{"id":1388,"date":"2007-02-27T18:54:31","date_gmt":"2007-02-27T13:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1388"},"modified":"2022-10-15T18:57:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T13:27:10","slug":"remove-modify-shortcut-overlay-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/remove-modify-shortcut-overlay-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Remove or Modify the Shortcut Overlay in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article describes how to remove or modify the overlay (arrow icon) shown for Shortcuts in Windows.<\/p>\n

Remove or Modify the Shortcut Overlay<\/h2>\n

Method 1<\/h3>\n

Download FxVisor (Shortcut Overlay Remover for Windows Vista and 7)<\/b> by frameworkx<\/a>. FxVisor allows you to either way to modify or remove the shortcut overlay arrow in Windows 7 and Vista.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Method 2 (All Windows versions, including Windows 10 and 11)<\/h3>\n

Option 1: Removing the shortcut arrow<\/h4>\n

Download blank_icon.zip<\/a><\/b> and extract the file blank.ico<\/b> to a folder of your choice. In this example, we use C:\\Icons\\blank.ico<\/b><\/i><\/code> as the path to the icon file you downloaded. And then follow these steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Launch the Registry Editor (regedit.exe<\/code>)<\/li>\n
  2. Navigate to the following branch:\n
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\explorer\\Shell Icons<\/pre>\n
    Note:<\/b> If the Shell Icons<\/strong> branch does not exist already, you’ll need to create it.<\/li>\n
  3. In the right pane, create a new String value (REG_SZ) named 29<\/b><\/li>\n
  4. Double-click 29<\/b> and set its data as C:\\Icons\\blank.ico<\/b><\/li>\n
  5. Close Regedit.exe.<\/li>\n
  6. Restart the Explorer shell<\/a>, or log off and log back into your account.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Option 2: Setting Light arrow overlay<\/h4>\n
    \"\"
    \u00a0Shortcut overlay – Light arrow<\/figcaption><\/figure>If you wish to use a light arrow for Shortcuts, you may do so by downloading lightarrow.zip<\/a> (includes lightarrow.ico<\/i>).<\/p>\n
    Copy lightarrow.ico<\/i> to your Icons folder, and set the Value data for 29<\/b> accordingly (see Step\u00a04<\/b> above). If you’ve copied lightarrow.ico to your C:\\Icons<\/i> folder, the Value data would be C:\\Icons\\lightarrow.ico<\/i><\/b><\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    This article describes how to remove or modify the overlay (arrow icon) shown for Shortcuts in Windows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-1388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1386,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/blue-double-arrow-icon-files-folders-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1388,"position":0},"title":"What is the Two Blue Arrows Icon on Folders in Windows 10 and How to Remove it?","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing Windows 10, you may notice that some of your files and folders show up with a double blue arrows icon at the top. This double blue arrows overlay icon is seen if the files and folders are compressed (NTFS compression), and there is nothing to worry about. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1028,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/open-file-location-missing-right-click-shortcut-windows-7-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":1388,"position":1},"title":"“Open File Location” Missing in Right-Click Menu for Shortcuts","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"When you right-click on a shortcut (.lnk file), the option Open file location may be missing from the right-click menu. This happens if the\u00a0IsShortcut registry value for .lnk files (Shortcuts) is deleted\u00a0in an attempt to hide the overlay icon\u00a0in\u00a0shortcuts. To resolve the problem, re-create the IsShortcut registry value. Method 1\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":142,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-overlapping-icon-windows-7-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":1388,"position":2},"title":"Desktop Icons Covered with White Boxes or Black Squares","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a mysterious case of the icon overlap problem, which the screenshot below explains perfectly. You can see the original icon for shortcuts is overlapped by a generic white overlay (shown for unknown file types). An incorrect icon overlay setting is causing the problem. As the issue is seen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"shortcuts covered by white icon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/icon-overlap-shellicons-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/icon-overlap-shellicons-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/icon-overlap-shellicons-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1083,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-to-taskbar-start-menu-missing-context-menu-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1388,"position":3},"title":"“Pin to Taskbar” and “Pin to Start Menu” Missing in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"After deleting the IsShortcut registry value to remove the shortcut arrow overlay in shortcuts (.lnk) files, you may notice that the \"Pin to Taskbar\" and the \"Pin to Start Menu\" context menu items go missing when you right-click on a shortcut. Also, one or more of the context menu items\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 7"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2059,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/winx-menu-does-not-open-power-user\/","url_meta":{"origin":1388,"position":4},"title":"Win+X Menu Does Not Open in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Right-clicking Start, or pressing the Win+X key combination opens the power-user menu as in the following image: If this menu doesn't open or nothing happens when you use the Win+X key combination, it could be possible that the IsShortcut registry value has been removed for shortcuts (.lnk) file association. Follow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/winxmenu-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26942,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/internet-shortcuts-open-print-dialog-web-doc-tab-missing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1388,"position":5},"title":"Internet Shortcuts Open Print Dialog; Web Document Tab Missing","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When you right-click an internet shortcut (.URL file), the \"Print\" command is the default (shown in bold letters) action. As a result, double-clicking on internet shortcuts will open the Print dialog. And, the Web document tab may be missing in the property sheet for Internet Shortcut (.URL) files. 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