If you drag a link or favicon on the left end of the location bar onto the desktop to create an internet shortcut then that shortcut gets the icon of the default browser.

If you want a different icon (favicon) then you have to assign that icon yourself to the desktop shortcut (right-click: Properties).

You can usually get the favicon if you append "favicon.ico" to the main domain of a website (e.g. http://www.mozilla.com/favicon.ico ) to display the favicon in a tab and save that image to a folder or see if you can find it in "Tools > Page Info > Media".

Now that is some major hoop jumping to achieve what IE does with every new shortcut automatically. (of course I'm not dragging anything, I am creating a desktop short by right clicking on the open page - which FF doesn't give me the option to do). Isn't there another "create desktop shortcut" procedure besides the drag and drop? That's pretty inconvenient, and the result is even more so. My desktop looks like it's on fire, and finding the link I want quickly is impossible. Thanks.

Since another 5 months have gone down the drain since this "workaround" (thank you very much cor-el, not your fault that no easier couldbe found) and FF still seems to have this problem - i have it on my XP box, and my wife has it in Win7 - it seems that Mozilla are not interested to do something about it. If indeed there is no better solution, it will be back to IE  :(

fakeall,

The limitation isn't in Firefox or Opera or Safari or Chrome, it's the way Windows works with with web browsers that are installed by the user.

Thank you for the prompt reply. While i have to take your word for it, since my programming skills approach zero, i find it hard to believe that this works effortlessly in IE, but the whizz-bang kids at Mozilla could not find a way to do it.

IE is created by MS and closely tied to the Windows OS and as such is able to set a specific icon for a new internet desktop shortcut. Programs like Firefox do not have that possibility and then create a shortcut that gets the icon of the default browser. Be aware that changing the default browser wil reset all icon of internet shortcuts, so you will have to redo them all in that case.

Thank you cor-el. Now, at least, i understand a bit of what is going on. Maybe, one sunny day a solution will be found.

One way to get the shortcut icon to show on the desktop is to set FF as your default browser, and then run IE and drag it from IE to the desktop. When you click on it, it defaults to FF. It seems to work for me, though for a few people it does not.