Unable to remove/hide icons from desktop folder

You can remove 3 of them by deleting some registry keys.

• Open regedit.exe
• Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFWARE\Microsoft\Wind ows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\
• Remove the following folders corresponding to each icon:
  • Homegroup : {B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93} (default item has the value 'Other Users')
  • Network : {F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C} (default item has the value 'Computers and Devices')
  • Libraries : {031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5} (default item has the value 'UserLibraries')

I have tested this on my PC and it worked. However, These icons will get removed from the Explorer navigation panel also.

Source

The Desktop folder you're opening is a virtual folder. It doesn't surprise me that you can't delete these items.

If they annoy you so much, just remove the Desktop shortcut from the Favorites and place a new shortcut there, which points to %USERPROFILE%\Desktop. This one will only show your actual files on the Desktop.

There's something really interesting happening with that shortcut though. If I change the icon of that shortcut to the icon of the original Desktop shortcut, it will behave just like it.

In case this doesn't behave as expected, Bob pointed out that you could also create a new library and add your profile's desktop folder into it. Additionally, you could add the Desktop folder for all users (C:\Users\Public\Desktop).

This also has the benefit that you could include even more folders that contain a selection of shortcuts you might want to have as well (like the Network view).