Creating alternative shortcuts for Explorer's Quick Access

I've been using registry tweaks to get rid of a few things from the Explorer navigation panel, and replacing a few of them with Quick Access links instead.

I used a trick that I read here on one of the tutorial comments, where creating a folder and renaming it using the registry sequence will turn it into a link:

Network.{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C} - creates a Network link
This PC.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} - creates a This PC link

These links can then be placed into the Quick Access area.

(I did notice that after briefly updating to 1909, the folders retained the full file names and did not properly remove the alphanumeric sequence. After revering to 1903, the problem seems to have corrected itself, although I did have to unpin the item first and re-pin it in order to fix the filename display.)

What I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to create a link to the shared desktop that is normally displayed in the navigation panel when "Show all folders" is checked. (It's currently possible to pin that item to the Quick Access, but it can't be moved and will appear at the bottom.)

Any ideas are appreciated.

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(I did notice that after briefly updating to 1909, the folders retained the full file names and did not properly remove the alphanumeric sequence. After revering to 1903, the problem seems to have corrected itself, although I did have to unpin the item first and re-pin it in order to fix the filename display.)

I spoke too soon. It seems that even after going back to 1903, the links randomly rename themselves to the full folder name given.



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It's really back-and-forth at this point. It seems to be unpredictable and changes with every restart.

I don't think you'll have much luck getting the rooted Desktop, a virtual folder, into Quick Access. It's the root of the Shell Namespace.

However, to prevent the GUID extensions from displaying, in the registry, under:

Code:

HKLME\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder

Create a REG_SZ value named NeverShowExt. Leave its Data empty.


Keith