How to Quickly Locate a Program’s EXE file on Windows 10

If you are doing any kind of troubleshooting or some Windows 10 application configuration and need to locate any program’s “.exe” file in Explorer and if you have access to a shortcut of that very program, here is a quick way to locate it’s “.exe” file.

The first step is to locate any shortcut to that application because you need to access its properties window.

Normally the shortcut can be found on your desktop, right-click on the shortcut and then click “Properties”.

In case, the shortcut is pinned to the Windows taskbar, right-click it and from the menu, right-click the program’s name again. From this menu, click “Properties.”

In some situations, if you find the program’s shortcut in the “Start” menu.

Right-click the shortcut from the Start menu, and move your pointer to More and then click the Open file location option.

Note that this only works with traditional Windows Desktop programs (for example Chrome) and not with the Universal Windows Platform apps (e.g. Calculator, Calendar, or Cortana etc.) apps.

File Explorer window will open and here you will be able to find the application shortcut file. Right-click on the shortcut and click “Properties”.

A properties window will appear. You will be on the “Shortcut” tab, locate and click the “Open File Location” option and File Explorer will open at the location of the “.exe” file of that application.

Playing around with the application’s Exe file can be tricky so you have should know what you do, while editing/changing the “.exe” file. A small mistake can corrupt the application.

If you cannot locate the program’s shortcut or in some cases, the “Open File Location” option may seem to be disabled. In that case, open any of these two locations.

“C:\Program Files”

Or

“C:\Program Files (x86)”

Look for a folder with the application’s name or program publisher’s name. You should find the EXE file that you are looking for inside that folder.

Muhammad Imran Habib

Imran is a technology evangelist with 8 years of experience working with some of the Industry leading companies. Imran's expertise includes On-Prem/Virtual Infrastructure deployments, IT Solutions for SMEs, End User Computing Support.

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