Workaround to Remove Shortcut Arrow (Make Transparent) in Windows 7 Yet Can Pin to Taskbar or Start Menu
In Windows 7, once user uses the IsShortcut hack to remove shortcut icon arrow overlay image, the shortcut can no longer been pinned to Windows 7 Taskbar and Start Menu. For Windows 7 user who don’t like the shortcut arrow image to appear on the icon, but yet still want to pin the shortcut to Taskbar or Start Menu, there is a workaround hack to remove and hide the shortcut arrow.
In fact, the following trick, which make the arrow shortcut overlay image transparent through registry, is the proper way to remove and hide the arrow overlay on the icon of shortcut, which is implemented in TweakUI PowerToy for Windows XP too. By using the proper registry hack below to remove the shortcut arrow, user can avoid the double items issue when right clicking on a shortcut (.lnk) file. In Windows 7, user can avoid the problem of unable or cannot pin shortcut item to Taskbar or Start Menu and other related issues.
How to Remove Shortcut Arrow in Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server
Open a command prompt (with administrator rights in Windows Vista and Windows 7), and the run the following command line statement to add the necessary registry key:
REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons” /v 29 /d %SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,50 /f
Alternatively, download and apply the following registry file, which has the HEX value for Shell Icons which equals to %SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,50
Download Remove_Shortcut_Arrow.reg
After applying the tweak, download and run the FlushCode.exe to refresh the icon cache.
Important: For user who has previously use the common method (deleting IsShortcut registry value) to remove the arrow on shortcut, restore the IsShortcut registry value first as per instruction used to fix issue related to right click menu items after removing shortcut arrow. Alternatively, copy and paste the following lines of code to a text editor, and then save as a file with .reg extension and run the saved registry file to merge back the value.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
@="Shortcut"
"IsShortcut"=""
Related Articles
- Fix Unable to Pin App to Taskbar and Start Menu (Missing Context Menu and Jump Lists) Error in Windows 7
- How to Remove Shortcut Arrow on Icons in Windows (Include Desktop Items)
- Hide and Remove Folders Shortcuts in Vista Start Menu
- Fix Windows 7 Start Menu Shrinks or Drops Below Behind Taskbar Abnormally
- Make Vista Right Click Menu Transparent
- Pin Control Panel to Windows 7 TaskBar Hack
- How to Make the Windows 7 SuperBar (Taskbar) Icons Smaller (Small Size)
- New Keyboard Shortcut Keys (HotKeys) in Windows 7
- Workaround to Pin My Computer, Documents, Recycle Bin or Any Folders to Windows 7 TaskBar (Pin to Windows Explorer Alternative)
- How To Change Shortcut Icon to Beautify Vista
Entries (RSS)
February 1st, 2010 15:39
FIX FOR BLACK BOXES HERE
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WINDOWS 7 TESTED ONLY
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1. Open “regedit”
2. Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons”
3. Simply right click and delete the “Shell Icons” folder from your registry.
4. Reboot
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This has worked for me, and I have rebooted 3 times in a row; I see no reason for it to go back to black boxes.
Do not be afraid to harm your computer by doing this, I have done this to my own computer!!!
January 21st, 2010 14:04
you know, there’s definitely something wrong with you. I downloaded a virtual KMS server to be run in VMWare products and spent an hour trying to fix this stupid arrow issue. Some moron who created the image must have broken everything. Finally fixed, thanx at least for pointing me to the right key in the registry. But really, you shouldn’t encourage people to do this crap. The little arrow is very nice and pretty! lol.
Your flushcode tool doesn’t work. To flush the cache on ANY windows installation crash explorer through the task manager and then restart it
January 14th, 2010 10:17
Yes, I totally screwed up my girlfriend’s new machine with this one (Vista Professional). Tried many different approaches to fix; 1st reboot always OK, then 2nd reboot black boxes are back! Looked through the posts here tried everything and thought I fixed it eventually… Did 4 hard reboots all ok. Just got a phone call from my girl, Black boxes again!! How do I get the arrows back? System resore seems impotent. Please post a fix here. She’s getting a 7 upgrade and I guess I’ll have to do a fresh install if you can’t fix the damage done.
Thanks.
January 5th, 2010 23:52
My recommendation: stay away from this one, people.
The content of this article and the followups in the comments have completely screwed up my icons. Consequently, no matter what I do, I’m unable to get my default icons back.
If we’re talking about Win7, why the constant references to HKEY? 7 uses HKLM. Get it right, children. After all, it is a basic.
Of all the Win7 tips that I have encountered and made use of – and believe me, there are many – this is the only one that has screwed up my system, with no recovery that I can find to remove the black boxes. I’ll have to try a repair, and failing that, a reinstall.
Thanks for nothing,
December 18th, 2009 06:46
Nice. But since I can’t get it to work no matter what I do, how do I go back to the shortcut arrow in Win7? I’m really tired of the black box.
And what’s with the reference to “HKLM? Win7 uses HKEY
December 11th, 2009 20:43
@ Angelina
lucky you doesn’t realize that if 3 out of 40 antivirus programs say it is a virus, it is nowhere near being a real virus
the best workaround to the black square is to use the .reg file and then go to regedit HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons and modify 29 to the path of an almost completely transparent icon, for example this icon (it contains 1 almost completely transparent pixel and several other complete transparent pixel):
http://depositfiles.com/files/441atpfqy
December 7th, 2009 04:26
As you can see Steve, your registry hack doesn’t work. You have the wrong value placed in there somewhere. And many people here don’t want to download still another program like Ultimate Windows Tweaker V2 just to be able to do this.
November 29th, 2009 14:31
+ you can flush icons cache by killing explorer.exe process through taskmanager and runing it again
no reboot, no FlushCode.exe
November 29th, 2009 14:24
Dave: seems like shell32.dll,50 is a black square on my win7 too.
I made transparent icon and used it instead …\shell32.dll,50 – works fine
November 29th, 2009 07:31
Are you aware of the fact that FlushCode.exe contains virus?:
http://www.virustotal.com/sv/analisis/167cc94175502b24bcfb29500707f1b59852387333fca6fce02d6293367e9a57-1257442023
Lucky me I checked it first.
November 27th, 2009 07:38
It does not work (whether using value 50 or 52). Sometimes it works, but after reboot, all shortcut icons have a hole (empty square).
Thanks steve, Ultimate Windows Tweaker V2 is a freeware that works perfectly on this area.
November 25th, 2009 13:16
i tried the method where you download the .reg file, (by the way im on vista home premium) but now, after i turned off my laptop, then turned it on, i realised that in the area where the arrow icon should be(the invisibe arrow thing worked until now) is a big black square! how do i undo this?????? please help i dont like having a black square on my shortcuts.
November 21st, 2009 12:13
GTW: Sorry, really wasn’t trying to be rude. I just hate to see someone wait for an answer when it may have already been solved by reading down the posts.
Once again, try Ultimate Windows Tweaker V2 if you want to remove shortcut arrows or have black overlays on your icons after hacking the registry. The folks that wrote it are supposedly associated with Microsoft. All I know is it worked for me.
November 20th, 2009 23:22
No need to be rude, steve.
Chill
November 18th, 2009 13:51
For crying out loud people! Read the thread!
DOWNLOAD ULTIMATE WINDOWS TWEAKER V2.
November 18th, 2009 11:45
why there is became a black box change by the shotcut arrow.
can you help me to fix it back?
November 17th, 2009 17:48
Yeah works here too. ahh. the ui looks so much better!
November 13th, 2009 17:42
Yeah well I just installed Win7 today and those shortcut arrows look retarded and hideous. It ruins an otherwise smooth, decent looking GUI.
I’ve been using Tweak UI for years on XP and Win2000 before that and so I’d really like to get rid of then. I never used Vista so I was unpleasantly surprised that M$ stopped development of Tweak UI with XP.
/:(
November 13th, 2009 11:12
P.S. It fixed the pin problem for me. Just saying it worked for me. Hope it works for others.