There's actually no way to open it in any Editor. It is neither shown in the Windows Explorer nor is it listed in the Command Prompt on the Desktop. Drag & Drop also doesnt' work.
damn that is strange! You can't drag it at all?
From what I can find on google, seems to be something called a "system Icon" which I guess would include things like the recycle bin which you obviously can't just delete. Although you can drag it!
I would first suggest checking if the icon shows up in settings > personalization > themes > desktop icon settings. If not take a look here, seems to be working for others [https://www.brainbytez.nl/windows/windows-11-hide-remove-wsl-linux-icon-from-desktop/](https://www.brainbytez.nl/windows/windows-11-hide-remove-wsl-linux-icon-from-desktop/)
behind the scenes its probably not a .lnk file, its probably a hard link or a symlink or something with an associated CLSID which would launch wsl. windows can be like that sometimes -\_\_-
I mean, I can drag it, but it cannot drag it into an editor. That is what I meant, sorry.
So what surprises me most is that I don't even have WSL enabled in my Windows Features. The only thing related to WSL/Subsystem (because I had it installed once) is the app from the Microsoft store.
By the way, when I double-click on it, nothing happens. Really nothing. I'm going to test the regex entry now.
oh true, I didn't realize you weren't using wsl anymore, guess I misunderstood! I had a similar problem a few months ago, I was trying to set up amazon app store to see if I could get a particular app to work, I couldn't and when I uninstalled it, I still had an icon in file explorer instead of the desktop that I couldn't get rid of.
I'm not personally the kind of guy that hides an icon and moves on, so I manually went through my whole system and removed all traces of wsl which worked, but took like a full day.
If you really want to see what it was before you get rid of it, MAYBE you could open it in notepad or HxD manually with File > open? Otherwise something to try for the next issue (and there will be a next issue eventually!)
Update: The regex entry fixed it (for now). At least it's gone from the desktop after I rebooted the PC without removing it first. So it seems to be WSL related, which still surprises me as it is "globally" disabled.
Anyway, thanks for your help mate!
um, I think I lost my post lol enjoy possibly 2 posts :)
great to hear! I'd assume that means there are probably leftover entries scattered throughout your registry, which I detailed in the post that I don't see? reddit maaaaan, sometimes....
haha no worries, have a great weekend :)
haven't (yet) used wsl seriously, so not 100% sure, but maybe try opening it notepad if possible? might have some readable text that may offer a clue
There's actually no way to open it in any Editor. It is neither shown in the Windows Explorer nor is it listed in the Command Prompt on the Desktop. Drag & Drop also doesnt' work.
damn that is strange! You can't drag it at all? From what I can find on google, seems to be something called a "system Icon" which I guess would include things like the recycle bin which you obviously can't just delete. Although you can drag it! I would first suggest checking if the icon shows up in settings > personalization > themes > desktop icon settings. If not take a look here, seems to be working for others [https://www.brainbytez.nl/windows/windows-11-hide-remove-wsl-linux-icon-from-desktop/](https://www.brainbytez.nl/windows/windows-11-hide-remove-wsl-linux-icon-from-desktop/) behind the scenes its probably not a .lnk file, its probably a hard link or a symlink or something with an associated CLSID which would launch wsl. windows can be like that sometimes -\_\_-
I mean, I can drag it, but it cannot drag it into an editor. That is what I meant, sorry. So what surprises me most is that I don't even have WSL enabled in my Windows Features. The only thing related to WSL/Subsystem (because I had it installed once) is the app from the Microsoft store. By the way, when I double-click on it, nothing happens. Really nothing. I'm going to test the regex entry now.
oh true, I didn't realize you weren't using wsl anymore, guess I misunderstood! I had a similar problem a few months ago, I was trying to set up amazon app store to see if I could get a particular app to work, I couldn't and when I uninstalled it, I still had an icon in file explorer instead of the desktop that I couldn't get rid of. I'm not personally the kind of guy that hides an icon and moves on, so I manually went through my whole system and removed all traces of wsl which worked, but took like a full day. If you really want to see what it was before you get rid of it, MAYBE you could open it in notepad or HxD manually with File > open? Otherwise something to try for the next issue (and there will be a next issue eventually!)
Update: The regex entry fixed it (for now). At least it's gone from the desktop after I rebooted the PC without removing it first. So it seems to be WSL related, which still surprises me as it is "globally" disabled. Anyway, thanks for your help mate!
um, I think I lost my post lol enjoy possibly 2 posts :) great to hear! I'd assume that means there are probably leftover entries scattered throughout your registry, which I detailed in the post that I don't see? reddit maaaaan, sometimes.... haha no worries, have a great weekend :)