How to Add/Remove Home Group Icon in Windows 10

If you are using a computer loaded with Windows 10, you may need to add or remove the Homegroup icon; depending on your preference. However, the above actions require that you access and edit the system registry. This may be a handful for novice users but there is no other way around it. Until Windows 7, Homegroups were not utilized by many users. Windows 8 and 10 however offer the perfect environment for use of Homegroups.

When you have several computers connected in a home network (not public or work network), Homegroups come in handy. Any device connected to a single computer on the Homegroup can be accessed and used by other PCs on the same network.  Even computer libraries can be shared by computers in a Homegroup.  Below, we take a look at how to add the Homegroup icon on the desktop, as well as removing it if necessary.

Accessing the System Registry

There are several ways through which users can access the Windows registry. It is highly recommended that you back up your system registry settings before proceeding. The most common method of accessing the registry is by use of the Registry Editor.

1. Press WINDOWS KEY +  R. The “Run” box appears on the lower left part of the computer screen.
2. Key in “regedit” and press “ENTER” or click on the OK button.

Adding the Homegroup Icon

1. The registry editor will appear, with the explorer on the left-hand side.
2. Locate the “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” folder and click on the tiny triangle next to it. It will unfold the components inside of it.
3. Locate the folder called “SOFTWARE” and again unfold it. Proceed downward until you get the folder labeled “MICROSOFT”. Yet again, unfold it.
4. Under MICROSOFT, go ahead until you reach the folder called “WINDOWS”. Unfold it and then locate another sub-folder by the name “CurrentVersion”.
5. Cascade it down again and unfold the “Explorer” folder.
6. This is where you will access the “HideDesktopIcons” sub-folder. Unfold it and click on “NewStartPanel”. You will see several entries in binary format.
7. Find the entry “{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}” and right-click on it. On the drop-down menu, click on “modify”. If this entry had not been accessed and edited before, the value will usually be set to 1. If so, do not change anything. If otherwise, change this value to 1.
8. In some cases, you may not find the entry “{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}. If that is the case, just right-click in an empty space (still while under the NewStartPanel sub-folder) and click “NEW”.  Select DWORD. On the new entry that appears, rename it thus: {B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}.
9. Press the return key and close the registry editor. The changes may take place after the computer undergoes a reboot. You have now successfully added the Homegroup icon to your desktop.

Removing the Homegroup Icon

To remove the Homegroup Icon, just repeat the above steps from “regedit.exe” up to “HideDesktopIcons”.

1. Click on “NewStartPanel” and select the entry {B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}.
2. This time, however, change the value from 1 to 0. The Homegroup desktop icon will have been removed successfully.