[Solved]Desktop actualisation on every start

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by leocg

Every start of opera launcher launches a desktop actualisation (all icons on the desktop are replaced by an empty file icon and are then displayed again. That is annoying!
And if I rename the Opera icon (from "Opera-Browser" to "Opera"), there is created an additional standard icon named "Opera-Browser". That is annoying too!
Please check and change this behaviour.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

Delete all of Opera's shortcuts on your desktop. Unpin Opera from the taskbar and start menu too if they're there. Then, use Windows Explorer to browse to launcher.exe (see the install path in opera://about for the location). There, you can right-click on it to pin it to the start menu, then to the taskbar and then create a shortcut on your desktop.

Doing things that way often sorts out both of those issues. Let us know if it works or not.

[A Former User]

A Former User @burnout426 last edited by

@burnout426 Thanks. No, that does not work (Windows 10 - 1903). Same issue!

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

If you remove all Opera shortcuts from the desktop (and don't put any back), does that stop the refreshing of the desktop when Opera starts up?

[A Former User]

A Former User @burnout426 last edited by

@burnout426
If I remove all shortcuts and klick any link (Opera is standard browser) there is no refreshing of the desktop.
If I remove all shortcuts and start launcher from the opera folder (or directly Opera.exe from the subfolder), it creates a shortcut "Opera-Browser" and refreshes the desktop again.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by burnout426

Okay. You'll need to do some cleanup of Opera.

• Download the offline package installer from https://www.opera.com/download.

• Goto the URL opera://about and take note of the install path.

• Close Opera.

• Uninstall Opera via Apps & features in Windows. Choose not to delete your data if you want to keep all your settings etc.

• Delete the Opera install folder (via Windows Explorer or however you want).

• Delete all files and folders in "C:\windows\temp" and "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\temp" to get rid of any Opera autoupdate/installer leftovers.

• Delete all Opera shortcuts that remain anywhere in the start menu or on your desktop etc. Right-click in blank areas on the taskbar to make sure there are no ghost pinned Opera taskbar buttons. If there are, restart Windows Explorer via the Windows Task Manager.

• Load up the Windows Scheduled Tasks and delete any Opera autoupdate entries that are left in there.

• Launch the Opera installer, click "options", set "install path" to "C:\Program Files\Opera", set "install for" to "all users", uncheck "Import data from default browser", check "Make Opera the default browser" (if you want), adjust any other checkboxes, and install.

Opera should be good to go then. There will be an Opera desktop icon on our desktop, but leave it there first and see if Opera refreshes the desktop when it starts up. If it no longer does, don't worry about the icon. If Opera still does it, delete the Opera icon and it should no longer come back. If the icon keeps coming back still, then we can try some other things like deleting your Opera profile and cleaning out any Opera stuff left over from the registry etc.

After that, if you do delete the Opera icon and it comes back on startup, take note if that's an Opera startup from launch Opera directly or through a file/protocol association or if it doesn't matter.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer @Guest last edited by

@gojoy said in Desktop actualisation on every start:

Opera-Browser

It's weird that the auto-created shortcut is named exactly that. and not just "Opera". Do you have Opera installed in a non-default place like on another drive?

[A Former User]

A Former User @burnout426 last edited by A Former User

@burnout426

This did not work, but thanks for your time.

I have been searching myself for this very annoying bug and found that launcher.exe in its recents versions is the guilty.

I used my old launcher.exe version (50.0.2762.67) and the issue is gone.
Using any recent launcher, even the most updated one, and the issue is back.

Extra Note : I am using a portable version "installed" on D:\ drive
Opera is my secondary browser, not default one.

Can opera fix this ?

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

@jsssx said in Desktop actualisation on every start:

I am using a portable version "installed" on D:\ drive

By "portable version", do you mean the "standalone installation" option in the installer (that's used by the Opera USB download at https://www.opera.com/download#portable)? Or, did you download some 3rd-party portable Opera app?

Also, after the cleanup, is Opera still always recreating the "Opera-Browser" shortcut on your desktop?

[A Former User]

A Former User @burnout426 last edited by

@burnout426

Hey,

Yes I mean the Standalone version made with the Opera Installer.

And, no, clearing Uninstalling, clearing everything did not change anything.
Only the use of the old launcher version fixed the issue.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

In Opera version 63.0.3368.107 this issues (desktop actualisation & additional shortcut creation) are solved.
Maybe the launcher.exe, like some of you found out.
Thanks to all!