Run Control Panel Applets from a Command Prompt

This handy little chart shows you which commands to issue at the command prompt to start control panel applets. Very handy for keyboard commandos.

Applet Name	Filename
Accessibility Controls	access.cpl
Add/Remove Programs control	appwiz.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard	hdwwiz.cpl
Automatic Updates	wuaucpl.cpl
Date/Time Properties control	timedate.cpl
Display Properties control	desk.cpl or control desktop
Display Properties "Appearance Tab Preselected"	control color
Disk Management	dskmgmt.cpl
Find Fast control	findfast.cpl
Fonts Folder control	fonts
Folders Properties	control folders
Game Controllers	joy.cpl
Internet Properties control	inetcpl.cpl
Keyboard Properties control	main.cpl or control keyboard
Mouse Properties control	main.cpl or control mouse
Multimedia Properties control	mmsys.cpl
Network Properties control	netcpl.cpl
Password Properties control	password.cpl
Printers Folder control	printers
Power Configuration	powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes	control printers
Regional Settings	intl.cpl
Sound and Audio Devices control panel	mmsys.cpl
System Properties control	sysdm.cpl
Windows Firewall	firewall.cpl

This comes in especially handy if you are supporting someone else's computer, who may not have the rights to perform a particular task. You can couple the above information with the RunAs command, specifying your account information (that has admin rights to the requested applet), and gain proper access. Here is an example:

runas /user:computername\Administrator "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL sysdm.cpl"

Replace "computername" with either the domain or the name of the pc, and "Administrator" with the name of the account that has administrative rights on the system. This particular example opens the System applet.

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Posted: 2008-11-15
By: FortyPoundHead
Viewed: 3,858 times

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