Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons in Windows

To remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons in any type of document:

a) Perform instructions described under ‘Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons’. For your convenience, steps 1 to 3 are reported here.

b) Perform instructions described under ‘Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons (2)’.For your convenience, steps 4 and 5 are reported here.


So, here is a summary of all actions:

1. Start regedit.

2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile

3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

4. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile

5. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

6. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ConferenceLink

7. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

8. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DocShortCut

9. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

10.Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\InternetShortcut

11. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

12. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WSHFile

13. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

14. Close regedit.

Logoff and… Enjoy!


Note : Please note that in some cases deactivating the arrow for *.LNK files might lead to duplicate items in the Explorer Context menu.