Turn off desktop sharing between users?

[Aileron]

We had two PCs in the home and one broke so I'm going to have to share mine when I'm not around. My issue is after I made a second account for Windows 10 it cloned my desktop shortcuts for some stupid reason? I deleted them on the new account and they were removed from my main admin account? Why in the world would anyone want shared desktop icons by default? I wanted a second account to keep them the hell away from my programs that they have no business dealing with. How do I create separate desktop shortcuts for each account? Thank you.

[LukeLinusFanFic]

What's "broke"? Odds are it can be relatively cheaply repaired. 

[GoodBytes]

6 hours ago, Reignfire said:

We had two PCs in the home and one broke so I'm going to have to share mine when I'm not around. My issue is after I made a second account for Windows 10 it cloned my desktop shortcuts for some stupid reason? I deleted them on the new account and they were removed from my main admin account? Why in the world would anyone want shared desktop icons by default? I wanted a second account to keep them the hell away from my programs that they have no business dealing with. How do I create separate desktop shortcuts for each account? Thank you.

When you install a program, unless the option is given and select programs, it installs the program for All Users on the system.

This means:

• it installs the program in Program Files folder where eve ry account can access it
• It creates a shortcut in the Start menu for all users (shortcut created in: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs)
• It may put a desktop icon for all users: (shortcut created in: C:\Users\Public\Desktop)

 

[Aileron]

I understand that but why are they linked? I can't remove a desktop shortcut from an unrelated user w/o that shortcut also being removed from the main user account's desktop. I'm fine with programs being accessible from a second account but I don't want to leave my shortcuts on that account's desktop.

[GoodBytes]

33 minutes ago, Reignfire said:

I understand that but why are they linked?

Well why not? Why would you not want to have an easy way to have shortcuts of program placed on the desktop or start menu that is shared with all users?

This is how WIndows has always worked (at least starting from Windows 95)

 

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I can't remove a desktop shortcut from an unrelated user w/o that shortcut also being removed from the main user account's desktop.

So then place the shortcut for each users that needs it.

 

[Aileron]

16 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Well why not? Why would you not want to have an easy way to have shortcuts of program placed on the desktop or start menu that is shared with all users?

 

So then place the shortcut for each users that needs it.

 

Why not? Because it clutters up someone else's desktop with programs I either don't want them to use or they have no use for. You can't even get rid of them w/o removing them from my desktop also. Correct me if I'm wrong but when you think of a "New" user you think of a blank slate. I'm not specifically wanting the programs to become inaccessible from a new user I just want to unclutter their desktop with my shit. How do I unlink them so I can delete a shortcut on one account w/o it affecting the other?

 

And to answer your question specifically "Well why not? Why would you not want to have an easy way to have shortcuts of program placed on the desktop or start menu that is shared with all users?" I just don't. It's messy and totally unnecessary. I really hate it. If you can help me unlink desktop shortcuts between accounts it'd be appreciated.

 

Edit: I want to be clearer. The act of adding shortcuts to all users is fine. If I could go back and delete shortcuts on each account that'd be awesome. I can't though. If I remove a shortcut from anywhere it deletes it everywhere.

[GoodBytes]

20 minutes ago, Reignfire said:

Why not? Because it clutters up someone else's desktop with programs I either don't want them to use or they have no use for. You can't even get rid of them w/o removing them from my desktop also. Correct me if I'm wrong but when you think of a "New" user you think of a blank slate. I'm not specifically wanting the programs to become inaccessible from a new user I just want to unclutter their desktop with my shit. How do I unlink them so I can delete a shortcut on one account w/o it affecting the other?

Well you can post in the Feedback hub, if other people agree with you, Microsoft may do a change.

What I don't understand is why you act like making, or moving or deleting a shortcut is a weekend project. Or ask software makers that don't already do this to put the options to pick to install the program or have a shortcut for all users or current one only.

 

When I create a new account, I expect a pre-configured setup to some level.

 

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And to answer your question specifically "Well why not? Why would you not want to have an easy way to have shortcuts of program placed on the desktop or start menu that is shared with all users?" I just don't. It's messy and totally unnecessary. I really hate it. If you can help me unlink desktop shortcuts between accounts it'd be appreciated.

I don't know, I dont' have the source code of Windows to change this.

 

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Edit: I want to be clearer. The act of adding shortcuts to all users is fine. If I could go back and delete shortcuts on each account that'd be awesome. I can't though. If I remove a shortcut from anywhere it deletes it everywhere.

So then create it on the account where you want it. Or ask the developers of the software to modifiy their setup to do what you want.

[Aileron]

2 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Well you can post in the Feedback hub, if other people agree with you, Microsoft may do a change.

What I don't understand is why you act like making, or moving or deleting a shortcut is a weekend project. Or ask software makers that don't already do this to put the options to pick to install the program or have a shortcut for all users or current one only.

 

When I create a new account, I expect a pre-configured setup to some level.

 

I don't know, I dont' have the source code of Windows to change this.

 

So then create it on the account where you want it.

With as many shortcuts as I have deleting them then finding their exact location and creating individual shortcuts (if that works -- haven't tested it) would be an all afternoon project. I was hoping I could change a setting somewhere or even in the properties of each shortcut so I can remove it from a secondary user w/o affecting other users on the PC. In my mind there should be no reason why deleting a desktop shortcut would affect anyone else. It's not like I'm uninstalling the program. It's just a shortcut so why link them? I'm fine with programs placing a shortcut for all users but I think each user should be able to decide what shortcuts they want w/o it deleting it from everyone.

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, Reignfire said:

With as many shortcuts as I have deleting them then finding their exact location and creating individual shortcuts (if that works -- haven't tested it) would be an all afternoon project. I was hoping I could change a setting somewhere or even in the properties of each shortcut so I can remove it from a secondary user w/o affecting other users on the PC. In my mind there should be no reason why deleting a desktop shortcut would affect anyone else. It's not like I'm uninstalling the program. It's just a shortcut so why link them? I'm fine with programs placing a shortcut for all users but I think each user should be able to decide what shortcuts they want w/o it deleting it from everyone.

Even if your desktop was an ipad with icons everywhere, it would still take less than a minute.

[Aileron]

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Even if your desktop was an ipad with icons everywhere, it would still take less than a minute.

Explain the process. I'm talking about Windows 10.

[soulreaper11207]

13 hours ago, Reignfire said:

I understand that but why are they linked? 

They are placed in either your public or default desktop folder. Just copy the ones you want to keep on your desktop, and then delete the entries in those folders. 

[Aileron]

2 hours ago, soulreaper11207 said:

They are placed in either your public or default desktop folder. Just copy the ones you want to keep on your desktop, and then delete the entries in those folders. 

Thank you very much. That was a simple explanation and it helped me out a great deal. Copying didn't work but I could simply move all the shortcuts from the public desktop folder into my main user desktop folder. I didn't know my shortcuts were stored in the public folder (or that it even existed) until you mentioned it. I can't thank you enough for giving me this information.