Stopping the Edge Shortcut on Update. . . Possibly

I say possibly b/c I don't want to get our hopes up.

I to am plagued with the behavior so looking around I came across this possible fix until MS turns it off.

How to block Microsoft Edge from creating desktop shortcuts - Ghacks Martin Brinkmann Jan 21, 2023

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.

Our Deskmodder colleagues have published a workaround to block Microsoft's Edge web browser from planting new icons on the desktop.

It still requires the registry addition that has has been offered here in several threads plus, it adds four more to try and control the other release channels.
Sounds logical; May be it's a blanket cmd that whatever version is updated, up pops a new 'baby'.

Marty's article has a merge file like @Brink supplies in some of his tut's but the other four are manual and that may stop some members from adding the new keys.

As for me? I've followed the instructions and I've set the trap and now, I lie in wait for the next Edge update to see if it helps.

With Edge's frequency it shouldn't take but a day or so to find out.

Thx for the input guys!

Anak said:

Thx for the input guys!

I also just found this Ghacks post:

Prevent Microsoft Edge from creating Windows desktop shortcuts

Basically it about simply creating this one Registry Entry:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

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

Farvatten said:

I also just found this Ghacks post:

Prevent Microsoft Edge from creating Windows desktop shortcuts

Basically it about simply creating this one Registry Entry:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

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

Same link as in post #1, and that's the one that doesn't have an affect:

It still requires the registry addition that has has been offered here in several threads plus, it adds four more to try and control the other release channels.
Sounds logical; May be it's a blanket cmd that whatever version is updated, up pops a new 'baby'.

I added the other four. So I'm waiting for the next Edge update to see if the other four stop the behavior.

Anak said:

Same link as in post #1, and that's the one that doesn't have an affect:

I added the other four. So I'm waiting for the next Edge update to see if the other four stop the behavior.

Yes sorry, it's clearly right there at the top too. Lets hope your experiment works... ! Thanks.

I realize Ghack comments are mostly tripe, but sometimes you get a better answer.

• ECJ said on January 21, 2023 at 5:46 pm
  
  Reply
  
  I agree. I don’t think the information in the article is correct. The policy in the article is for the below Group Policy setting:
  “Prevent Desktop Shortcut creation upon install default”
  The documentation for that particular policy says:
  “Lets you specify the default behavior for all channels for creating a desktop shortcut when Microsoft Edge is installed.
  If you enable this policy a desktop shortcut is created when Microsoft Edge is installed.
  If you disable this policy, no desktop shortcut will be created when Microsoft Edge is installed.
  If you don’t configure this policy a desktop shortcut to Microsoft Edge will be created during installation.
  If Microsoft Edge is already installed, this policy will have no effect.”
  —–
  As you mentioned, I think the following Group Policy setting would be more applicable (-Type “DWord” -Name “RemoveDesktopShortcutDefault” -Value “2”):
  “Remove Desktop Shortcuts upon update default”
  The documentation for that policy says:
  “Lets you specify the default behavior for all channels for creating a desktop shortcut when Microsoft Edge is installed.
  If you set this policy to “Force delete system-level Desktop Shortcuts”, any existing system-level Microsoft Edge desktop shortcuts will be deleted when the browser updates or the machine reboots.
  If you set this policy to “Force delete system-level and user-level Desktop Shortcuts”, any existing system-level Microsoft Edge desktop shortcuts will be deleted when the browser updates or the machine reboots and any existing user-level desktop shortcuts will be deleted when the browser updates. This includes user-level desktop shortcuts that users might have made themselves.
  If you don’t configure this policy, nothing will happen to existing Microsoft Edge desktop shortcuts.”