Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) allow you to install websites like YouTube, Twitter, or Spotify directly onto your computer, running them in their own dedicated, borderless windows instead of browser tabs. However, whenever you install a PWA using Google Chrome, the browser aggressively forces a shortcut onto your Windows desktop.
If you prefer a clean, minimalist desktop and prefer to launch your web apps exclusively from the Start Menu or the Taskbar, constantly having to right-click and delete these new shortcuts is incredibly annoying. While Chrome does not offer a graphical toggle switch to stop this behaviour, you can disable the automatic shortcut creation using a command-line flag.
How to Stop Chrome from Creating Desktop Shortcuts
To stop the shortcut creation, you must modify the properties of the master Google Chrome shortcut you use to launch the browser.
- Close Google Chrome completely.
- Locate the Google Chrome shortcut on your desktop. (If it is on your Taskbar, right-click the Chrome icon, then right-click the words “Google Chrome” in the jump list).
- Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.
- Ensure you are on the Shortcut tab.
- Look for the text box labelled Target. It should contain something similar to:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" - Click inside the Target box and move your cursor to the very end of the line, after the final quotation mark.
- Press the Spacebar once, and paste the following exact command:
--disable-features=CreateShortcutInPwaInstallation - The final line should look like this:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disable-features=CreateShortcutInPwaInstallation - Click Apply, provide administrator permission if prompted, and click OK.
From now on, whenever you visit a compatible website and click the “Install” button in the address bar, Chrome will quietly install the PWA into your Start Menu and Apps list, but your desktop will remain perfectly clean.