Thanks

I'm already using this hack for quite a long time, but I think I discovered it somewhere on the internet.
Isn't it possible to open the Desktop Icon Settings window while not having installed the Desktop Experience Feature? Via
Start ->
Run it can be directly accessed using the command
desk.cpl Web,0.
It looks like the configuration whether desktop icons are shown is stored in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel where you have to create REG_DWORD values. The meanings of the CLSIDs are as follows:
Code:
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} - Computer icon
{59031A47-3F72-44A7-89C5-5595FE6B30EE} - User's Files icon
{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C} - Network icon
{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} - Recycle Bin icon
{5399E694-6CE5-4D6C-8FCE-1D8870FDCBA0} - Control Panel icon
A REG_DWORD value has to be created with value 0 if you want to show the icon, or value 1 to hide it.
Press F5 while having the focus on your desktop to apply the new settings.
Found this out by filtering on the rundll32.exe process in
Sysinternals Process Monitor while clicking apply in the Desktop Icons Settings window.
Hope one of these methods works for you!
