Preventing new Chromium Edge from making desktop shortcut on c:\users\public\desktop

Question

Hello. During imaging computers before Win10 20H2 we would use a registry key to block Edge from putting a shortcut on the All Users desktop. However, that key no longer works, thanks to the New Edge. I have tried adding the following key in our ConfigMgr task sequence

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate /v "CreateDesktopShortcutDefault" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

but when I log into a computer after the sequence is done, there is still a shortcut on c:\users\public\desktop that goes to the new Edge.

I have also already set the group policy - "Prevent desktop shortcut creation upon install default" for Administrative Templates\Microsoft Edge Update\Applications to 'disabled' to see if that would work.

I want to prevent this shortcut from being created, because our users are not admins on computers and cannot delete things from c:\users\public\desktop. If they want to use Edge they can make their own shortcut in their own profile.

So what is the method?

Answer 1

try to create the registry key like below:

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v "DisableEdgeDesktopShortcutCreation" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

or powershell script:

$registrypath = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer"
$name = "DisableEdgeDesktopShortcutCreation"
$value = "1"
New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $name -Value $value -PropertyType DWORD -Force | Out-Null

Regards,
Eswar
www.eskonr.com

Answer 2

Hi Eswar - that's the old method of doing it, for the original (pre Chromium) edge. We were already doing that until 20H2 with the original Edge and it worked great. However, when we updated our task sequence to push a 20H2 wim - which has the new chromium edge built in - now the new chromium based Edge has its own, different shortcut on c:\users\public\desktop and that is not removed.

Does that key work for you on windows 10 version 20H2, Eswar? Because it doesn't for us.

Answer 3

Anyone have any other ideas about registry edits to stop the NEW edge from putting a desktop shortcut on c:\users\public\desktop

Answer 4

Haven’t tried it with edge chromium, but you can deploy a simple a batch file to delete the icon from public desktop as a post upgrade step in your IPU TS. I remember doing something similar for synaptic driver icons as part of imaging setup.