Show / Hide Desktop Items Windows 2008 R2 / Windows 7 by means of registry and Microsoft Group Policy Preferences

Update: Corrected the typos, images, registry keys.

Creating a new Citrix XenApp 6 / Windows Server 2008 R2 environment for a customer, stumbled on the problem that I still need to perform some registry tweaks to get the desktop icons to be shown or not. Seems that it is very hard for Microsoft to get this done in Group Policies. I usually save this kind of information in my archive, I thought it might be of use for a broader audience.

Here are the registry locations for hiding the Microsoft Windows Desktop Items:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]

"{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}"=dword:00000000      (<= Computer)
"{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}"=dword:00000000            (<= User Files)
"{5399E694-6CE5-4D6C-8FCE-1D8870FDCBA0}"=dword:00000000   (<= Control Panel)
”{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}"=dword:00000000     (<= Network)
"{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000001         (<= Recycle Bin)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]

"{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}"=dword:00000000      (<= Computer)
"{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}"=dword:00000000            (<= User Files)
"{5399E694-6CE5-4D6C-8FCE-1D8870FDCBA0}"=dword:00000000   (<= Control Panel)
”{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}"=dword:00000000     (<= Network)
"{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000001         (<= Recycle Bin)

In the above example everything is shown on the Desktop except for Recycle Bin which you will notice has a value of 1 (Hide=Enabled). I, off course am aware that Recycle Bin does not have to be controlled by means of a registry tweak because it can be removed by Group Policies. It’s just in there for the total picture.

The easiest way to tailor these items into Microsoft Group Policy Client Side Preferences is to log on a Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7 reference machine which has the Group Policy Management tool installed.

Off course you do not have to use Microsoft Group Policy Client Side Preferences, this can also be KIX scripted or any other tool you prefer like AppSense Environment Manager of RES Workspace Manager.

Step 1. Enable all the Desktop items in Personalization (right click desktop, Personalization) so that they are shown on the desktop.

Step 2. Open Microsoft Group Policy Management, open the Group Policy you want to use for this purpose;

Step 3. Go to User Configuration, Preferences, Windows Settings, Registry, Right Click and Click New Registry Wizard;

 
Step 4. Browse to the item (Computer, Control Panel, User Files and/or Recycle Bin) you wish to Show (or explicitly Hide), remember to mark the item twice, once under ClassicStartMenu and once under NewStartPanel;

Step 5. Enable or disable the item you wish to show or hide. See the image below, when the Value Data reads 0, it is displayed, if it is 1 then the object will be hidden.

Step 6. I know Recycle Bin can be controlled using Group Policies, so this item is really not needed. As the image below show I have disabled this item. With this particular customer I disabled hiding Computer (Value=0) and enabled hiding Control Panel and User Files (Value=1).