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My work computer has lots of default installed programs with annoying desktop shortcuts. I want to hide some (or all) public shortcuts (from C:\Users\Public\Desktop) without administrative privileges. Is it possible?

Any alternatives are valid, as long as those icons disappear.

emi
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  • You may be able to get part of the aesthetic effect that you want simply by dragging them to the other side/corner of the screen.  (This may be especially effective if you happen to have multiple monitors.) – Scott - Слава Україні May 14 '13 at 16:56

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I know this is an old question, but it bubbled up and got me curious.

On a hunch, I tested the Group Policy setting NoCommonGroups, because it's documented function limits Start Menu items to those defined for the current user:

Property Value
File startmenu.admx
Policy Setting Name Remove common program groups from Start Menu
Scope User
Policy Path Start Menu and Taskbar
Registry Information HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer!NoCommonGroups
Help Text Removes items in the All Users profile from the Programs menu on the Start menu. By default, the Programs menu contains items from the All Users profile and items from the user's profile. If you enable this setting, only items in the user's profile appear in the Programs menu. Tip: To see the Program menu items in the All Users profile, on the system drive, go to ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.

I'm on Win10 Home, so I created the value via a registry edit and gave it a DWORD value of 0x00000001.

It worked. I had one Public/common item on my Desktop, a folder named "Reg Transfers", used for sharing .eg files between user profiles. It disappeared when the policy was applied:

enter image description here

enter image description here

But note that, as intended by the policy, a number of items have disappeared from the Start Menu as well. But if one wanted to pursue this, missing items could be copied from shell:Common Programs or shell:Common Start Menu.

I'm unfamiliar with Group Policy in a domain environment, so I don't know if a manually created value would be wiped out on login.

However, even though the key is under HKCU, modification requires Admin rights. :(

However, with sufficent rights or an accomodating IT department, you can merge a .reg file or create the value in code.

If you don't have access to the Group Policy Editor, this would be the .reg file to create and set the policy:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoCommonGroups"=dword:00000001

Or you can copy & paste this code into an Admin PowerShell console:

$Splat = @{
    'Path'           = 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer'
    'Name'           = 'NoCommonGroups'
    'Force'          = $True
    'ErrorAction'    = 'Stop'
}
Try { If ( ! ( Test-Path $Splat.Path )) { [Void]( mkdir @Splat ) }}
Catch { Write-Host 'Command must be run from an Admin PowerShell Console.' }

$Splat.PropertyType = 'DWord'
$Splat.Value        = 0x00000001

Try { [Void]( New-ItemProperty @Splat ) }
Catch { Write-Host 'Command must be run from an Admin PowerShell Console.' }
Keith Miller
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You can't, unless you find the administrator password. Even a 3rd part program, that manage icons, need higher privileges.

Lamberto Basti
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  • Are you sure? Because if you browse `C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop` public files don't appear, which seems to me that they're not connected. – emi May 14 '13 at 17:01
  • @esauvisky - what do you mean exactly with "public files don't appear"? – Lamberto Basti May 14 '13 at 17:05
  • I mean that the files from `C:\Users\Public\Desktop` don't appear at `C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop`, so a 3rd part program could just ignore them. – emi May 14 '13 at 17:09
  • The links on a desktop user are not related between them. Public is just another user, which have all of his personal documents shared (which means that those documents don't need a specific privilege for being read/wrote). The icons on your desktop are there because when the programs have been installed, it has been created a registry key that create those icons on future users and on existing ones (including Public) – Lamberto Basti May 14 '13 at 17:55
  • I think that thing about registry keys is wrong. Could you provide some source? From my understanding, when programs are installed for all users (as admin), they create shortcuts on `C:\Users\Public\Desktop` so they appear on each user's desktop. – emi May 14 '13 at 18:17
  • [Here](http://superuser.com/questions/107930/why-install-for-just-me-as-opposed-to-everybody) it is, check the second answer – Lamberto Basti May 15 '13 at 00:08