Policy
Hide and disable all items on the desktop
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows2000, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2003, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista, WindowsXP
Removes icons, shortcuts, and other default and user-defined items from the desktop, including Briefcase, Recycle Bin, Computer, and Network Locations. Removing icons and shortcuts does not prevent the user from using another method to start the programs or opening the items they represent. Also, see "Items displayed in Places Bar" in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Common Open File Dialog to remove the Desktop icon from the Places Bar. This will help prevent users from saving data to the Desktop.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
| Scope | Registry location | Type | Enabled value | Disabled value | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Value name NoDesktop | REG_DWORD | HKLM 1 HKCU 1 | HKLM 0 HKCU 0 |
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
This policy has no additional user input fields.