Prevent Microsoft Edge from creating a desktop shortcut with every update.

For some unknown reason, a recent change means that whenever Microsoft’s Edge browser is updated on Windows 10 or Windows 11, a shortcut is placed on the desktop. This also applies to all edge channels, and there is no setting in the browser to prevent this behavior. Fortunately there is a registry trick that prevents new shortcuts from being created on the desktop the next time the browser is updated.

To prevent shortcuts being made, our friends over at Desk Modder Details for all edge channels (stable, beta, dev, and canary) have been shared. Before you proceed, it’s worth noting that incorrect registry edits can damage your installation so proceed at your own risk.

1. Press Start, type regedit.exe And open the Windows Registry Editor.
2. Confirm the UAC prompt.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge Update
   1. If the Edge update Right-click the key does not exist. Microsoft and select new > Key. Tell me his name Edge update And move on.
4. Right click on Edge update and select new > The daward (32-bit) value.
5. Tell me his name Make the desktop shortcut default.
6. Double click on the new word and set it. 0if it isn’t already.

Alternatively, it is also possible to prevent individual channels from creating shortcuts instead of applying them globally as above. If you prefer to do it this way you can do the same steps as above, but instead of creating Make the desktop shortcut default Dword, instead you’ll need to add the following for each channel:

For Microsoft Edge Stable, name the Dword:

• Create Desktop Shortcut {56EB18F8-B008-4CBD-B6D2-8C97FE7E9062}

For Microsoft Edge Beta, name the Dword:

• Create Desktop Shortcut {2CD8A007-E189-409D-A2C8-9AF4EF3C72AA}​​​​

For Microsoft Edge Dev, name the Dword:

• Create Desktop Shortcut{0D50BFEC-CD6A-4F9A-964C-C7416E3ACB10}

For Microsoft Edge Canary, name the Dword:

• Create Desktop Shortcut {65C35B14-6C1D-4122-AC46-7148CC9D6497}

Make sure they have value. 0.

This does not prevent Edge from creating shortcuts on the taskbar or start menu, for example if you install Canary for the first time, but it will prevent it from creating shortcuts on the desktop when installed, but later updates Even after

To reverse this behavior and allow Microsoft to place a shortcut on the desktop after each Edge update, simply delete the EdgeUpdate key you created or the corresponding Dword values ​​you created. do.

It’s possible that a future update may reset this functionality, so you can save the above commands as a .reg file that you can merge into the registry if needed.

Create a new text document on the desktop and add the following to it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate]
"CreateDesktopShortcutDefault"=dword:00000000

While the CreateDesktopShortcutDefault example above prevents Edge from creating desktop shortcuts globally, you can change this to one of the Edge channels. Save the text document, but then rename the extension. .TXT To .reg

Hope this saves you a few seconds every day from constantly deleting Edge shortcuts from your desktop. I also had two Edge shortcuts on one of my VMs, and one was in the Recycle Bin since January 19th! Why this is happening, and yet there is no official word. Multiple reports of this on Twitter., the official Microsoft Edge Twitter account has not acknowledged or commented. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for clarification and will update this article if we receive a response.