Easily Add Control Panel to the Context Menu in Windows 11

Over the past few years, Microsoft has been steadily migrating features from the Windows Control Panel to the more modern “Settings” interface. Nonetheless, some functionalities are still only available through the Control Panel.

To access the Control Panel, you can type “control” in the taskbar search box and select it from the results. However, a more efficient approach is to integrate a link to the Control Panel into your desktop’s context menu.

Follow these steps to accomplish this through the Registry Editor:

1. Open Registry Editor: Type “regedit” in the taskbar search field and click on the “Registry Editor” option.
2. Navigate to Desktop Background: Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground and find the subfolder named Shell.
3. Create a New Key for Control Panel: Right-click in the right pane, choose New > Key, and name it “ControlPanel.”
4. Add Icon Information: Click on “ControlPanel,” right-click in the right pane, select New > String Value, and name it “Icon.” Double-click on it, enter control.exe as the value, and hit “OK.”
5. Set the Menu Verb: Select “ControlPanel” again, right-click, and choose New > String Value. Name it “MUIVerb.” Double-click, enter @shell32.dll,-4161 as the value, and confirm with “OK.”
6. Positioning in the Menu: Select “ControlPanel” once more, right-click, and go to New > String Value. Name this “Position.” Double-click it and set the value to “Bottom” or “Top” to choose where it will show up in the context menu, then click “OK.”
7. Create Command Key: Finally, right-click on “ControlPanel” again, select New > Key, and name this key “command.” After selecting “command,” double-click the “(Default)” entry in the right pane, enter control.exe as the value, and click “OK.”

Now, the Control Panel will be just a right-click away from your desktop!