How to Remove MSN, Internet Explorer, and Connection Wizard Desktop Icons Using the Msbatch.inf File

• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

SUMMARY

This article describes how to remove the Microsoft Network, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Connection Wizard icons from the desktop using the Msbatch.inf file for batch installations of Windows 98.

MORE INFORMATION

NOTE: Microsoft does not encourage or support changes to .inf files. Therefore, Microsoft Technical Support does not support the procedure outlined in this article. Although the following procedure has been tested and appears to function as described, you should make a back-up copy of your .inf file before beginning the procedure.

Make the following modifications to the Msbatch.inf file.

1. Append Batch.Update to the end of the AddReg= line under the [Install] section. For example:




[Install]
AddReg=RunOnce.BatchDelay,Run.Installed.Components,Skip.PCMCIA.Wizard,Registry.WinUpdate,Batch.Update 

2. Insert the following sections into the Msbatch.inf file after the [Install] section:




[Batch.Update]
HKLM,%KEY_RUN%,DeleteIcons,,"%25%\RunDll32.exe advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %10%\msbatch.inf, Delete.Icons,5 

[Delete.Icons]
DelReg=MSN.Icon,Delete.Run
AddReg=IEHide.Icon
DelFiles=Connect.Icon

[MSN.Icon]     ; Deletes the MSN icon from the Desktop.
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{4B876A40-4EE8-11D1-811E-00C04FB98EEC},,,
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{88667D10-10F0-11D0-8150-00AA00BF8457},,, 

[Delete.Run]   ; Prevents "Delete.Icons" from running more than once.
HKLM,%KEY_RUN%,DeleteIcons

[IEHide.Icon]  ; Deletes the IE icon from the Desktop.
HKLM,Software\CLASSES\CLSID\"{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}"\ShellFolder,"Attributes",0x00010001,1048610
HKCR,CLSID\"{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}"\ShellFolder,"Attributes",0x00010001,1048610

[ConWiz.Icon] ; Deletes the Connection Wizard icon from the Desktop.
connec~1.lnk

[DestinationDirs]
ConWiz.Icon=10,alluse~1\desktop 

3. Add the following line under the [Strings] section:




[Strings]
Key_RUN="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run"         ;This line is case sensitive. 

4. Install Windows 98 using the modified Msbatch.inf file.

REFERENCES

For additional information about using an Msbatch.inf file for batch installations of Windows 98, see Appendix D in the Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit or click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q169539 "Deploying Windows 98 Using Batch 98 and Infinst.exe" White Paper

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbenv win98 win98se
Version : WINDOWS:
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto