Desktop shortcuts to items on network drives sometimes disappear from desktop

A lot of mention for disabling the task...  That would work but it is heavy handed... it removes all of the diagnostic/repair work, beyond the broken-broken link issue.

Granted the solution I mentioned several posts back where you modify the broken link count in the files that execute in the task is more complicated than my father could handle (don't forget you need to change their file permissions first)

By far the simplest solution is to not leave icons on your desktop. Here's an easy way to do that:  Create a new folder on your desktop and put the shortcuts in there...  If  you still need quick access to those icons, you can right-click on your start-bar and create a new toolbar that points to your nifty new desktop folder.

Hard to bother reading through all the posts here and mixed messages on what to do. Three solutions proposed for those jumping in.

1. Move shortcuts to desktop folder (proposed above)
2. Disable the Scheduled Task either manually or via AD Policy (Not favored by me)
3. Modify the task execution files (complicated, look for my previous posts)

Good luck!

I've been having the same issue since my company installed Win7. It happens about every week so the solution above makes sense that it's auto-scheduled in tasks. The only icons that disappear are the ones linked to a NAS drive also. All other shortcuts remain. It drives me crazy. I finally made a copy of them and store them in a folder on the NAS so when they disappear, I just copy them back over.

I'm going to try the above instructions on disabling the task scheduler, just hoping it wasn't doing anything useful.

Thanks ya'll!

Laurie

I've been having the same issue since my company installed Win7. It happens about every week so the solution above makes sense that it's auto-scheduled in tasks. The only icons that disappear are the ones linked to a NAS drive also. All other shortcuts remain. It drives me crazy. I finally made a copy of them and store them in a folder on the NAS so when they disappear, I just copy them back over.

I'm going to try the above instructions on disabling the task scheduler, just hoping it wasn't doing anything useful.

Thanks ya'll!

Laurie

The task scheduler does do useful things.  And it led me on a merry chase around the internet to figure out a better way to correct the issue.  There are quite a few workarounds, and Microsoft even has a "fix", but the automate fix doesn't work for me.

I have found 4 or 5 with varying degrees of complexity with grabbing ownership of files, moving, editing, etc. etc.  The easiest is Microsoft's published one (only took them 3 years, but they eventually got around to it).

Here is the windows page with the "fix":

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2642357

However, the automated FixIts don't work on any of my systems, so the manual method is required:

Let me fix it myself

 To disable the "Broken Shortcut" task, follow these steps:

1.Click Start, type regedit in the Search programs and files box, and then press ENTER.

 If you are prompted for an administrator password, type the password. If you are prompted for confirmation, provide confirmation.

2.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ScheduledDiagnostics\

3.On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

4.Type IsBrokenShortcutsTSEnabled, and then press ENTER.

5.Right-click IsBrokenShortcutsTSEnabled, and then click Modify.

6.In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

7.Exit Registry Editor.

Let me fix it myself

 To disable the "Unused Desktop Icon" task, follow these steps:

1.Click Start, type regedit in the Search programs and files box, and then press ENTER.

 If you are prompted for an administrator password, type the password. If you are prompted for confirmation, provide confirmation.

2.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ScheduledDiagnostics\

3.On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

4.Type IsUnusedDesktopIconsTSEnabled, and then press ENTER.

5.Right-click IsUnusedDesktopIconsTSEnabled, and then click Modify.

6.In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

7.Exit Registry Editor.

If you have to do this repeatedly (as in multiple installs, which I do), you might want to just make a registry key bit that you can just run to import into the registry.

If I recall, you can just export the two keys into a whatever.reg file.

Or you can just set it up in notepad and name it whatever.reg

It will look like this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ScheduledDiagnostics]

"IsBrokenShortcutsTSEnabled"=dword:00000000

"IsUnusedDesktopIconsTSEnabled"=dword:00000000

That's it.