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I want stop program installations automatically from creating shortcuts on the desktop on Windows 11! What if I want to allow programs which are newly installed to create shortcuts on desktop, but prevent programs which are just updating creating shortcuts! I don't want disable former, because some programs are hard to find sometimes! However it might be worth to disable completely, or redirect creation of shortcuts to some folder on desktop.

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  • Your request is much too general.
    – harrymc
    Jun 10, 2023 at 15:41

2 Answers 2

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Nothing special about Windows 11. Windows will normally do what the installing App wants.

Some Apps automatically add icons to the desktop (Adobe). Some have an option to do either depending on what the user wants. Some do not put icons on the desktop (normally Office).

Windows offers a right click on the App in the Start Button called More to open the icon folder and allows you to add an App icon to the desktop.

Again something we do, not a Windows issue.

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  • Problem is not all programs have this and for newly installed that is fine, but programs which are updated creating new shortcuts for them each time and i have these in folders on desktop to declutter. I suffer from insane OCD, this would help me a lot!
    – empleat
    Jun 10, 2023 at 15:44
  • It is mostly (90% of Apps and all Windows going back a couple of decades or more) an Apps issue (not under Windows control) so you must come at from that perspective.
    – John
    Jun 10, 2023 at 17:06
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There are many problems with this: there are different methods of placing shortcuts on the desktop and you'd need to control for each of these, or use a broader approach which would impact the system in undesired ways.

Writing a script that cleans your desktop except for desired shortcuts seems to me to be the better method, using default Windows methods that don't impact you in undesirable ways.

I think that taking a step or two back from what YOU think is the right answer will give you opportunity for a better solution overall.

You can use a trigger to run the script, like a scheduled task, or something written to the event log (I've not had a lot of luck using these, but I know that it is a trigger you can use on a scheduled task).

Use an answer file to define the shortcuts you WANT and then use a script that removes everything that isn't in that answer file. This should work simply to keep everything looking and feeling the way you want.

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