Canonical Names of Control Panel Items - Win32 apps (original) (raw)

As of Windows Vista, Control Panel items included with Windows are given a canonical name that can be used in an API call or a command-line instruction to programmatically launch that item. As of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, canonical names can be used in a group policy to hide specific Control Panel items. This topic provides details for each Control Panel item: canonical name, GUID, module name, and the operating system versions that recognize the canonical name.

Note

Canonical names for Control Panel items are not supported prior to Windows Vista.

Control Panel Canonical Names

Points to remember when working with these values:

The following are the Control Panel items available in Windows 8.1:

Action Center

Administrative Tools

AutoPlay

Biometric Devices

BitLocker Drive Encryption

Color Management

Credential Manager

Date and Time

Default Programs

Device Manager

Devices and Printers

Display

Ease of Access Center

Family Safety

File History

Folder Options

Fonts

HomeGroup

Indexing Options

Infrared

Internet Options

iSCSI Initiator

iSNS Server

Keyboard

Location Settings

Mouse

MPIOConfiguration

Network and Sharing Center

Notification Area Icons

Pen and Touch

Personalization

Phone and Modem

Power Options

Programs and Features

Recovery

Region

RemoteApp and Desktop Connections

Sound

Speech Recognition

Storage Spaces

Sync Center

System

Tablet PC Settings

Taskbar and Navigation

Troubleshooting

TSAppInstall

User Accounts

Windows Anytime Upgrade

Windows Defender

Windows Firewall

Windows Mobility Center

Windows To Go

Windows Update

Work Folders

Deprecated Control Panel Canonical Names

The following are canonical names that are no longer in use as of Windows 8.1 or later. Some have been removed altogether. Others have been remapped in these situations:

Note

Remappings exist for backward compatibility. You should not use deprecated values in new code.

Deprecated canonical name Control Panel Item GUID Notes
Microsoft.AddHardware Add Hardware {7A979262-40CE-46ff-AEEE-7884AC3B6136} Maps to Microsoft.DevicesAndPrinters as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.AudioDevicesAndSoundThemes Sound {F2DDFC82-8F12-4CDD-B7DC-D4FE1425AA4D} Maps to Microsoft.Sound as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.BackupAndRestoreCenter/Microsoft.BackupAndRestore Backup and Restore Center {B98A2BEA-7D42-4558-8BD1-832F41BAC6FD} Microsoft.BackupAndRestoreCenter maps to Microsoft.BackupAndRestore in Windows 7. Both are removed as of Windows 8; use Microsoft.FileHistory instead.
Microsoft.CardSpace Windows CardSpace {78CB147A-98EA-4AA6-B0DF-C8681F69341C} Removed as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.DesktopGadgets Desktop Gadgets {37efd44d-ef8d-41b1-940d-96973a50e9e0} Removed as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.GetProgramsOnline Windows Marketplace {3e7efb4c-faf1-453d-89eb-56026875ef90} Removed as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.InfraredOptions Infrared {A0275511-0E86-4ECA-97C2-ECD8F1221D08} Maps to Microsoft.Infrared as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.Language Language {BF782CC9-5A52-4A17-806C-2A894FFEEAC5} Removed as of Windows 10, version 1803
Microsoft.LocationAndOtherSensors Location and Other Sensors {E9950154-C418-419e-A90A-20C5287AE24B} Maps to Microsoft.LocationSettings as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.PenAndInputDevices Pen and Input Devices {F82DF8F7-8B9F-442E-A48C-818EA735FF9B} Maps to Microsoft.PenAndTouch as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.PeopleNearMe People Near Me {5224F545-A443-4859-BA23-7B5A95BDC8EF} Removed as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.PerformanceInformationAndTools Performance Information and Tools {78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC} Removed as of Windows 8.1.
Microsoft.PhoneAndModemOptions Phone and Modem {40419485-C444-4567-851A-2DD7BFA1684D} Maps to Microsoft.PhoneAndModem as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.Printers Printers {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} Maps to Microsoft.DevicesAndPrinters as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.ProblemReportsAndSolutions Problem Reports and Solutions {FCFEECAE-EE1B-4849-AE50-685DCF7717EC} Maps to Microsoft.ActionCenter as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.RegionalAndLanguageOptions Regional and Language Options {62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0} Maps to Microsoft.RegionAndLanguage as of Windows 7. Note that as of Windows 8, Region and Language were each given their own Control Panel item. Both Microsoft.RegionalAndLanguageOptions and Microsoft.RegionAndLanguage currently open the Region item. You must use Microsoft.Language to access the Language item.
Microsoft.SecurityCenter The Windows Security app {087DA31B-0DD3-4537-8E23-64A18591F88B} Maps to Microsoft.ActionCenter as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.SpeechRecognitionOptions Speech Recognition Options {58E3C745-D971-4081-9034-86E34B30836A} Maps to Microsoft.SpeechRecognition as of Windows 7.
Microsoft.TaskbarAndStartMenu Taskbar and Start Menu {0DF44EAA-FF21-4412-828E-260A8728E7F1} Maps to Microsoft.Taskbar as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.WelcomeCenter Welcome Center {CB1B7F8C-C50A-4176-B604-9E24DEE8D4D1} Maps to Microsoft.GettingStarted in Windows 7. Launches the Control Panel home page as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.WindowsSidebarProperties Windows Sidebar Properties {37efd44d-ef8d-41b1-940d-96973a50e9e0} Maps to Microsoft.DesktopGadgets in Windows 7. Removed as of Windows 8.
Microsoft.WindowsSideShow Windows SideShow {E95A4861-D57A-4be1-AD0F-35267E261739} Feature deprecated in Windows 8, removed as of Windows 8.1.

Using Canonical Names in Local Group Policy

As of Windows 7, you can use canonical names to restrict access to individual Control Panel items through group policy. This same procedure can be used in Windows Vista, but you have to use the module name instead of the canonical name.

Hiding individual Control Panel items

Use this method if you want to show more Control Panel items than you want to hide.

  1. Run the Gpedit.msc file to launch the Local Group Policy Editor. You can also type "group policy" at the Windows 8.1 Start screen and select Edit group policy from the search results.
  2. Select User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel.
  3. Select Hide specified Control Panel items.
  4. In the Hide Specified Control Panel Items window that opens, click Enabled.
  5. Click the Show button in the Options panel to show the list of disallowed Control Panel items.
  6. In the Show Contents window that opens, type a canonical name into the Value column. Repeat as necessary.
  7. Click OK.

Showing individual Control Panel items

Use this method if you want to hide more Control Panel items than you want to show.

  1. Run the Gpedit.msc file to launch the Local Group Policy Editor. You can also type "group policy" at the Windows 8.1 Start screen and select Edit group policy from the search results.
  2. Select User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel.
  3. Select Show only specified Control Panel items.
  4. In the Show Only Specified Control Panel Items window that opens, click Enabled. This hides everything in the Control Panel.
  5. Click the Show button in the Options panel to show the list of allowed Control Panel items.
  6. In the Show Contents window that opens, type a canonical name into the Value column. Repeat as necessary.
  7. Click OK.

If you want to remove all of the entries that you've added to a Show or Hide Control Panel items list, return to the screen in step 4 and select Not Configured to clear the list. If you want to retain your entries but suspend the restrictions, select Disabled.

You might see items in your Control Panel that are not listed here. Those items are not part of Windows, but instead are added during the installation of various software and hardware, such as Microsoft Office or a video card. Non-Windows Control Panel items may or may not have a canonical name. To find the canonical name of a Control Panel item not listed here, look in the registry under these paths:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
   CLSID
      {CLSID of the Control Panel item}
         System.ApplicationName
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   SOFTWARE
      Classes
         CLSID
            {CLSID of the Control Panel item}
               System.ApplicationName

For more information that can help you discover the necessary CLSIDs, see How to Register Executable Control Panel Items and How to Register DLL Control Panel Items.

Executing Control Panel Items

IOpenControlPanel