How to Remove Arrow from Shortcut Icons in Windows 11

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How to Remove Arrow from Shortcut Icons in Windows 11

Whenever you create a shortcut for any file or folder on your Windows 11 PC, it has a small arrow on it.

While this arrow is there for highlight purposes, so users know which are shortcuts and which are actual files or folders, many users would prefer to remove these arrows.

Fortunately, you can remove these arrows from shortcut icons on your Windows 11 PC without using any third party tool or extension.

Here’s how to remove shortcut arrow icon in Windows 11:

  1. Open Windows Registry Editor
  2. Navigate to Explorer Section
  3. Create New Key as Shell Icons
  4. Create New String Value
  5. Close Registry and Restart Start Explorer

1. Open Windows Registry Editor

Open Run from either start menu or by pressing “Windows + R” keyboard keys combination.

Type regedit in Run dialog box and hit Enter to open Windows Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to Explorer Section

Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in left sidebar. Next select SOFTWARE.

Under SOFTWARE, navigate to this directory:

SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer

3. Create New Key as Shell Icons

Right click on the “Explorer” Folder in the left side panel, and select “New” option, and click on “Key” in the sub-menu.

Name the key as “Shell Icons“.

4. Create New String Value

Now select this newly created “Shell Icons” folder in the left sidebar.

On the right side, right click on empty space. Click on “New” -> “String Value“.

Write “29” in “Value name:” field and in “Value data” text box, paste following code:

%windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50

Click on “OK” to save the changes.

5. Close Registry and Restart Start Explorer

Close the Registry Editor.

Now open “Task Manager” by pressing “Control + Shift + Esc” keys shortcut.

Click on “More details” button at bottom left.

Select “Process” tab and look for “Windows Explorer” there. Click it, and then click on “Restart” button at the bottom right corner of task manager.

After explorer restarts, you will no longer see arrow icons next to shortcuts.

Conclusion

That is it people. You see how easy it is to get rid of arrow icons from shortcuts without using any 3rd party tool or application.