Comments on: Removing Libraries and HomeGroup icons from the Windows 7 desktop

By: Removing HomeGroup From Desktop

Removing HomeGroup From Desktop — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:54:56 +0000

[...] this post to the support forum just to keep things organized This registry tweak may help you: szeiger.de My commitment to the Windows 7 Forums. Reply With Quote + Reply to [...]

By: Kelvin Dixon

Kelvin Dixon — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:09:46 +0000

To remove the Homegroup icon off of the Desktop, follow the steps below.

1. First click on the Start Menu

2. Type the word “services” in the Search dialog and choose the listing with icon that looks like a gear next to it.

3. You should have your “Services (Local)” window open now listing all services on your computer, running or not.

4. Find HomeGroup Listener and HomeGroup Provider and do the following;

Double Click to open the Properties,

Find “Startup type:” on the “General” tab and change the selection to “Disabled” by clicking the drop-down menu and selecting it,

Then find the “Service status:” and click on the “Stop” button,

Once the service has stopped, click “Apply” first and then the “OK” to complete the action,

Repeat these steps with “HomeGroup Provider” to stop both services.

The “HomeGroup” icon should now be removed from your Desktop.

By: Zerobyte

Zerobyte — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:24:26 +0000

hi, i accidentally remove B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93 from hklm… how to restore the registry?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:24:38 +0000

Stefan, no dice on Franks suggestion. I’ll just wait it out and keep searching, if I find anything that fixes this or sparks an idea, I’ll run it past you.

I’d love to conquer this! I will…

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:05:38 +0000

Stefan,

Thanks a lot for the quick reply! I can defiantly say it doesn’t work in X64. I was waiting for a reply from you about Franks post since he asked if it would work, it left uncertainty in my mind. I’ll go ahead and try it now and post back the results. Everything I’ve tried so far has appeared to either do nothing, or delete the icon but also the libraries in Explorer. This is very frustrating and Microsoft needs to provide a patch for this.

Anyways, I’ll let you know what happens and thank you so much for trying this out on 64bit, I hope you were planning on doing that already and not just doing it for me/us.

Take care.

By: Stefan Zeiger

Stefan Zeiger — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:17:08 +0000

Jonathan, I think you did the right thing. Have you tried the registry patch provided by Frank in the 1st comment? The HKCU parts look correct to me. Maybe patching HKLM in addition would help.

I only tried this on a 32-Bit RTM build but I’ll install a 64-bit version on my new PC (which finally arrived after waiting 3 months for the Radeon HD5870 to become available at decent prices!) within the next few days, so I can check if it works on 64 bit, too.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:34:04 +0000

Also, when you said

“I created copies of them with value 1 under HKCU\…\ClassicStartMenu and HKCU\…\NewStartPanel”

Did you copy ALL entries or only the DD5 and A93 entries? Would it be possible for you to create a .reg file with exactly what you did. I felt as though I understood what you wanted me to do, but with it not working I’m trying to figure out anything that can help me.

I appreciate your time.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:15:06 +0000

I thanked God when I found this link… I thought *this is IT*. But no… it didn’t work for me. I’m running Windows 7 X64 Build 7600. I used a usb2usb cable to transfer files with Windows Easy Transfer and the dreaded Libraries and some other one appeared on my desktop. I’ve tried every single thing I can find and only one registry tweak (mentioned in the first part of your post here) worked but, like you said, removed Libraries from explorer.

I really have ripped nearly all my hair out as I’m one of those *weird* guys that likes having my desktop how I want it, not how a computer says its going to be. I don’t want this icon on my desktop but it looks like I’ll have to accept it. If you have any other ideas… PLEASE email me or post it here, I’ll check back. I’m so tired of the silly mistakes that Microsoft makes. There was no options during any part of the file transfers to not have this happen. And from the looks of google searching, many many people are having this happen to them with no real fix found yet.

Does your fix only work on 32bit? Or are you using a beta build? I’m at a loss….

Thanks for trying to help me, thanks for helping others.

By: Thanker

Thanker — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:54:42 +0000

thanks, that was very usevul – I had the entry in NewStartPanel but not in ClassicStartMenu where it was needed

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:17:40 +0000

Thanks for the tip! In my searching about this topic I found a reg patch that also included HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as well as HKCU. Is patching that necessary? Your changes to HKCU seemed to work.

Would a registry patch like this work?

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
“{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
“{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
“{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
“{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=dword:00000001

Thanks in advance,

- Frank