14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Edge is Microsoft’s big bet in the browser world, and it’s not a secret that the software giant has sometimes turned to all kinds of tactics in an attempt to convince Windows users to give it a try.
Parts of this strategy have been controversial, the say the least, with some users claiming Microsoft was trying to enforce the use of Edge on their devices.
Now it looks like something similar is happening one more time, as Microsoft Edge keeps recreating a desktop shortcut on devices where it’s installed. What’s even more unexpected is that the shortcut is being added to the desktop even on those computers where Edge is already configured as the default browser and an icon is pinned to the Start menu or the taskbar.
Plenty of users reporting the same behavior in this reddit thread, and at first glance, it looks like the desktop shortcut is recreated every time Microsoft Edge is getting an update.
This makes sense given it’s a part of the Windows experience, but on the other hand, the shortcut shouldn’t be re-added to the desktop if users haven’t configured the browser as the default choice on the operating system.
The only way to prevent the desktop shortcut from showing up again, no matter if this happens after an update or due to another reason, is to create a new registry entry that will define a new rule in this regard.
To do this, launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Start menu and then navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate
Next, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value called CreateDesktopShortcutDefault and set its value to 0. Close the Registry Editor, delete the current Microsoft Edge shortcut (if it’s still available on the desktop) and reboot the device.