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How to Remove Shortcut Arrow on Desktop Icon in Windows 10

Isabella Shinn
Isabella Shinn

Updated:

A shortcut is a link to an item, such as a file, folder, or app on your PC. By default, Windows places a small arrow in the bottom left corner of the desktop shortcut icon to indicate that icon is a shortcut link. If you don't like shortcut arrow, you can hide or remove it completely.

Remove shortcut arrow on Desktop icon

How to Remove Shortcut Arrow on Desktop Icon via Registry Editor

Use the steps below, you can easily remove shortcut arrow on desktop icon in Windows 10/8/7.

Step 1: Open Registry Editor.

Press Win+R keys to bring up the Run dialog, type in regedit and then hit Enter key.

Open regitory editor

Step 2: In the registry editor, go to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer

Step 3: Create a new subkey named Shell Icons.

Right-click on Explorer, select New > Key, then give it a name Shell Icons.

Create Shell icons registry key

Step 4: Under the Shell Icons subkey, create a new string value and name it 29.

Create a new string value 179

Step 5: Double-click on 29 string value. In the Value Data field, copy and paste the following:

"%windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50"

Set value data

When done, restart Windows Explorer. Shortcut arrows should be gone from your desktop icons.

Tips: If there is a black Square on the low left side of the shortcut icon when viewing in Medium or Large icons, you may want to remove the black square, do as the follows:

Fix Black Square problem

To do: Open the Registry Editor and navigate to:

KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

Double-click the 29 entry in the right pane, leave Value Data empty and click OK.

Fix black Square problem

After you restart Windows Explorer, the black square should be gone from your desktop icons.