Removing shortucts from user account without removing them for other users

My fiance and I share a desktop. I had previously installed many apps for my own use. After creating an account for her all of my shortcuts now appear on her desktop. Most of these are things she'll never use like IDEs and game launchers. However, when I try to delete these shortcuts from her desktop it asks for admin permission and it appears to delete the shortcut from my desktop and hers. How do I delete a shortcut from her account without deleting it from my own?

I found this article which suggests editing permissions using this guide. These were relatively helpful but it seems like I have to edit the permissions for every shortcut. This becomes quite tedious because I have to add her user to permissions every time and it asks for admin credentials several times during that process. On top of all that, when I delete the shortcut after making those changes it seems to have the same affect. The shortcut is still removed from her desktop as well as mine. Any tips or suggestions on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Smidem

Posted 2019-10-12T16:14:49.423

Reputation: 11

1Navigate to: C:\Users\her account name\Desktop, see if you can delete them in there, do this while logged into your user account. – Moab – 2019-10-12T16:19:11.800

1You can also choose not to install the programs as an Administrator and select the option to only make the shortcut available to the user who installed the application – Ramhound – 2019-10-12T16:50:45.857

Answers

We will take from where @Moab has left it and expand a little bit the idea.

There are Three Places to check.

Let us say that your User Name is Smidem and your Fiancé's User Name is Beyoncé.

Then both of you will have Desktop Icons that you will have to share, which need Administrator Privileges in order to be modified and that are located in the following Folder:

C:\Users\Public\Desktop\

Your own Desktop Place will be the following one:

C:\Users\Smidem\Desktop\

Your Fiancé's own Desktop Place will be the following one:

C:\Users\Beyoncé\Desktop\

Normally, each of you will have to administer your own Desktop Icons within These Last Two Places. Your System Administrator (in this case, you) will have to administer the First Place that will add Desktop Icons for both of you.

Provided that you will decide which Desktop Icons are appropriate for both of you and that you will keep your own Personal Desktop Icons in your own Private Folders, then everything will be working out perfectly.

user1018743

Posted 2019-10-12T16:14:49.423

Reputation:

This was the issue! All of the icons were in the public desktop. I just moved the ones I wanted to remove from the public to my personal desktop folder. Thanks so much for your help! – Smidem – 2019-10-12T20:11:40.803

Yeah, Smidem, but still - @harrymc was right. How on Earth are people these days creating User Accounts? Also, look at Ramhound's comment. How on Earth are people these days installing Static Software Applications? In the future, when you create other User Accounts, take some care on how you create them. Also, when you install other Static Software Applications, think twice before installing them as a System Administrator. – None – 2019-10-12T21:14:31.140

How have you created the other account? You seem both to share the same user folder, including the Desktop which is a serious problem. As that folder is owned by you, another user cannot modify it unless it is an administrator, which is why she is prompted for that permission.

You may verify the user folder in the registry under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. You will see it as the value of the item ProfileImagePath.

Do not change the item in the registry, but use the correct procedure for creating a new account.

harrymc

Posted 2019-10-12T16:14:49.423

Reputation: 306 093