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This week, I began finding new Edge shortcuts added to all desktop profiles on two different desktop machines both running Windows 10 V21H2. These machines are not synced. I’ve removed the shortcuts but find them again after rebooting.
I found/tried a regedit to prevent them but it was for V1803 and doesn’t seem to work for 21H2. Appreciate any solutions/suggestions for preventing these shortcuts.
I’m a long time Firefox user and have no interest in trying/using Edge. Thanks.
I think it may be alternately phrased as ‘new Edge shortcuts on desktop’. It happened on my machines as well, in both Win 10 and 11. A few days ago, on booting up machines, there was a new shortcut to Edge on the desktop. I deleted the shortcuts and they haven’t reappeared (yet).
I feel like I’m in an abusive relationship with Microsoft.
Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie
This is part of an automatic update of Edge which is separate from Windows updates. Automatic updating ( and preventing automatic updating) of Edge was discussed in this thread
https://www.askwoodmaster-patch-list-updated-as-of-january-10-2023
HTH, Dana:))
There are a couple ways to stop Edge from updating:
Rename the default update folder that prevents the update from occurring
or
Disable the services that automatically perform the update
Both can be easily undone to update Edge if you desire.
You can also use a Registry hack to prevent the shortcut from being added when Edge updates if the shortcut addition is your only problem with the Edge updates.
I agree with Susan’s statement “I wouldn’t stop any browser from auto updating” with one caveat… If you plan to ever use that browser. If you don’t plan on ever using that browser then updating serves no useful purposes and exposes you to all the update problems that commonly occur with updating.
HTH, Dana:))
ghacks.net has an article about eliminating the Edge shortcut here
If might help by blocking Edge from starting on boot. Easy enough to try.
You can prevent Edge from starting on boot, but NOT with windows task manager. However it shows up nicely using Autoruns from sysinternals.
This does NOT prevent Edge from routine MS updates.
Custom desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1 16GB RAM i7-7820X
Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2.
Laptop Clevo/Sager i7-9750H - 17.3" Full HD 1080p 144Hz, 16GB RAM Win 10 Pro 22H2
How to block Microsoft Edge from creating desktop shortcuts
..Microsoft Edge seems to create desktop shortcuts after every browser update at the moment. It is unclear if this is a bug or intentional; Microsoft has not commented on that.
All Edge channels on Windows appear to be affected by the issue. Considering that Microsoft released six Edge Stable versions in the past 10 days, it is clear that the issue can be frustrating for affected users…
The workaround requires edits of the Registry. There is a global edit that applies to all Edge channels and edits for each individual version of the web browser.
Global fix (all channels)
Select Start, type regedit.exe and load the Windows Registry Editor.
Confirm the UAC prompt.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate
Note: if a key does not exist, right-click on the previous one and select New > Key. Name it accordingly and proceed.
Right-click on EdgeUpdate and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
Name it CreateDesktopShortcutDefault.
Double-click on the new Dword and set it to 0, if that is not the case already.
You may also download the following archive. It contains a Registry file that makes the change on the system when executed: edge-block-desktop-shortcuts..
If Microsoft Edge is uninstalled, it gets reinstalled without prompting — to the newest version and build.
Even if it’s told not to by this registry entry?
That’s not been my experience so far, and I’ve been running Windows Update and forcing Defender definition updates several times today after uninstalling Edge nearly 12 hours ago.
Visually, all I can see left is an annoying artefact in the Start menu:
I’m not impressed by the huge amount of filesystem and registry entries left as detritus by Revo Uninstaller Free. I’m considering reverting back to just before the uninstall and using the commandline method to force a system uninstall of Edge to see if it’s any more efficient.
I honestly didn’t notice because I leave all browser icons on the desktop. I never know when I need to try a web page on a different browser. Haven’t heard any official word if this was an intentional oopsie or just the Holiday team getting rambunctious.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Yes, I read that.
But someone reported it didn’t work, so I suggested the other Registry location.
Edit: FYI I have verified that the settings not under “Policy” do not work.
You have to create the key under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft.
Then create the DWORD Value “CreateDesktopShortcutDefault” under that key and set it = 0 (zero).
Right click on Microsoft – choose new key
Enter “EdgeUpdate” (no quotes, Caps in the exact places) then Enter.
Right click on “EdgeUpdate” – choose New DWORD (32-bit) Value
Enter “CreateDesktopShortcutDefault” (no quotes, Caps in the exact places) then Enter.
The default value should be 0 (zero).
I can’t verify, but Eric-SE (Microsoft Agent | Moderator) posted today in the MS Answers thread Why Does Microsoft Edge Shortcut Keep Appearing on My Desktop? that “The engineering team is currently investigating and working on a solution“.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2486 * Firefox v109.0.0 * MS Edge v109.0.1518.61 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2211.5-1.1.19900.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.20.230-1.0.1868 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279
Anyone know how to prevent creation of Start Menu icons?
Hi alejr:
This might not be a permanent fix (at least until this “bug” is fixed), but try right clicking on MS Edge in your Start menu program list and choose “Unpin from Start“.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2486 * Firefox v109.0.0 * MS Edge v109.0.1518.61 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2211.5-1.1.19900.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.20.230-1.0.1868 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279
@lmacri, it wasn’t “pinned” to the Start Menu, it was a regular shortcut.
@Drcard:)), as Rick pointed out, the Edge shortcut wasn’t at that location (which is the Start Menu for all users), it was actually located at %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu (the Start Menu for my specific user.) Regardless, I was able to delete it by simply “highlighting” it and pressing the Delete key.
Maybe there is a difference in Home and Pro
It’s a good question. Things would be so easy if the shortcut was as shown on your PDF.
As it is, I’ve looked everywhere… and even restored the original disk image (i.e. before I uninstalled Edge) to check all the default locations once again.
I even did a search on the reverted image using everything, looking specifically for Microsoft Edge.lnk files:
Unfortunately, when I deleted them, only the icon was removed from the Start menu, not the Microsoft Edge entry:
(Same with the taskbar… but that was easy to unpin the empty placeholder after the icon had been deleted.)
So, the Start menu entry hasn’t been implemented as a standard .LNK file.
Somewhere in Redmond a Microsoftie is laughing at me.
Hi landrmc:
According to Eric-SE’s post today in Why Does Microsoft Edge Shortcut Keep Appearing on My Desktop? in the MS Answers forum, the latest MS Edge v109.0.1518.69 should fix the problem.
I manually updated MS Egde [More (three dots is top-right corner) | Help and Feedback | About Microsoft Edge] and can confirm that there was no shortcut created on my desktop after the update from v109.0.1518.61 to v109.0.1518.69.
—————
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2486 * Firefox v109.0.0 * MS Edge v109.0.1518.69 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2211.5-1.1.19900.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.20.230-1.0.1868 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279
Update to 109.0.1518.70 and it didn’t create a Desktop icon but it did still create a shortcut in my %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu folder which I had to deleted just like before.
I don’t know if you sign in to Windows with a local or Microsoft account, but I recently discovered that my Win 10 OS was configured by default to create a roaming profile that could be used to sync my language preferences and other Windows settings between computers, even though I don’t log in to different Windows devices. If your Windows settings at Settings | Account | Sync Your Settings | Sync Settings is turned ON then the MS support article About Windows Backup and Sync Settings has instructions on how to clear the stored data in your online Microsoft Account after syncing is turned OFF. For further info see my 01-Jan-2023 post # 2513543 in Deo’s Intel Driver & Support Assistant – Not Working After June Updates?, and kudos to Deo for alerting me about this sync setting.
I would also check your MS Edge Profile settings (More | Settings | Profiles | Sync or enter edge://settings/profiles in the address bar and choose Sync) to see if Edge is configured to sync data across devices (i.e., to see if you have a roaming profile stored on the Microsoft servers so your MS Edge settings are identical regardless of which device you sign in to from Edge). See the Softpedia instructions at How to Remove Your Microsoft Edge Data Stored in the Cloud as well as the MS Edge support articles Sign In to Sync Microsoft Edge Across Devices and Reset Microsoft Edge Data in the Cloud.
—————-
Update to 109.0.1518.70 and it didn’t create a Desktop icon but it did still create a shortcut in my %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu folder which I had to deleted just like before.
I don’t know if you sign in to Windows with a local or Microsoft account, but I recently discovered that my Win 10 OS was configured by default to create a roaming profile that could be used to sync my language preferences and other Windows settings between computers, even though I don’t log in to different Windows devices. If your Windows settings at Settings | Account | Sync Your Settings | Sync Settings is turned ON then the MS support article About Windows Backup and Sync Settings has instructions on how to clear the stored data in your online Microsoft Account after syncing is turned OFF. For further info see my 01-Jan-2023 post # 2513543 in Deo’s Intel Driver & Support Assistant – Not Working After June Updates?, and kudos to Deo for alerting me about this sync setting.
I would also check your MS Edge Profile settings (More | Settings | Profiles | Sync or enter edge://settings/profiles in the address bar and choose Sync) to see if Edge is configured to sync data across devices (i.e., to see if you have a roaming profile stored on the Microsoft servers so your MS Edge settings are identical regardless of which device you sign in to from Edge). See the Softpedia instructions at How to Remove Your Microsoft Edge Data Stored in the Cloud as well as the MS Edge support articles Sign In to Sync Microsoft Edge Across Devices and Reset Microsoft Edge Data in the Cloud.
—————-
Years ago Microsoft exhorted engineers to forego storing app settings in INI files and, instead, use the registry. It was ‘the way to go’ in order to ‘standardise’.
What hollow words. Now we have to actually open Microsoft Edge in order to change settings instead of using the registry?
What is going on in Redmond? It’s like the plot has been lost once again.
Perhaps, if a person doesn’t want Edge, period, they don’t want to even open it up (to change a setting) at all/ever, either.
That seems to be the case with quite a number of posters here.
Update to 109.0.1518.70 and it didn’t create a Desktop icon but it did still create a shortcut in my %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu folder which I had to deleted just like before.
Hi alejr:
Is this just an annoyance for you or do you believe this is adding the MS Edge shortcut to the Windows Start menu on your desktop? The How-To Geek article What Is the AppData Folder in Windows? notes that:
“… The Roaming folder contains data that would “roam” with a user account from computer to computer if your PC was connected to a domain with a roaming profile. This is often used for important settings. For example, Firefox stores its user profiles here, allowing your bookmarks and other browsing data to follow you from PC to PC…”
I’m not certain, but if your computer isn’t connected to a domain and you aren’t using a roaming profile then I don’t think any data created in that …\AppData\Roaming folder is going to affect what you see on your desktop or Start menu after you log into Windows on your computer. I also use Firefox as my default browser (MS Edge only gets launched on my system if I want to install an important MS Edge security update or need to run a test if my Firefox browser is behaving oddly) and while my C:\Users\<myusername>\AppData\Roaming folder is full of junk …
… the attached images show that I do not have an MS Edge shortcut in:
I don’t know if that’s because I recently disabled my Windows account and MS Edge syncing on my Win 10 Pro v22H2 computer as I described in my post # 2529678, or if I’m just confused about where this MS Edge shortcut is being created in your …\AppData\Roaming folder.
————–
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2486 * Firefox v109.0.0 * MS Edge v109.0.1518.70 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2211.5-1.1.19900.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.20.230-1.0.1868 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279
I’m not certain, but if your computer isn’t connected to a domain and you aren’t using a roaming profile then I don’t think any data created in that …\AppData\Roaming folder is going to affect what you see on your desktop or Start menu after you log into Windows on your computer.
First thing is, that location is only for the Start Menu not the Desktop!
Desktop icons are stored in either “C:\ProgramData\Desktop” (Desktop icons for all users) or “%USERPROFILE%\Desktop” (Desktop icons for individual users)
Second thing is, that link you referenced is completely wrong!
The “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu” folder is where individual users Start Menu items are stored and has absolutely nothing to do with whether your profile is set to roam or not; you can verify this by going to the following registry key…
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
…and looking at the value assigned to the Start Menu item which will be
C:\Users\{YOUR USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Any items that get placed in this folder, like the new shortcut that Edge update is creating, will always be displayed in that user’s Start Menu whenever they login!
BTW, the “common” Start Menu location for all users is “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu” which can be verify by going to the following registry key…
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
…and looking at the value assigned to the Common Start Menu item.
Is this just an annoyance for you or do you believe this is adding the MS Edge shortcut to the Windows Start menu on your desktop?
Oh, there’s absolutely no doubt! It is adding a shortcut to my Start Menu and, yes, I find it extremely annoying.
What’s the advantage of editing the registry over a couple of clicks in Edge?
Automation and ease of use. I can use a .REG file, PowerShell, CMD, AHK, whatever to make registry changes without once ever opening Edge.
Where do you suppose the changed Edge settings get stored if not the registry?
I have no idea as I don’t use Edge nor have any wish to.
However, to answer your question I opened Edge and put myself through all its nonsense ‘first run’ pages that I had to ‘Confirm and continue’ and ‘Confirm and start browsing’. (What a truly awful experience.) Then I headed over to Settings… (well, what a mess… but that’s by the by and just an opinion so can be discounted).
As an experiment I made *one* change… I toggled Share browsing data with other Windows features from ON to OFF.
I was expecting Process Monitor to show a DWORD RegSetValue change from 0 to 1 (or vice versa)… or even a REG_SZ value change from Yes to No.
Instead, ProcMon showed this:
I don’t believe you know what Edge does behind the scenes any more than I do… and I don’t.
Just updated Edge on my system to v109.0.1518.78 and it did not create a new Start Menu shortcut this time.
Guess MS finally got whatever was causing it to create new Desktop & Start Menu icons completely fixed!
If you are awash in shortcuts, Edge and otherwise, delete the shortcuts (.lnk files) and then manually create shortcuts from the .exe files. When programs are uninstalled (or otherwise manipulated), old shortcuts are left in place. Use some caution with this approach.
Look on the public users desktop and delete em from there – sometimes it is as simple as that – not sure if it will works or not but it takes 60 seconds to do it and a reboot to confirm if it works or not.
If it does not then maybe, and THIS is scary, MS has them setup on a web-server somewhere and every reboot it hits up the web server and if the shortcuts are missing server scripts re-create them – I had to block a server IP on my last employers network as this is exactly how they were doing it.
I got tired of Winblows about 4 or 5 months ago. I get enough at work of MS’s B.S. spying telemetry and the whole MS forcing their users to do it their way or not at all to the point when even administrators have issues doing certain tasks in safe mode for the love of god! I mean having to boot into safe mode to do certain tasks is ridiculous to begin with but, then, to have to fight the OS once in safe mode is sacrileges as far as I am concerned!
SO, I came home from work one Friday, boot from a Linux disk, delete all partitions, create Linux ones and install kubuntu. I have never been happier with an OS since I did that.
The learning curve is only REAL steep if you decide to do everything from the cmd line and I although I admit a lot of Linux tasks can be done from the terminal you don’t HAVE TO DO any of it from the terminal – their is literally a free software package for anything you want to do on a PC available for Linux.
Not only was I able to find Linux alternatives for ALL of my Winblows software, in a lot of cases it was the same software as a LOT of Opensource software runs on Winblows, Linux and in most cases FreeBSD and Mac OSX also.
Give up the spyware/adware called Winblows 10/11/12 and get a non-bloated, non-commercial, non adware/spyware OS today.
PS – I have run Linux off and on for 30 years so it took me 2 -3 months to get used to it again. New users might take a bit longer depending on their technical ability and there willingness to visit the plethora of user help forums for Linux. A quick google search can usually finds the answer to literally ANY Linux problems AND ChatGPT can write bash scripts if you feed it the proper information – I know I’ve written dozens using ChatGPT and it works great!
Run a dual boot just in case if you think you will need Winblows intermittently – I do, but I haven’t logged into Winblows for 3 months now.
PPS – Gaming on Linux has advanced to the point where I install steam, all my windows games, enable proton (a check box in the steam client settings), click to run and play the game – I have had very, very, very few issues with certain titles (Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077) that were worked out within a month, by patches and updates to the steam client and the games involved – now everything I want to play runs as well or better than on Winblows (Hogwarts is beautiful and fast on Linux for sure -runs natively with no optional switches for proton – or out of the box as we say when speaking about Windows games running on Linux)
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