Prevent “- Shortcut” suffix when creating shortcuts on Windows 7

Question

Some superuser answers and many other Google hits show that setting "link" to "00 00 00 00" for the registry key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\

will stop concatenating the suffix "- Shortcut" when shortcuts are created. I'm using Windows 7 and this has not worked for me. I have tried manually setting the key, using Ultimate Windows Tweaker and running a .reg file, but none have worked. I have set the value, created the shortcut, noted the "- Shortcut" suffix and checked that the regkey value was still "00 00 00 00". The value persists across reboots. Could all those references really be wrong, or am I missing something?

Answer 1

It seems that a reboot was all that was necessary for the tweak to start working. Indeed, setting the value to "00 00 00 00" did it. Maybe a reboot was more than necessary, and just killing and restarting "explorer.exe" would have done it.

Answer 2

The procedure as described above with setting the String Value of "Link" to all zero did not work for me. Even after restart, the suffix "- shortcut" was still there. Sometimes, it also happened that the Link String Value was reset to e.g. 16. However, I found an alternative that worked for my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. Here is the trick:

1. Open the registry editor: Start Menu » Run » regedit

2. Save (export) a copy of the current registry – just in case of a mistake. Best is to save it on the desktop and give it a name with the date and some explanation that describes when you saved this copy (e.g. "20120319 registry before removing shortcut suffix")

3. Then, you navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\

4. If there is a key called "NamingTemplates" already, then you may enter a new string value directly and skip the next step #5.

5. If there is no such key called "NamingTemplates", create this key under the above path. To do so, left-click on "Explorer" in the above path, then right-click in the right half of the window and select new » key. Rename the key to "NamingTemplates". The complete path is then: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\NamingTemplates

6. Now, under the key "NamingTemplates" you create a String Value with the name "ShortcutNameTemplate" (without the quotes). To do so, left-click on the key "NamingTemplates" and then make a right-click in the right half of the window. Select new » string value. Rename the String Value to "ShortcutNameTemplate". For this, you need to right-click on the String Value and select » Rename.

7. Then, you right-click once again on the newly created String Value, select  Modify and enter the value "%.lnk" (again without the quotes).

8. Exit and close the registry editor

9. Then, for the change to take effect, close the Exit Windows Explorer and open it again. Now, the "-shortcut" suffix is gone.

Here is also the screenshot how it should look like after the changes:

If later on, you need to reverse the change:

• If you had to create the key "NamingTemplates" -> then, just delete this key to make the change undone
• If the key was already there, then you should set its value back to the original value, before the change (i.e. you should keep record...)

Wish you good success!

UOB

Answer 3

Restarting Explorer is sufficient, there's no need to reboot.

Open the Start Menu, find a blank area and press Ctrl + Shift whilst right clicking there. Choose the Exit Explorer option.