What are Green Check Marks on Desktop Icons and How to Remove Them

Pankil is a Civil Engineer turned freelance writer. Since his arrival at Guiding Tech in 2021, he delves into the world of how-tos, and troubleshooting guides for Android, iOS, and Windows. Besides his new-found love for mechanical keyboards, he’s a disciplined footfall fan and loves international travel with his wife.

What Do Green Check Marks on Desktop Icons Mean

Green check marks on your desktop files, folders, and shortcuts indicate that they are successfully backed up to your Microsoft OneDrive account. Here are two types of green check marks that appear onWindows desktop icons:

If you don’t wish to see these tiny green check marks on your desktop icons, try out the following tips to get rid of them.

Fix 1: Refresh the Desktop

While this may seem simple, several users in aMicrosoft community postreported fixing the issue by refreshing the desktop icons. Hence, you should start with that. Right-click anywhere on any empty spot on your desktop and selectRefresh.

Fix 2: Close the OneDrive App

Another straightforward way to remove the green check marks from the desktop icons on Windows is to close the OneDrive app. To do so, click the OneDrive icon on the taskbar. Then, tap on thegear-shaped iconand selectPause syncing > Quit OneDrive.

Fix 3: Disable the Desktop Backup

If you don’t want to close OneDrive and continue using it for other purposes, you can prevent it from backing up desktop items and displaying check marks. Here’s how:

Step 1:Click theOneDrive iconon the taskbar. Click thegear-shaped iconand selectSettings.

Step 2:In theSync and backuptab, click theManage backupbutton.

Step 3:Turn off the toggle next toDesktop.

Step 4:Click theStop backupbutton.

If disabling the desktop backup does not help, you can try unlinking your OneDrive account from your PC. Here are the steps for the same.

Step 1:Open OneDrive app settings.

Step 2:Select theAccounttab from the left pane and clickUnlink this PC.

Step 3:SelectUnlink accountto confirm.

Fix 5: Rebuild Icon Cache

At times, green check mark icons won’t go away from desktop icons even after you disable OneDrive backup or unlink your account. This usually happens due to corrupt icon cache data. You can try rebuilding the iconcache on Windowsto see if that solves the problem.

Step 1:Press theWindows key + Xand selectTerminal (Admin)from the list.

Step 2:Copy and paste the following command in the console and pressEnterto navigate to the directory where Windows saves the icon cache:

Step 3:Run the following command to delete the icon cache.

Fix 6: Modify Registry Files

If none of the previous solutions work, you may need to delete certain registry entries to make the green check marks on desktop icons go away.

Step 1:Press theWindows key + Rto open the Run dialog box. Typeregeditin the box and pressEnter.

Step 2:Paste the following path in the address bar at the top and pressEnter.

Step 3:Right-click on the firstOneDrivesubkey and selectDelete.

Step 4:SelectYesto confirm. Repeat this to delete all the OneDrive subkeys one by one until the green check marks disappear.

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Last updated on 13 August, 2024

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