Recovers apps in Windows start menu

recover-start-menu.ps

# Define Start Menu folder and create a dedicated subfolder
$startMenu = "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"
$customFolder = Join-Path $startMenu "Recovered From Installed Apps"

if (-not (Test-Path $customFolder)) {
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $customFolder | Out-Null
}

# Get all registered apps (same list as Settings > Installed apps)
$apps = Get-StartApps

foreach ($app in $apps) {
    try {
        $name = $app.Name   # Friendly display name (e.g. "Riot Client")
        $appId = $app.AppID # Target (exe path or AppX ID)

        # Clean up the name for use as a shortcut filename
        $safeName = ($name -replace '[\\/:*?"<>|]', '')

        $shortcutPath = Join-Path $customFolder "$safeName.lnk"

        if (-not (Test-Path $shortcutPath)) {
            $WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
            $shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut($shortcutPath)

            if (Test-Path $appId) {
                # If AppID is a real file path (desktop app), use it directly
                $shortcut.TargetPath = $appId
            } else {
                # Otherwise (Store/UWP app), use explorer.exe with shell:AppsFolder\AppID
                $shortcut.TargetPath = "explorer.exe"
                $shortcut.Arguments = "shell:AppsFolder\$appId"
            }

            $shortcut.Save()
            Write-Output "Created shortcut for $name"
        }
    } catch {
        Write-Output "Failed to create shortcut for $($app.Name)"
    }
}