Windows 10: Shortcut Arrow Icon - Change, Remove, or Restore in Windows 10

Does changing the size of the icons help?

 

Where is the setting to change icon sizes? *Redface

Ooops. Found the setting. The icon size changes, but the faint outline of the overlay remains the same size.

[Edited yet again to add:]

Just noticed that the overlay outline only seems to appear for shortcut icons on the desktop.

The following icons on the desktop do NOT have the outlay outline:
- Recycle Bin
- some .mp4 files actually residing on desktop
- file folders actually residing on desktop

The following icons DO have the outlay outline:
- shortcuts to folder on another diver
- URL shortcuts
- shortcuts to apps (.exe files) on other drives

I'm going to bed before I make any more embarrassing posts. LOL!

 

LOL, no worries mate. *Smile

 

I had the same problem, so I tried a solution that had been suggested for previous versions of Windows. It seems to work.

In regedit, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile. In the right column, change lsShortcut to XlsShortcut.

Sally

 

Hello Sally, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Yep, the tutorial has been updated for that. Thank you. *Smile

 

tanks for arrow options *Smile

 

You're most welcome Jedy, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

 

thanks, I'm honored to be here, excuse the language but use a translator*Smile

 

Color me confused, yet again.

Where is the lsShortcut that is supposed be changed to XlsShortcut?

The updated Remove_shortcut_overlay.reg file contains:[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
"IsShortcut"=-
Isn't that an uppercase "I" vs the lower case "l" that Sally used, and how does it insert the XlsShortcut value?

 

It's not needed since it was only to rename the value to make it invalid. I prefer to remove it than leave an invalid key. If you use the .reg to restore or use another shortcut arrow, it will be restored.

The case doesn't matter.

 

Granted, but doesn't the letter itself matter? The .reg file has an uppercase I (pronounced "eye") but Sally used a lowercase l (pronounced "el")

The .reg file aims to remove the value, but isn't Sally saying to change it to XlsShortcut?

But, in what key is that lsShortcut supposed to appear? I'd like to try using the XlsShortcut, but don't know where she has it in her Registry.

 

It's suppose to be an uppercase I (eye) in IsShortcut. It just looks like an (el) in the post here.

Both methods serve the same purpose. I just prefer to remove the IsShortcut string value instead of renaming it. It's a cleaner way of doing it.

The IsShortcut sting value is located here below by default.

 

Aha! If you cut-and-paste from Sally's post and paste it someplace where you can change the font to a serif font, it's clear she used an "el." Easy mistake!

Now, this is peculiar:

I added the IsShortcut string back in and we're where we started:





However, deleting the IsShortcut string and the square outline of the arrow overlay area is removed for *some* of the shortcuts, but not all:





The bottom row are shorcuts for: File Explorer, \\yoga (network shortcut), and two program (.exe) files.

The top row are two .url shortcuts, i.e. I right-clicked on the desktop, chose New > Shortcut and copy and pasted the URL from two tenforums.com threads and gave them titles.

The icon image for the .url shortcuts seems to be the same icon image for the program shortcut on the bottom row, but the .url shortcuts still have the square outline. *Confused

PS: I changed the icon on the .url shortcuts and the square box outline remains. It's something about a property of .url shortcuts?

 

Use the new .reg file to restore the default shortcut arrow, then try again. *Smile

 

I downloaded Restore_default_shortcut_arrow.reg, merged it into the Registry, rebooted and -- voila! -- the default shortcut arrows were back on all the shortcuts, as expected.

Then I downloaded Remove_shortcut_overlay.reg, merged it into the Registry and:





Then I went into the Registry manually to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons and added the 29 string with the value %windir%\System32\imageres.dll,-17 and we're back to: