Shortcut Arrow - Change, Remove, or Restore

How to Change, Remove, or Restore the Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon in Windows​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to change, remove, or restore the default shortcut arrow overlay on all shortcut icons in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Warning

Removing the shortcut arrow will make it harder to tell which files are shortcuts or not.

You can still tell by right clicking or press and hold on the file, and click/tap on Properties to see if you have a Shortcut tab or not.

OPTION ONE

Change Shortcut Arrow using "Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover"

1. If you have not already, click/tap on the Download button below to download the Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover (Vista Shortcut Overlay Manager) program below for the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows you have installed. Save the .msi file to your desktop, and install it.
32-bit (x86) Windows

Download



64-bit (x64) Windows

Download


2. Double click/tap on the program's shortcut to run the program.

3. To Change, Restore, or Remove the Arrow for All Shortcuts
A) Select (dot) the arrow option you want for the shortcut arrow. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you selected Custom Arrow to change the shortcut arrow, then click on Select and navigate to and choose a ICO (icon) file you have downloaded to use as the shortcut arrow.
4. To Remove the "Shortcut" Name from All Shortcuts
NOTE: See also: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/804-shortcut-extension-remove-restore.html
A) Check the box to also remove the - Shortcut name extension for new shortcuts that are created.
5. Click/tap on Apply.

6. Click/tap on Yes to log off to apply the changes. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you like, you could also just restart explorer instead to apply your changes.

7. Log back on and your done.

   Warning

If you used the Light Arrow or No Arrow option and uninstall "Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover", then they will be undone the next time you log off/on or restart the computer/explorer.

The Arrow (default) and Custom Arrow options will not be undone if you uninstall "Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover".

OPTION TWO

To Change Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon in Registry Editor

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.

2. In regedit, navigate to the location below:
NOTE: If Shell Icons it is not in the left pane under Explorer, right click on Explorer, and click on New and Key. Type Shell Icons for the new keys's name, and press Enter.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

3. In the right pane of Shell Icons, right click on an empty area, and click/tap on New and String Value, and name it 29.

4. Double click/tap on the 29 sting value to modify it.

5. Type in the full path of your custom .ico file within quotes, OR copy and paste the path below for what overlay icon you would like to use, and click/tap on OK.

   Tip

If you like, you can download a transparent.ico file here to use instead.

(No arrow - Transparent) %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50

(Classic) %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-30

(Default) %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-16769
6. Log off and on, or restart the computer to apply.

OPTION THREE

To Change Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon using a REG File

NOTE: This option does the same thing as OPTION TWO above, but automatically for you using a .reg file.
1. Do step 2, 3, or 4 below for what you would like to do.

2. To Restore Default Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .reg file below, and go to step 5 below.

Default_Shortcut_Arrow.reg


Download


3. To Use Classic Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .reg file below, and go to step 5 below.

Classic_Shortcut_Arrow.reg


Download


4. To Have No Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .reg file below, and go to step 5 below.

No_Shortcut_Arrow.reg


Download


5. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply.

6. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Remove or Restore the "Shortcut" Name Extension in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change the Icon of a Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Hide a Folder or Shortcut Icon in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Create a Shortcut of a File, Folder, Drive, or Program in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Remove the Lock Icon from Files and Folders in Windows 7

 

[Brink]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/299-user-account-control-uac-change-notification-settings.html

 

[Autlense]

yes it is on. Do i turn it off? Before i do this, do i still have the option of undoing the arrow removal thing if for some reason something goes wrong?

 

[Brink]

Autlense,

No, you would want to leave UAC turned on.

If the program gives you that error, then nothing has been changed. I'm not sure why the program giving you the error since you are using the 64-bit download now. It's working perfectly fine for me.

If you like, you can try OPTION ONE again to remove the shortcut arrow, but be sure to do each step exactly for it to work.

 

[Autlense]

It finally worked!!!! Idk y or how but i did the exact same thing as before, but this time it worked.
Anyway, thank you for all your help and patience, Brink

 

[Brink]

That's great news Autlense. I'm happy to hear that you got it working.

 

[AlanDyson]

Hi Shawn.

I downloaded the FxVisor64 program to my laptop (Win7 Home Premium 64-bit) with Google Chrome, which puts downloads in a dedicated folder. Running from there launches an installation wizard, effectively skipping the instruction to save the .msi file to the desktop. All goes as expected until choosing to log off from the popup. This brings up the "unhandled exception" message reported by Autlense above. Choosing Continue has no effect, but quitting then logging off and on manually implements the desired changes.

So the program is effective, but, having limited technical knowledge, I don't much care for unexplained bugs. I would be grateful for your advice, particularly an assurance that it's safe to continue using the program.

Thanks, Alan

 

[Brink]

Hello Alan,

I'm not sure why you're getting the error, but it seems to run properly for me when I run it from the desktop. You might also right click on the file and click on "Run as administrator" to see if that may help.

 

[AlanDyson]

Thanks for the very prompt reply, Shawn. Running as administrator produces the same result. I see that the problem cured itself for Autlense - maybe I'll eventually be able to report the same.

There seem to be no other ill-effects so I'll persevere with it. My desktop looks a whole lot prettier!

As it's now gone 5.30am here, I'd best get to bed.

Cheers! Alan

 

[Brink]

Goodnight Alan.

 

[AlanDyson]

I'm up again after completing my night's sleep, so it's now "Good Morning Shawn!"

Just for your information, I thought I'd restore my system to the original download and try again with Internet Explorer. Still no option to park the .msi file on the desktop, and still the same result. So I'll leave it as it is; there seems to be little chance of any knock-on effects and I do like the new-look desktop.

Thanks again, Alan

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Alan.

 

[luc67ien]

Can't get this to work.

I've tried every method listed in your post. I've checked and double checked. I've tried other programs. I've tried manually editing the registry. I've tried creating my own blank icon from scratch with an icon editor...all to no avail. When I relog all I get is a big ugly black icon covering my icons.

Any thoughts on what is wrong?

 

[Brink]

Hello Luc,

You might see if downloading and merging the lnk (LNK) option in the tutorial below may be able to allow you to change it afterwards. It will restore all default associations to shortcuts in case something you used changed the icon reference there instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[luc67ien]

Thanks

Thanks for your prompt response, Shawn.

I can get back to the ugly shortcut arrow w/ no trouble. The programs work in that regard as does simply removing the "29" entry via in the reg editor.

It was just no matter what I tried, I got the ugly black box you see in the screenshoot. I also thought it suspicious that when I unblocked the Blank.ico, it when from transparent on my desktop to the same ugly black box. That was why I tried creating my own empty icon.

I thought about maybe replacing the shortcut icon in the shell32.dll file, but then you run into all kinds of hassles because it's a system file that Window has perpetually locked.

However, while perusing shell32.dll I noticed there are a couple of blank entries in it already. So, being the adventurous type, I tweaked the registry entry so the value looks like this:

C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,50

Viola! no more ugly shortcut icons. That's basically what the manual process here says, but I could not get it to work w/ an external .ico file.

 

[SIW2]

Ther you go luc - found your own solution.

 

[Brink]

That's great news Luc. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[Jason Xiao]

Just thought I should mention a potential issue.

First occurrence was about a year ago and I thought I could just ignore it since I found a "work around". Happened again this past week when I built three new computers... on every computer.

All three used Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, varying rigs in parts, used two sets of discs, and all went straight through windows updates before anything else. The 64bit registry file did not work. This happened on every attempt. Last year I discovered 32bit file works for both 32bit and 64bit OS installs.

It's a simple concept; extract to desktop, move one file to C:\Windows, right click and merge registry file, reboot. I do not think I made a mistake. 32bit works, I'll live. Just suggesting perhaps SP1 or a recent update changed things a little bit. Maybe the 64bit file needs to be checked.

Wonderful guide and amazing links. This site rocks. I'll keep lurking like I have. 3 year record broken by a simple stupid shortcut arrow icon :shock:

Regards,
Jason Xiao

 

[Brink]

Hello Jason, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Thank you. Option Three updated.

 

[SmithUnwesson]

Once again, Thanks Brink!

 

[Brink]

You're most N-Dexter.