Remove “Learn about this picture” Desktop Icon in Windows 11

When you select the “Windows Spotlight” option as the desktop background in the Personalize settings page, Windows 11 adds a desktop icon named “Learn about this picture.” The “Learn about this picture” is a shell folder (special icon), when double-clicked, opens the Bing Images search results page for the current desktop spotlight wallpaper.

The special icon has three more options in the context menu, namely: “Switch to next picture,” “I like this picture,” and “Not a fan of this picture.”

To get rid of the “Learn about this picture” Desktop Icon in Windows 11, follow the instructions in this article.

Remove “Learn about this picture” Desktop Icon in Windows 11

There are different ways to remove the “Learn about this picture” icon. Follow one of these methods:

Option 1

1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Go to the following location:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel

3. In the right pane, create a new DWORD value named {2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3}
4. Double-click {2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3} and set its data to 1.
   
5. Exit the Registry Editor.

Tip: We’ve covered the “HideDesktopIcons” registry key in our previous articles.

To accomplish this using command-line, open a Command Prompt window and run this command:

reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel /v {2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3} /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

To undo/reverse the above setting, run:

reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel /v {2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3} /f

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Option 2

1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Go to the following location:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3}

   

3. Export the key to a .reg file and then delete the key.
4. Exit the Registry Editor.

To accomplish this using command-line, open a Command Prompt window and run this command:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3}" /f

To undo/reverse the above setting, run:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3}" /ve /d "Windows Spotlight" /f

No restart is needed after the registry edit. Instead, press F5 to refresh the desktop; the “Learn about this picture” icon should now be gone.