Microsoft Edge is the bundled browser with the Windows operating system. Though the browser has been the butt of many jokes due to its inefficiency and lack of essential features, it has lately caught up with all the leading browsers. While it may have caught up with the competition, it is not necessary that you want to make the switch. Additionally, every time the browser updates itself, it tends to create a new Desktop shortcut which is unnecessary and irritating.

If you have been facing the same issue on your Windows 11 computer, this guide will help you to stop Microsoft Edge from creating any Desktop shortcut. You can either manually head to the Registry Editor and tweak the files yourself or run a script on your computer to automate the task. For your ease of convenience, we will discuss both of these methods in this guide.

1. Use Registry Editor

First, head to the Start Menu and type Registry Editor to perform a search. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Registry Editor’ tile.

Next, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned code into the address bar and hit Enter to navigate to the directory.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft

After that, right-click on the ‘Microsoft’ folder and hover over the ‘New’ option. Then, click on the ‘Key’ option. Then, rename it as EdgeUpdate.

Afterward, select the ‘EdgeUpdate’ key and right-click on the left empty section. Hover over the ‘New’ option and select the ‘DWORD’ file. Then, rename the file to CreateDesktopShortcutDefault.

Now, double-click on the ‘CreateDesktopShortcutDefault’ file to open its properties.

Then, enter 0 in the Value field and click the ‘OK’ button.

You can also block individual channels from creating shortcuts instead of globally, which we showcased just now in the guide. You will need to create a DWORD file for each of the individual channels of Internet Explorer, though.

To block shortcuts from Edge Beta, create a DWORD file of the name mentioned below.

CreateDesktopShortcut{2CD8A007-E189-409D-A2C8-9AF4EF3C72AA}

To stop the shortcuts created by Edge Dev, create a DWORD file and rename the file by typing or copy+pasting the below-mentioned code.

CreateDesktopShortcut{0D50BFEC-CD6A-4F9A-964C-C7416E3ACB10}

To disable shortcuts creation by Edge Canary, create a DWORD file and rename it to the below-mentioned code.

CreateDesktopShortcut{65C35B14-6C1D-4122-AC46-7148CC9D6497}

Also, make sure the DWORD file you have created has a file value of 0.

2. Create a Batch File To Automate the Process

In case you wish to toggle the Edge Dekstop shortcut creation feature frequently, or you wish to distribute this fix to your near ones, you can easily create a Registry file and simply double-click on it to run on your PC or anybody else’s.

First, head to the Start Menu and type Notepad to perform a search. Then, from the search results, right-click on the ‘Notepad’ tile and select the ‘Run as administrator’ option.

Now, a UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button.

Now, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned code and hit Ctrl+S to save the file. Otherwise, click on the ‘File’ option and then select the ‘Save as’ option. 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate]
"RemoveDesktopShortcutDefault"=dword:00000001

Since the code is to disable the shortcut, give it an appropriate name with the .reg extension and click on the ‘Save’ button.

To execute the file, double-click on it. This will create the Registry entry automatically that was created manually in the previous section.

You can also create a batch file to revert back to normal settings where Edge will keep creating shortcuts. To do so, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned code and press Ctrl+S on the keyboard to save the file. Otherwise, click on the ‘File’ option and then select the ‘Save as’ option.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate]
"RemoveDesktopShortcutDefault"=-

Then, enter an appropriate name with .reg extension and click on the ‘Save’ button.

Then, if you want to undo shortcut creation disabling, double-click on the file to run it. You can also transfer these batch files to a different system and run them as is.

There you go, people. Using the above-mentioned methods, you can easily disable Microsoft Edge from creating Desktop shortcuts.