Homegroup and Libraries Icons on the Desktop – How to Add or Remove?

The Homegroup and Libraries icons aren’t present on the desktop by default in Windows 10. Here is a quick tip on how to add these folders on your desktop if you use these folders frequently. Instructions apply to Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11.

Add or Remove Homegroup and Libraries Icons on the Desktop

  1. Open regedit.exe and go to this branch: 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel
  2. Create a new DWORD value named {031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}
  3. Create another DWORD value named {B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}
  4. To add these icons from Desktop, set the value data to 0 for both the values.
    • {031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5} is the GUID for Libraries
    • {B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93} is the GUID for Homegroup


    To remove these icons from Desktop, set their value data to 1. Value data of 1 hides the folders from desktop.

  5. Exit the Registry Editor.

Registry Files – Download

To automate the above registry edit, download the appropriate registry file(s) below.

Note: Since Windows 10 version 1803, the HomeGroup feature has been removed completely.

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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