How to stop a program from adding a Quick access shortcut?

jimbo45 said:

Hi folks

Why not simply delete the link or am I missing something here. Just right mouse click on the link and delete.

Cheers
jimbo

What you are missing is that Drive FileStream constantly recreates it, at every reboot.

Hi all,

lasher said:

What you are missing is that Drive FileStream constantly recreates it, at every reboot.

Lasher, I'm with you - this is extremely annoying. So much so that I reported to Google:

Auto-Repinning of Google Drive to Quick Access - Google Drive Community

And registered to this site to add this comment :)

Thanks,

Hans

praxis13 said:

Lasher, I'm with you - this is extremely annoying. So much so that I reported to Google:

Yeah, as you described in your report... it makes absolutely no sense.

lasher said:

Yeah, as you described in your report... it makes absolutely no sense.

Well, funny thing. I just installed a fresh system and thus a new Google Drive, and the auto-pin problem is solved. I haven't tried unpinning, but the proper Google Drive link/icon/etc is there so there isn't any need to. So perhaps a reinstall of Google Drive would help.

H

praxis13 said:

Well, funny thing. I just installed a fresh system and thus a new Google Drive, and the auto-pin problem is solved. I haven't tried unpinning, but the proper Google Drive link/icon/etc is there so there isn't any need to. So perhaps a reinstall of Google Drive would help.

One would hope for a reply to the ticket you opened, then.

I figured out a permanent solution / workaround. This is for Google Drive for desktop specifically, but should work no matter the program. It was driving me insane.

This method basically allows the best of both worlds, keeps the Google Drive as a drive letter in "This PC", but it won't show in 'Quick Access'. Basically we'll hide the 'real' mounted Google Drive from Explorer altogether (using registry), then use 'subst' to create a symbolic link for a new drive letter that goes into the Google Drive, and since it's not the one the program made, it won't make a shortcut to it. I tested it and it seems to work even after restarting Google Drive software, where it normally adds the shortcut back. The steps are below.

1. In Google Drive settings, change the drive letter to one you don't care about, because it will still be taken up. So click the gear > Preferences > Click the gray dropdown box that says "Google Drive drive letter" (didn't look clickable but it is), choose something. I chose W:

2. Next you need to hide the W: drive from explorer. I used a program called "WinAero Tweaker" but
these instructions do the same exact thing manually. In WinAero tweaker I went to the settings for "File Explorer" > "Hide Drives" > Check W: and restart explorer. No matter the method, both the drive and quick access shortcut should no longer appear.

3. Next we open command prompt and use the subst command to map a new letter to the 'real' Google Drive. I want it to show in This PC as X: , so my command was:

Code:

subst X: W:\

Where the first one is the new drive letter, and the 2nd is the directory of the target (don't forget the backslash there).

Now, Google Drive will show in This PC as the new drive letter you chose (X: for me), while the "real" one will be invisible (but still function fine). And since the Google Drive software didn't make the mount for X: , it won't make a quick access shortcut for it.

I'm on W10 Pro 20H2 (build 19042.1165) and for me the solution I posted still works.

Don't know if/when this will change with further Windows updates...

ThioJoe said:

I figured out a permanent solution / workaround. This is for Google Drive for desktop specifically, but should work no matter the program. It was driving me insane.

This method works very well for me. Thanks, guy!

Btw, I didn't use the subst to create a new fake drive, instead, I intentionally add a quick access to the specific folder in my Google Drive. (I am using "mirror mode".)

Apparently, at long last, Google fixed this.

How to prevent GDrive from adding to File Explorer Quickaccess - Google Drive Community

Edit: I say apparently because I haven't tested it, yet.