I've just installed a couple of games via the Galaxy client, but it doesn't put an icon on the desktop, nor do I see a way to enable this. Do I have to play all my GOG games through the download client?

If someone knows how to place a game icon on the desktop, that'd be great.

Click on the gear in the bottom left of the Galaxy client to get to the options. There you can turn on the add desktop shortcut feature.

EDIT - just noticed the second part of the question. No, you do not need the client to run the games, it's completely optional. Even without the desktop shortcuts, you should still have start menu shortcuts to launch the games.

And to add something more. In the game directory are shortcuts stored. For games you did install without placing the icon on desktop you can easily drag them there and then use them, if you want.

Really sorry for not following up on this. I haven't bothered with the game until now, after upgrading my GPU, as I wanted to play @1440p, and the 780 just wasn't up to the task. Anyway, thank you all for the easy solutions.

Might be worth following up on for the Galaxy developers. While I can copy the shortcut from the directory to the desktop manually (can't do it from the Start Menu in Win10 because the Win10 Start Menu is fubared), it would be nice to have a quick and easy way to add a desktop shortcut from the Galaxy UI.

As usual, I spoke too soon. First, there is nothing in the Settings for Desktop icon placement.

Also, I don't see anything useful in C:\Program Files (x86)\GalaxyClient\Games. Instead of individual games, it contains only "!Downloads" which opens to "temp". That's it. But I can play the game. This is very strange. Settings indicates that folder path. I'm fairly ignorant about file manipulation.

Well Galaxy changed a bit, in newer Versions of Galaxy it moved to the Install Window and can easily be seen, when you install a new game, see attached pic 1

The other Shortcuts are in the Folder where THE GAME IS INSTALLED, depending on where you did let it go, just search in windows for game name to find the right folder, see second pic for Pools of Darkness example.

how do i install a newer version of Galaxy? It says at the very top-left that it's 1.1.4 (beta) from Oct. 9, 2015. I don't know how to get to that Installation menu you show in the first screen shot. I don't see anything like that.

I did find some of the game files in D:, but nothing I could see that would be viable as a desktop icon. I apologize for the ignorance.

1.1.4 is the newest, just click on "Install" when installing a new game and you will get this window.

The shortcuts to the game are in the same folder as the other game files, but they may have different names, Just go to detail view and search for the File Type "Shortcut"

I see it now, but I guess that means I'd have to uninstall and then re-install the game to get that option page to show. That's kinda silly.

As for searching for "Shortcut", I assume I'm far too ignorant to understand how to do that, because nothing I tried came up with anything at all. And I've tried just about every file in that folder, and nothing works as a desktop icon that will launch the game.

Or just download the installers from the web page by browser download, double click the exe and install it like a normal game. You then have a nice icon on the desktop, just like we have been doing for 20 odd years before all this client crap appeared.

Assuming the relevant option is checked. Not all of us like a cluttered desktop (even if it does get cluttered after a while).

Start, type, enter. Much faster and better than the previous choices.
Or pin the item, either to task bar or start menu. Single click to play.

The first thing I tried was pinning it to the Taskbar. It didn't work. The game would not load from that icon.

I am pretty much at a loss as to where the heck the folder containing the actual game itself is located. It is not where the Options menu specifies. Nor could I find it on D:\ drive, though I found more files there than on C:\.

I also asked Support this question today; Is there no way to just get the option to place an icon on the desktop after a game is installed, or, if I re-install the game files just to get the icon option, will that cause the Saved games I have already to be deleted somehow?
I'd gladly to that, but will it screw up the Saved games I have already? The game is installed and playable now. That's my problem; after installing, there doesn't seem to be a way to start the game without opening the Galaxy Client, and no option is now given to install an icon to the desktop or wherever, once the game is already installed.