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

 

[xichael]

Anything I can do to get rid of these transparent boxes?

EDIT: Nevermind, I used the WinAero method and all's fine now.
Still curious why the .reg didn't work though. I'd prefer to not have to use an app for this.
Any idea what went wrong with the .reg, Brink?

 

[Brink]

Hello Xichael,

What size do you have the icons set to. I noticed that the transparent boxes show up when they are set to "Extra Large". As a test, try different sizes to see if they still show.

 

[obviousfrog]

Help me out here please

I followed step 4 in OP. I installed the "no arrow" .reg.. It did not do anything after a reboot. What exactly did this change or add in Registry? I would really like to delete this.

 

[Brink]

Hello Obviousfrog, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you like, you can edit the .reg file to see it's content. Using step 2 in OPTION FOUR will restore the default setting.

 

[omidsolo]

I tried both -50 and 50 and always my icons will have a black square beside them in place of shortcut icon!
A user in his comments wrote:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"link"=hex:00,00,00,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"link"=hex:00,00,00,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]
"29"="%SystemRoot%\\system32\\imageres.dll,-121"

Which was working but am not sure of what's imageres.dll,-121 and also "link" property usage?

 

[Brink]

Hello omidsolo,

Did you restart the computer to see if the shortcut overlay was no longer a black square afterwards?

The "link" part is to remove the "- Shortcut" name extension of shortcuts created afterwards.

The "imageres.dll,-121" part is just another blank icon.

 

[omidsolo]

Yes, and your code has the same result on both Windows 7 and 10! Confused!

 

[Brink]

In that case, you could use another option in the tutorial to remove the shortcut arrow.

 

[va7oj]

Thanks, it worked 100%! I made the registry change and my shortcut arrows switched to Small.

 

[Brink]

I'm glad it could help va7oj, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[TechyNarwhal]

I used the "remove shortcut arrow" tutorial, and now the icon is black

Yesterday, I used Brink's "remove shortcut arrow" tutorial. When I logged off and on, it worked. Now, there is a big black square (see attachment). I checked the registry, the value for 29 is still %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50 .
Help?

 

[TechyNarwhal]

You say that you can use the file path for the custom shortcut arrow, but you never describe how to find your image's path.
Could you add that?

 

[Brink]

You say that you can use the file path for the custom shortcut arrow, but you never describe how to find your image's path.
Could you add that?

Hello TechNarwhal,

The path is wherever you saved the custom icon file to.

 

[TechyNarwhal]

So like
C:\Users\User\Pictures\transparent.ico
?

 

[Brink]

Yesterday, I used Brink's "remove shortcut arrow" tutorial. When I logged off and on, it worked. Now, there is a big black square (see attachment). I checked the registry, the value for 29 is still %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50 .
Help?

If you like, try the transparent.ico file available for download in the tutorial to see how that works for you instead.

 

[TechyNarwhal]

I used that one, I saved it in my pictures library.

 

[TechyNarwhal]

OK, thanks. that seemed to work now.
It didn't want to work before.

 

[Brink]

Great news.

 

[Drumming Pete]

HI, my Desktop Icons would come up with black squares where the transparent overlay would be. Sometimes it goes away when I install software and the desktop refreshes. But manual refresh wont help. I used the registry file to disable the arrow on icons.

 

[Brink]

Hello Pete,

If you like, you might see if using Option 1 instead may work better for you. You do not have to leave the program installed to keep the changes you made.