In our daily computer tasks, we use Desktop Properties quite often. Sometimes to change Desktop wallpaper, sometimes to change Windows theme and sometimes to change Display settings like screen resolution, monitor settings, etc.
For each change, we need to go through various steps: right-click on Desktop and select "Properties / Personalize" and then go to the desired tab and make required changes. Will not it be easier if we could create direct shortcuts to these tabs so that we can launch the desired tab just by double-clicking on the shortcut?
So in this tutorial, I'm going to tell some useful commands to open various Desktop Properties tabs. You can use them to create shortcuts, to create programs or you can directly run them from RUN dialog box or Windows Explorer.
So here are the various commands to launch Desktop Properties tabs directly:
Command to open "Themes" page:
control desk.cpl,,@themes
Command to open "Desktop Background" page:
control desk.cpl,,@desktop
OR
control desk.cpl,,@background
Command to open "Screen Saver" page:
control desk.cpl,,1
OR
control desk.cpl,,@screensaver
Command to open "Appearance" page:
control desk.cpl,,2
OR
control desk.cpl,,@appearance
Command to open "Display Settings" page:
control desk.cpl,,3
OR
control desk.cpl,,@display
NOTE: You can use any integer from 3-9 in the first shortcut command for creating shortcut for Display Properties.
Command to open "Desktop Icon Settings" page:
control desk.cpl,,0
OR
control desk.cpl,,@web
Command to open "DPI Scaling" page:
dpiscaling
Command to open "Window Colorization" page:
explorer shell:::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\1\::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}\pageColorization
PS: The command for "DPI Scaling" and "Window Colorization" will only work in Windows Vista. Rest commands will work in other Windows versions as well.
You can run these command directly from RUN dialog box or if you want to create shortcuts, then right-click on desktop and select "New -> Shortcut", it'll open a wizard:
Enter the desired shortcut command and click on "Next" button. It'll ask for name of shortcut, provide a meaningful name:
And click on "Finish" button. That's it. It'll create the shortcut.
I'm also attaching a ZIP file containing all the above mentioned shortcuts, just download it, extract it and you'll get the ready-made shortcuts:
Download Ready-Made Desktop Properties Tabs Shortcuts
Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP
Anthony
Can you tell me where you found this information? I know this method is possible with almost any windows property/dialogue box, but I would really like to understand the syntax of all these commands. For example, in "control desk.cpl,,1" why the two commas? what could you put between them? how did you know that "1" would take you to the screensaver?
VG
^^ Thats a common syntax. If you want to go to a particular tab directly in a window, you can use this syntax and that tab number at the end of command.
Anthony
^^ Okay, and how can I find the tab order if these tabs are completely detached? Even in your example images there are no tabs in the desk.cpl window, and the "screensaver" and "display settings" and "desktop icon settings" tabs appear in completely separate windows.
VG
^^ That common sense since all those settings belong to Desktop personalization. Also these tabs used to be in a single window at the time of XP and older Windows versions. ;)
Anthony
^^ Well, sure, it may be obvious that all these tabs belong to Desktop personalization, but I cannot see how the tab order can be labeled as common sense because in Windows XP the tabs are in order as listed: themes, desktop, screensaver, appearance, settings. It would be common sense that lists begin with either 1 or 0, but in this case screensaver is 0 and 1 is reserved for the Customize Desktop button which is in the desktop tab which doesn't seem to be in any order at all. And when looking in Windows 7 "screensaver" (0) is a button in the lower right corner while "desktop icons settings" (1) is a link in the upper left corner of the personalization window. So can you please, share where you learned this information - a microsoft website link perhaps - or explain how I can understand which tabs would be labeled as 0 or 1 in other microsoft properties windows (like in the "control system" window for example)?
VG
^^ No. There is no such website or books or anything else which can teach you these stuffs. It comes with experience. I spend my free time in looking into system files, Registry to find out these kind of stuffs. Resource Hacker is your best friend for such stuffs. :)
Anthony
^^ Thank you for your help; have a nice day :)
VG
^^ You are welcome. :)
carlos
Thanks a lot! I had been looking for this all over other sites
A Webwyvern
Good grief, the tip works perfectly! Since Win3.1, the idiots at MSFT have dedicated their lives to make successive versions of the OS increasingly difficult to use efficiently as they dumb it down for new users. There's nothing intuitive about these commands, the idiots FAIL to include an option to create a shortcut, causing how many to waste years drilling down through umpteen screens from START, cursing those SOB's each time. I KNEW there had to be a way, just never came across your answer before. You have my deepest gratitude for this very straightforward TIP.
Manjunath.G
Thanks a lot VG but can u give us for computer properties like general,computer name,remote setting etc..
or is this same procedure for all ??
Manjunath.G
oh! sorry i tried and got it..
control sysdm.cpl,,1 for Computer name etc..
thanks a lot VG.. :) for this idea..