

Ex.
Microsoft word - I would rather type "word" than "winword"
Find the file
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE
I've got Office 07 it might be different from what you might have, I'm not sure

Right-click winword.exe
tell it to copy

goto c:\
because some versions of windows
won't let you directly copy something into the "Windows" directory
Right-click a blank space
tell it to paste a shortcut

Rename it to what you want to type in the run command box
for "winword" i renamed it to "word"

then drag it to the "Windows" folder

Vista users - UAC should pop-up if you have it enabled
tell it to continue

that's it, press "Win+R" and type "word"
and press enter

Make sure you leave out all the quotes when renaming and such

You can do this with any file

Enjoy

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Dani AI

Generated

gave a handy quick trick for making short Run aliases. The following notes show cleaner, more maintainable alternatives and a few troubleshooting tips so the alias keeps working across users, restarts and UAC changes.

A supported, robust method is to register an App Path in the registry. A per-user key avoids needing admin rights; a system-wide key under HKLM requires elevation. Example (import this with RegEdit) — replace the paths and the executable name as needed:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\shortname.exe]
@="C:\\Full\\Path\\To\\YourApp.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Full\\Path\\To"

After this, typing shortname (without extension) in the Run box launches the registered program. Back up the registry before editing.

Another simple approach is a tiny wrapper placed in a folder on the PATH (or add a dedicated folder such as C:\bin to PATH). Example wrapper shortname.bat:

@echo off
"C:\Full\Path\To\YourApp.exe" %*

The %* forwards any arguments. This avoids touching system folders and is easy to change later.

Troubleshooting and cautions: changes to PATH or some registry keys may require restarting Explorer or signing out/signing in before Win+R sees them. Avoid copying executables into system directories; that can create update and security problems. When creating system-wide entries use admin privileges carefully and pick aliases that won’t collide with built-in commands.

These options are cleaner and safer than moving files around, and they make aliases easy to manage or remove later while keeping the behavior described for quick access.

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