Control Panel Applets
Some of the components of the Control Panel are
special system folders but many are determined by a group of files
with the extension CPL. Most of these files are in the folder
\Windows\System32\; some that are part of application software
may be elsewhere. To find which CPL files are on your system, go to
Windows Search and search for all files with name *.cpl. The table
below lists some of the common CPL files. CPL files can be used to
directly access various features of Control Panel by opening them
with either Rundll32.exe or Control.exe. By this means, scripts or
shortcuts can be written for immediate access to particular
functions. Commands using these files can also be entered into the
Start-Run line. Note that some CPL files are
multi-functional and require additional parameters to invoke the
various functions. Parameters use the "@" sign and a zero-based
integer. Tabs are denoted by additional indexes (not necessarily
zero-based integers). More details are given in the section on
shortcuts below.
Table I. Some Control Panel Applet Files
| File |
Function |
Tabs (number in parentheses is index n
discussed below) |
| access.cpl |
Accessibility controls |
Keyboard(1), Sound(2), Display(3), Mouse(4), General(5)
|
| appwiz.cpl |
Add/Remove Programs |
|
| desk.cpl |
Display properties |
Themes(5), Desktop(0), Screen Saver(1), Appearance (2),
Settings(3) |
| hdwwiz.cpl |
Add hardware
|
|
| inetcpl.cpl |
Configure Internet Explorer and Internet properties
|
General(0), Security(1), Privacy(2), Content(3),
Connections(4), Programs(5), Advanced(6) |
| intl.cpl |
Regional settings |
Regional Options(1), Languages(2), Advanced(3) |
| joy.cpl |
Game controllers
|
|
| main.cpl |
Mouse properties and settings |
Buttons(0), Pointers(1), Pointer Options(2), Wheel(3),
Hardware(4) |
| main.cpl,@1
|
Keyboard properties |
Speed(0), Hardware (1) |
| mmsys.cpl |
Sounds and Audio
|
Volume(0), Sounds(1), Audio(2), Voice(3), Hardware(4)
|
| ncpa.cpl |
Network properties |
|
| nusrmgr.cpl |
User accounts
|
|
| powercfg.cpl |
Power configuration |
Power Schemes, Advanced, Hibernate, UPS (Tabs not
indexed) |
| sysdm.cpl |
System properties |
General(0), Computer Name(1), Hardware(2), Advanced(3),
System Restore(4), Automatic Updates(5), Remote (6) |
| telephon.cpl |
Phone and modem options |
Dialing Rules(0), Modems(1), Advanced(2) |
| timedate.cpl |
Date and time properties |
Date & Time(0), Time Zone(1), Internet Time (no index)
|
Shortcuts and Scripts Using Control.exe
As outlined at the beginning of this page, the
standard way to open Control Panel functions by using
Start-Control Panel requires several steps. If a particular
function is frequently used, it may be convenient to create a
shortcut that opens the desired window directly. It is common on the
Internet to find shortcuts that use the executable file
Rundll32.exe to open CPL files and these are discussed here.
However, many of the standard shortcuts are for Windows 98/Me and do
not work in Windows XP. Also there are easier, shorter ways
available for Control Panel applets. Using Rundll32.exe is
a general method applicable to many different types of DLL files
with a complicated syntax. For CPL files there is a specific method
using the executable Control.exe that I think is preferable. It has
the simpler syntax shown below.
control somefile.cpl,<optional arguments>
Here, somefile.cpl
stands for whichever of
the CPL files is of
interest. There are two
types of optional arguments.
They are of the form "@m,n"
(without the quotes.) Here
"m" and "n" are integers.
Thus, the full expression
when optional arguments are
included is
control somefile.cpl,@m,n
The parameter @m is used for files with more than one basic
function and starts with zero, which is the default value if no
parameter is used. For example, main.cpl controls both
mouse and keyboard properties. Thus, either the command
control main.cpl
or
control main.cpl,@0
would open the mouse properties. To open the keyboard properties
the command would be
control main.cpl,@1
The second set of
optional parameters "n" can
be used when a dialog box is
tabbed. A number of the
values are given in Table I.
For example, the default
window when the mouse
properties dialog is opened
is the "Buttons" tab. To
open the"Pointer Options"
tab (third on the list) the
command would be
control main.cpl,@0,2
Note that here the index
"n" is zero-based so the
third tab has an index of 2.
Many control panel files have only one main page
and the "@m" index can be omitted. In that case, to open a
particular tab requires two commas between the file name and the tab
index. For example, the dialog box for System Properties has a
number of tabs as listed in the table above. A specific one of these
can be opened by adding a parameter so that the command reads
control.exe sysdm.cpl,,n
where "n" is an integer
running from 0 to 6
corresponding to the 7 tabs
listed in Table I.
Easier Shortcuts Using Control.exe
Trying to open control panel applets with
commands containing the complexity of index parameters discussed in
the previous section may seem rather daunting to some PC users.
Fortunately, there are some alternate commands using plain names
that can also be used. These do not seem to be as well-known but are
discussed in Microsoft's MSDN library. Fewer possibilities are
available than with the previously discussed methods but there are
some new commands as well. Three that work in Start-Run are given
below.
Table II. Commands using plain names
| Command |
Function |
| control date/time |
Launches the Date and Time Properties
window |
| control desktop |
Launches the Display Properties window
|
| control color |
Launches the Display Properties window
with the Appearance tab preselected
|
Scripts using Shell object
Control panel applets can also be opened with JScript or VBScript
files using the Shell.Application object and its
ControlPanelItem method . For a control panel applet
somefile.cpl the syntax is
Shell.ControlPanelItem("somefile.cpl"
)
For example, the display applet desk.cpl would use
Shell.ControlPanelItem("desk.cpl" )
A snippet of the corresponding code for VBScript is
dim objShell
set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
objShell.ControlPanelItem("desk.cpl")
Other Shortcuts
There are also a number of other quick ways to get to some of the
Control Panel components. Here is a short list of some.
- Using the Windows key + the Break key will
open the System Properties dialog box.
- Enter devmgmt.msc into Start-Run
to open Device Manager
- Enter fonts into Start-Run to open
the Fonts folder
- Enter main.cpl into Start-Run to
open Mouse properties
- Enter desk.cpl into Start-Run to
open Display properties