Items unpinned from taskbar are back after restart/sign out on Windows 10

I had the same problem. Nothing works.

Finally, I found the XML file in my profile:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml

The items were listed here in this section:

  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
    <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
      <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
-- items were here - removed
      </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
    </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
  </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>

Maybe this will help someone.

I managed to find a solution on Microsoft Technet.

I've also, personally found another way around it:

1. Open the explorer or the run prompt and go to %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
2. Edit the LayoutModification.xml file using the Notepad or some other text-only editor
3. Locate the <taskbar:TaskbarPinList></taskbar:TaskbarPinList> entry and in that entry remove the line <taskbar:... /> adding Edge
4. Save that file and reboot.

This will not survive "major" updates to the system/Edge such as the April 2018 one, but you can simply do the above again to get rid of that impolite shortcut.

It appears that this was some corporate policy from domain that have done that and it's not possible to turn off that easy, but anyway, domain rules are a possibility when this happens.