Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

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hlewton
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Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by hlewton »

I wanted to remove the desktop icons' shortcut arrows and found this:
Run Registry Editor
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Right Click Explorer Folder and choose New Key
Select the Key and name it Shell Icons
Right Click Shell Icons and select New and then String Value and type 29 as the String Value
Double click 29 and Enter %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50 in the data value.
Exit Registry Editor and Restart computer
I followed the instructions and then restarted all 5 of my computers and the shortcut arrows were gone.

I turn my machines off at night 2 of them are Win 10 Pro, 1 is Win 10 Home, and 2 are Win 11 Pro. When I turned them on this morning, every one of them showed a big black square box where the shortcut arrows used to be. On one machine that box was nearly the size of the icon itself. So luckily I was able to reverse this problem by deleting that newly created Shell Icons Key. Since this happened on all my machines regardless of the OS, surely others must have had similar experiences. Why would this happen and is there something else I should have done to get rid of those shortcut arrows?

Thanks
Regards,
hlewton

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HansV
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Re: Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by HansV »

Best wishes,
Hans

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hlewton
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Re: Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by hlewton »

Thanks, I'll look into it.
Regards,
hlewton

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hlewton
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Re: Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by hlewton »

I believe I have figured out what download to use in the above link. I changed it to a text file in order to see what changes it would make to the registry. Here is is:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Created by: Shawn Brink
; Created on: July 25th 2015
; Updated on: April 21st 2017
; Tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/897 ... -10-a.html
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\IE.AssocFile.URL]
"IsShortcut"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\InternetShortcut]
"IsShortcut"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
"IsShortcut"=""
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]
"29"="%windir%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-17"


Please notice that the only difference in the last line from what I did manually is it has a -17 where I had a -50. Not sure what that means.

My biggest concern is what the first few lines are doing, these:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\IE.AssocFile.URL]
"IsShortcut"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\InternetShortcut]
"IsShortcut"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
"IsShortcut"=""


If I edited those out and only let it create the Shell Icons Key again would that work or are those lines important to the entire process? I just want to be able to delete the Shell Icons Key again if this would not remove the arrows as I am expecting it to do.

Also, in the last line what is the difference between using their -17 and using the -50 I found elsewhere on the WEB?
Regards,
hlewton

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HansV
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Re: Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by HansV »

If you start RegEdit, you'll probably find that the IsShortcut entries are already set to an empty string. They are on my PC, while I have never changed any shortcut settings,

S1512.png

I don't know what the icons in Imageres.dll are. If it doesn't work, try using transparent.ico or blank.ico.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Best wishes,
Hans

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hlewton
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Re: Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by hlewton »

HansV wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 07:41
If you start RegEdit, you'll probably find that the IsShortcut entries are already set to an empty string. They are on my PC, while I have never changed any shortcut settings,


S1512.png


I don't know what the icons in Imageres.dll are. If it doesn't work, try using transparent.ico or blank.ico.
Thanks Hans. I do have that Registry entry, as you said. The other 2 options you mention require additional downloads, which I am not at all sure what they would do to the ico files I use. I believe I better leave well enough alone.
Regards,
hlewton

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hlewton
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Re: Remove shortcut arrows in windows 11 and 10

Post by hlewton »

Here is another link if anyone is interested. I still think I'm leaving everything as is.
Tutorial to Remove Shortcut Arrows
Regards,
hlewton