Microsoft Edge is the browser bundled with the Windows operating system. Although the browser has been the butt of many jokes due to its inefficiency and lack of essential features, it has recently caught up with all the major browsers. Maybe it’s caught up with the competition, it doesn’t necessarily make you want to switch. Additionally, every time the browser updates itself, it creates a new desktop shortcut which is unnecessary and annoying.
If you are facing the same issue on your Windows 11 computer, then this guide will help you to stop Microsoft Edge from creating desktop shortcuts. You can either manually go to Registry Editor and tweak the files yourself or run a script on your computer to automate the task. For your ease, we will discuss both these methods in this guide.
1. Use Registry Editor
First, go to the Start menu and type Registry Editor to search. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Registry Editor’ tile.
Next, type or copy+paste the code below into the address bar and press Enter to navigate to the directory.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft
After that, right-click on the ‘Microsoft’ folder and hover over the ‘New’ option. Then, click on the ‘Key’ option. then, rename it EdgeUpdate,
Afterward, select the ‘EdgeUpdate’ key and right-click on the left empty area. Hover over the ‘New’ option and select ‘DWORD’ file. then, rename the file CreateDesktopShortcutDefault,
Now, double-click on the ‘CreateDesktopShortcutDefault’ file to open its properties.
then, enter 0 in the Value field and click on the ‘OK’ button.
You can block individual channels globally instead of creating shortcuts which we just showed in the guide. However, you will need to create a DWORD file for each individual channel in Internet Explorer.
To block shortcuts from Edge betaCreate a DWORD file with the name mentioned below.
CreateDesktopShortcut{2CD8A007-E189-409D-A2C8-9AF4EF3C72AA}
To stop shortcuts created by Edge devsCreate a DWORD file and rename the file by typing or copy+pasting the code below.
CreateDesktopShortcut{0D50BFEC-CD6A-4F9A-964C-C7416E3ACB10}
To disable shortcut creation by Edge CanaryCreate a DWORD file and rename it to the code below.
CreateDesktopShortcut{65C35B14-6C1D-4122-AC46-7148CC9D6497}
Also, make sure that the file value of the DWORD file that you created is 0,
2. Create a batch file to automate the process
If you want to toggle the Edge desktop shortcut creation feature frequently, or you want to distribute this improvement to people near you, you can easily create a registry file and install it on your PC or someone else’s PC. You can simply double-click on it to run it.
First go to the start menu and type notepad to do a search. Then, from the search results, right-click on the ‘Notepad’ tile and select the ‘Run as administrator’ option.
Now, a UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an administrator account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button.
Now, type or copy + paste the below code and hit ctrl,S To save the file. Otherwise, click on the ‘File’ option and then select the ‘Save As’ option.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate]
"RemoveDesktopShortcutDefault"=dword:00000001
Since the code is to disable the shortcut, give it a proper name with .reg Expand and click on the ‘Save’ button.
To execute the file, double-click on it. This will automatically create the registry entry that was created manually in the previous section.
You can also create a batch file to revert back to normal settings where Edge will continue to create shortcuts. To do so, type or copy+paste the code below and press ctrl,S on the keyboard to save the file. Otherwise, click on the ‘File’ option and then select the ‘Save As’ option.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate]
"RemoveDesktopShortcutDefault"=-
Then, enter a proper name with .reg Expand and click on the ‘Save’ button.
Then, if you want to undo disabling shortcut creation, double-click the file to run it. You can also move these batch files to a different system and run them as is.
There you go, people. Using the above methods, you can easily disable Microsoft Edge from creating desktop shortcuts.
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