If I launch emacs with runemacs.exe, the window in the taskbar is associated with an emacs.exe process rather than a runemacs.exe process. This means that if I pin runemacs.exe, I get two emacs icons in the taskbar. If I pin emacs.exe, I get a console. How do I have my cake and eat it?
2 Answers
This looks like an option:
To pin Emacs to your task bar, right-click on the Emacs icon in the task bar. Right-click on the small Emacs icon that appears, and click on Properties. Change the target to
c:\emacs\bin\runemacs.exe
, and change the start directory to whichever directory you prefer.
A related answer:
-
1lol, that was hilariously simple. I assumed the target was inextricably associated with the app it identifies with. Guess not! – Rob F Nov 08 '13 at 19:59
-
1Right?? I bookmarked these myself, I feel like I've run into other apps that behave similarly in Win7+ (looking at you, `cygwin`). – admdrew Nov 08 '13 at 20:03
-
Worked for me, just now, on windows 10 anniversary edition. – Zoey Sep 15 '16 at 22:34
I have wrestled with the same problem. What I did:
- I made a shortcut which has runemacs.exe as the target.
- set environment variable ALTERNATE_EDITOR c:\path-to-emacs\runemacs.exe
- associate the files with certain suffix like *.c with emacsclientw.exe
The last two items are useful if you you want to open a file in emacs by double click on windows explorer. The ALTERNATE_EDITOR environment variable allows emacs to start a new instance if none are running. Otherwise it will open the file on the already runnin emacs instance.
See also: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Windows-Startup.html
Works for me. I use native windows emacs, not the cygwin one.

- 1,087
- 10
- 19