Remove yellow/blue sheild icon from shortcuts

This is not a standard icon (sort of).

It is used as an overlay of the program's icon when the program has admin rights.
If you can find out where this icon is, and can edit it, just change all pixels to transparent.
While it will still be used, it won't be seen.
The one in imageres.dll seems to be a regular icon, so changing it might not work.
There's another one in user32.dll, also a regular icon. There may be a few elsewhere as well.

I use Microangelo to look for and edit icons. If you're going to try changing one, save it first so if it doesn't work, you can replace it.

After trying all registry and command line methods of removing the shield from my desktop icons, I finally decided to PERMANENTLY remove them from their source - the imageres.dll file.

Since the imageres.dll file is required to run explorer - I had to copy the file to a different location so it could be edited with Resource Tuner.

I then replaced all Shield overlay icons (#78) in the imageres.dll file with exact size TRANSPARENT overlay icons using Resource Tuner (all overlay icons must be replaced with the exact same sizes and depth).

The imageres.dll file in C:\Windows\System32 could not be replaced while Windows is running, so I rebooted from a USB drive that contained a Desktop Utility and replaced it from there.

After restarting Windows, I rebuilt the existing Icon Cache with the following steps:
1. Open a CMD window as an administrator.
2. Type or paste ‘ ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache’
3. Type or paste ‘taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F’.
4. Type or paste ‘DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db"’.
5. Type or paste ‘DEL /A /F /Q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*"’.
6. Type or paste ‘shutdown /r /f /t 00’.

The PC will shut down.
Afterwards, you should have no shield displayed in the Desktop icons.

If you dont want to go through this process yourself - here is a copy of my edited dll file - remember you have to replace the file in C:\Windows\System32 from a CD or USB drive when Windows is not running.

edited imageres dll file.rar - HeroUpload

P.S. I am running Windows 10 64bit

Kabooom said:

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but doesnt the cmd c/ start "" command mentioned by Micheal simply run the program without administrator rights?
If so why not just go to the program roots folder -> right click on the .exe files and select "Properties" -> Select Compatibility tab and uncheck "Run this program as an administrator".

No, if the program is set to run as admin, it will still do so when launched like this via cmd.

If you were to just uncheck the run as admin box, the program might not function properly.

I still find it easier to extract the original icon modify it with IcoFX as per the instructions in the original tutorial then use ResHacker to replace it to a copy of imageres.dll then to solve the issue of Windows not pasting the file when trying to replace the original, copy the modded one to the Windows folder and copy it again from there then go to into the System32 folder take ownership of the original dll rename it to .bak or so and paste the modded one saying yes to the prompts. Never had an issue of not being able to rename the original while Windows is running. To clear the icon cache you would need to follow the instruction in post #23 or use a program called Dism++ you can find on the MDL site that will do it for you. You can delete the copy of imageres.dll you put in the Windows folder once it's all done and keep a copy of the modded icon as it can be used again in the future so only need to replace the original icon using ResHacker without the other steps

DTG1 said:

Games dont need admin rights and I doubt your imageres.dll contains those game icons.

Most of the time you can manually change icons without a program, but I heard there was another tweakui floating around that will remove the shortcut arrows.

Open REGEDIT>HKey_Classes_Root.

Find: "lnkfile"

In the right pane, look for "ISshortcut"

Right click
Delete
Reboot

No more arrows.

NEVER USE TWEAKING PROGRAMS!!

Most tweaks out there, are either no good, or CAN be harmful.

Learn to edit your registry yourself.

jpeni said:

After trying all registry and command line methods of removing the shield from my desktop icons, I finally decided to PERMANENTLY remove them from their source - the imageres.dll file.

Since the imageres.dll file is required to run explorer - I had to copy the file to a different location so it could be edited with Resource Tuner.

I then replaced all Shield overlay icons (#78) in the imageres.dll file with exact size TRANSPARENT overlay icons using Resource Tuner (all overlay icons must be replaced with the exact same sizes and depth).

The imageres.dll file in C:\Windows\System32 could not be replaced while Windows is running, so I rebooted from a USB drive that contained a Desktop Utility and replaced it from there.

After restarting Windows, I rebuilt the existing Icon Cache with the following steps:
1. Open a CMD window as an administrator.
2. Type or paste ‘ ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache’
3. Type or paste ‘taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F’.
4. Type or paste ‘DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db"’.
5. Type or paste ‘DEL /A /F /Q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*"’.
6. Type or paste ‘shutdown /r /f /t 00’.

The PC will shut down.
Afterwards, you should have no shield displayed in the Desktop icons.

If you dont want to go through this process yourself - here is a copy of my edited dll file - remember you have to replace the file in C:\Windows\System32 from a CD or USB drive when Windows is not running.

edited imageres dll file.rar - HeroUpload

P.S. I am running Windows 10 64bit

First off...thank you very much! It works! Well...for the most part...

Second...it's not as straight-forward as you make it sound. You need to not be a computer illiterate idiot to figure out the things you didn't thoroughly explain. Namely "what kind of bootable Desktop Utility are you talking about?". I went with Active Boot Disk installed on a USB flash drive. Which worked perfectly. What you need to do with it is fairly self-explanatory. Granted you aren't the "computer illiterate idiot" I spoke of previously. If you are...get someone who isn't to help you with it. I'm sure such folks could probably be found on this particular site even. I just don't have the time or patience to go over all the intimate details at the moment.

Third...there are some drawbacks to this method.

1. It only works for Desktop Icons.
2. It doesn't work for new Desktop Icons.

So...what that means is:

1. Other Icons that aren't found on the Desktop will be left with a black square where the yellow/blue shield used to be(say the ones you may have in Documents or Downloads for example).
2. If you create a new Desktop Icon, that would have had the yellow/blue shield, it will now also have a black square instead of the yellow/blue shield. This requires you to rebuild the Icon Cache again to fix it. No biggy. You already know how to do that.

Lastly...my recommendations are:

1. Make a backup copy of the original imageres.dll file before you do anything. Then rename it to differentiate it from the modified imageres.dll file you'll be using to replace the one in C:\Windows\System32. Something like imageres(original).dll. That way you can easily put things back how they were. If you decide you aren't satisfied with the results. Though sfc /scannow may be just as easy an option. I'm not 100% sure on that...so I went with the file backup method. Hence my recommendation that you do the same.
2. To make things easier for rebuilding the Icon Cache you can use the BAT file found here. Hold on to it for later...since you'll need to rebuild the Icon Cache every time you create a new Icon on the Desktop that will now show up with the black square instead of the yellow/blue shield.

All said and done...it's still a pretty good way to do it. If you can stand the imperfections. All the other methods I tried failed(or I decided were inferior for whatever reason and never bothered trying). It was either this way works...or I was going to have to do the convoluted Task Scheduler routine. Which I'm not very interested in doing at the moment. What a hassle. For now...I'll put up with the black squares on my non-desktop icons...and call it good. :)

I found a solution using the imageres.dll from my Windows 10 Pro version
That version had no Blue and Yellow Shield on the icons...
I replaced the imageres.dll in my Home version that had been upgraded and the blue and yellow overlays were gone.
I tried to post the install here...But maybe it violates the rules... But I know that is all you
have to do.. as far as the fix goes.

Here is my Windows 10 Desktop now