Have a setup of Citrix XenApp 6/ 6.5 / Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS environment and stumbled on the problem that you are not able to hide the UserFolder & Library or any system icons? We still need to perform some registry tweaks to get the desktop icons to be not shown.

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

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
“{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}”=dword:00000000 (For Computer)
“{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}”=dword:00000000 (For UserFolder)
“{031E4825-7B94-4DC3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=dword:00000000 (For Library)
 “{5399E694-6CE5-4D6C-8FCE-1D8870FDCBA0}”=dword:00000000 (For Control Panel)
”{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}”=dword:00000000 (For Network)
“{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}”=dword:00000001 (For Recycle Bin)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}”=dword:00000000 (For Computer)
“{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}”=dword:00000000 (For UserFolder)
“{031E4825-7B94-4DC3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}”=dword:00000000 (For Library)
 “{5399E694-6CE5-4D6C-8FCE-1D8870FDCBA0}”=dword:00000000 (For Control Panel)
”{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}”=dword:00000000 (For Network)
“{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}”=dword:00000001 (For 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). Below is the Steps to perform the task:

Step 1: enable all the Desktop items in Personalization (right click desktop, Personalization entry) so that they are shown on the desktop. To make sure the setting is done being reflected and working fine.

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 key and once under NewStartPanel key.

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

Now we're done with hiding the Desktop's icon.

Disable the TaskBar Icons for RDS sessions (VDI) on Windows Server 2008 RDS servers

By default every user will get three pinned icons on taskbar when logging on to the RDS servers. This is very annoying because users don’t want to see any icons they can’t use. Administrators do like to have those icons pinned on the taskbar. Below there are the steps to perform the task:

Make a change to the File System by using a GPO

Open your RDS Server Machine Policy and expand the following folders: Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\File System and then right-click and choose Add File.

Browse to one of the following files:

• %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Windows PowerShell\Windows PowerShell.lnk
• %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\Server Manager.lnk
• %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\Windows Explorer.lnk

Click on OK to continue.

In the security screen for one of the files you’ll have to remove the Creator Owner and Users groups, which will leave the System and Administrators groups left. Click on OK.

Leave default settings and click OK and restart the server to get enabled these changes.

If still have problem below would the alternate to fix the problem...

The following Group Policy settings are introduced in Windows 7/Windows 2008 R2 to control the Start menu and Taskbar. The full path of this node in the Group Policy Management Console is User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar and the options are:

• Do not allow pinning programs to the Taskbar - Enable (This policy setting allows you to control if users can pin programs to the taskbar. If you enable this policy setting, users cannot change the programs that are currently pinned to the taskbar. Programs that are already pinned to the taskbar continue to show, but users cannot unpin existing programs or pin new programs).

Hiding Server 2008 R2 Favorites and Libraries in Windows Explorer

NOTE: Please backup your registry prior to making edits as mistakes can cause you machine to stop working.

For Favorites, the key is:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder

Change the Attributes value from a0900100 to a9400100 will hide Favorites from Navigation Pane.

For Libraries, the key is:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\ShellFolder

Change the Attributes value from b080010d to b090010d will hide Libraries from Navigation Pane.

Note: for hiding the Library from the Explorer has to be done on the Computer Configuration > Preference > Windows Settings > Registry. Create a New Registry Item and complete as per below screenshot: