GPO Edge "Configure List of forced-installed web apps" Copy desktop shortcut multiple time

Question

GPO Edge "Configure List of forced-installed web apps" Copy desktop shortcut multiple time

Alexis Gauthier 35

Hello, I don't know why it started to do that, but when I configured the list of forced installed web apps everything was all right.

A week ago, users started asking why there was multiple copy of the desktop shortcut on their desktop.

I don't know how to solve this, I checked online but there's no topic about this problem.

The line for example is : [{"url": "https://test.com","default_launch_container": "window","create_desktop_shortcut": true,"fallback_app_name": "Name of the app"}]

If someone has a solution, I would be happy to hear it :)

they duplicate when I open the link and close it, shortly after that a copy appear every time.

gpupdate /force do nothing

deleting the copied shortcut do nothing, they reappear

sometimes rebooting the computer makes them disappear all and after that they start reappearing

Drags10 0 Reputation points

2023-01-19T16:40:29.72+00:00

I started having the same problem with this GPO however it happens when I close and reopen Edge.

Could be that it's a bug in the latest update.It does seem to happen to both Windows 11 and Windows 10.I will be deleting the GPO and recreating to see if that helps.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-19T19:08:01.62+00:00

i will appreciate the update on that.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-19T19:19:49.7366667+00:00

if this can help, i found the Registery Key for this behavior.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

WebAppInstallForceList
Jason T. Banks 1 Reputation point

2023-01-20T14:28:34.5533333+00:00

There has to have been a recent update that is causing this issue as it is affecting multiple tenants and clients. We have had a policy in place, through Intune for over a year to create a PWA for OneDrive and now each time Edge is closed another OneDrive icon appears on the desktop, for the PWA. This started last Friday 1/13/23, and is still occuring for many of our users.
Stephen Inglis 0 Reputation points

2023-01-25T16:43:09.0366667+00:00

I've tried stopping Edge tabs from sleeping as it seems to happen when they are woken. Will find out tomorrow when I look back into it
Qowy 0 Reputation points

2023-01-30T16:25:45.2033333+00:00

Same Issue here, this has to be due to a recent edge or windows update that changed some behavior.
Tracy A. Deffendol 0 Reputation points

2023-04-27T17:33:11.8666667+00:00

Did this ever get a full resolution? Marking it false is not a true resolution since we have to be able to deploy applications to users. We cannot expect every user to know how to manually do something. The policy setting needs to allow for the action to work without duplication.

Accepted answer

4 additional answers

Your answer

Drags10 0 Reputation points

2023-01-19T16:40:29.72+00:00

I started having the same problem with this GPO however it happens when I close and reopen Edge.

Could be that it's a bug in the latest update.It does seem to happen to both Windows 11 and Windows 10.I will be deleting the GPO and recreating to see if that helps.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-19T19:08:01.62+00:00

i will appreciate the update on that.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-19T19:19:49.7366667+00:00

if this can help, i found the Registery Key for this behavior.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

WebAppInstallForceList
Jason T. Banks 1 Reputation point

2023-01-20T14:28:34.5533333+00:00

There has to have been a recent update that is causing this issue as it is affecting multiple tenants and clients. We have had a policy in place, through Intune for over a year to create a PWA for OneDrive and now each time Edge is closed another OneDrive icon appears on the desktop, for the PWA. This started last Friday 1/13/23, and is still occuring for many of our users.
Stephen Inglis 0 Reputation points

2023-01-25T16:43:09.0366667+00:00

I've tried stopping Edge tabs from sleeping as it seems to happen when they are woken. Will find out tomorrow when I look back into it
Qowy 0 Reputation points

2023-01-30T16:25:45.2033333+00:00

Same Issue here, this has to be due to a recent edge or windows update that changed some behavior.
Tracy A. Deffendol 0 Reputation points

2023-04-27T17:33:11.8666667+00:00

Did this ever get a full resolution? Marking it false is not a true resolution since we have to be able to deploy applications to users. We cannot expect every user to know how to manually do something. The policy setting needs to allow for the action to work without duplication.

Answer 1

Anonymous

Hi @Alexis Gauthier ,

If you set "create_desktop_shortcut": true, this policy will create a desktop shortcut immediately after you apply it. Then, every time you open a new Edge session (including the web app window, and make sure there's no existing Edge session), you'll have a new shortcut copy.

I have a workaround for you to avoid redundant shortcuts being created. You need to delete "create_desktop_shortcut": true or change its value into false after the original shortcut was created. Then, no redundant shortcuts will be created.

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Best Regards,

Shijie Li

Qowy 0 Reputation points

2023-01-19T12:36:38.0933333+00:00

This is not an acceptable answer I had this GPO running for over a Year, it only started doing this a week ago.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-19T12:37:23.79+00:00

if i do that, when a new user comes in the company the app wont be on desktop and the policy wont create a shortcut if im not wrong. i want a desktop shortcut to be created but not every edge session.
Anonymous

2023-01-20T07:18:38.5333333+00:00

Hi @Alexis Gauthier and @Qowy,

It should be a new issue on 109. You can report it to the Dev Team by pressing Alt+Shift+I and please wait for the fix being delivered. Before that, I suggest setting "create_desktop_shortcut": false to lower the impact. As for new users, they can create a desktop shortcut in edge://apps manually as is shown in the pic:

If there's any update on this issue, I'll return to this thread and let you know about it. Thank you for your understanding.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-20T12:33:58.59+00:00

well none of our users know how to use apps so ill let it create a lot of them since they clear out sometimes. i prefer that they know where to work instead of not knowing at all what to do.

Thank you for your help :)
Anonymous

2023-01-31T09:53:29.16+00:00

Hi @Alexis Gauthier ,

A fix for this situation is already available on Edge Canary 111.0.1635.0. It's expected to be available on Edge Stable on the upcoming days.
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-02-06T15:07:09.3466667+00:00

The issue seems to be fixed now. users dont complaint anymore but they still have the duplicates. They can easily delete them.

Answer 2

Thameur-BOURBITA 36,261 Moderator

Hi,

Did you check if there is any GPO settings behind this behavior.

gpresult /H c:\temp\gpresult.html

Please don't forget to mark helpful answer as accepted

Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-18T13:53:07.5466667+00:00

It says here not applied on this one, but i dont see how this thing helps like i didnt changed it and it started to copy the link.

i never used the gpresult command so i dont know where i am supposed to look.
Thameur-BOURBITA 36,261 Reputation points Moderator

2023-01-18T14:06:26.67+00:00

Hi @Alexis Gauthier

In the Gpresult report, did you check if there is any shortcut created through Group Policy Preference ?
Alexis Gauthier 35 Reputation points

2023-01-18T15:24:54.0933333+00:00

it dosent seem like it did.

like i said its only when a user is connected, clicks on the link then close it.

the gpo is supposed to install the web page as an app then create a shortcut one time but it seems to be applied everytime edge is opened and closed.

Answer 3

Qowy 0

Same Issue here, This was working fine as a GPO for over a year. The issue only appeared a week ago.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Michael Williams 0

Edge Version 111.0.1661.62 (Official build) (64-bit) Deployed to a group of users via GPO; [{"fallback_app_name": "HiBob","create_desktop_shortcut": true,"default_launch_container": "window","url": "https://app.hibob.com/login/home"} Duplications of the desktop icon are occurring. This process seems to lack control over deployment, with the need to set the create_desktop_shortcut": false after initial deployment. Also, group policy deployment and syntax instructions seem very limited. If anyone has come across any good resources, please let me know.

Mike McGee 15 Reputation points

2023-05-04T18:40:51.2933333+00:00

Hi Michael,

I've been troubleshooting this issue for approximately four months in my environment and have just recently (last night as a matter of fact) identified where the problem lies, at least in my environment. Passing along in the event that it may help you.

Some background info:

Early 2022 I configured the forceinstallwebapp policy for Edge to drop a shortcut on machines for a floating timer application. Zero problems for about a year. In Late January 2023, I began to receive complaints about the duplicate shortcut issue- the problem lined up with Edge 109.xx being installed on these machines. I posted on reddit and immediately received responses from folks stating that they were seeing the issue as well. I revisited the policy and tweaked the url (only the url) of the pwa and the dup shortcut issue seemed to go away, but I was then presented with a new issue where the timer application would reinstall each time Edge was opened (Edge Boost is disabled via policy in my environment). Seems to be in the same ballpark are the dup shortcut problem.

The 'reinstall' issue is troubelsome due to the fact that our attorneys will launch the pwa shortcut, start their timers, and the app would simply disappear. The issue also causes a couple of other stange problems related to accessing the website associated with the pwa url which are all related to the fact that the pwa is reinstalling every time Edge is opened.

I've spent four months trying to track the issue down and I've read numerous times that this problem was magically fixed in Edge 111.xx yet I still face the issue on v 112. The other workaround floated on various forums was to kill the desktop shortuct(Desktopshortuct=false) but this wasn't somethig that I could do. The temp workaround was to open Edge and wait ~5 seconds before doing anythign with the pwa.

Last night, I found that the Edge Preferences file located @ %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default seems to be the culprit. The wrinkle here is that I'm not sure what specifically within the file causing my issue but renaming the file and letting Edge regenerate for the currently logged in user fixes this maddening issue.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Mike
Edi Dario 0 Reputation points

2023-05-05T16:24:59.56+00:00

Hey @Mike McGee , thank you. I was going nuts thinking this was a GPO issue somehow, since every single user experienced it. Renaming the 'User Data' resolved both issues (reinstalling + shortcut copies).
Did you find out what file inside the 'User Data' was causing it? Unfortunately, I can't just yeet my user's settings 😅 Anyway, I'm gonna look further and see what I discover (and post here). Cheers.

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GPO Edge "Configure List of forced-installed web apps" Copy desktop shortcut multiple time

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