Create Shortcuts to Themes, Desktop Background, Screen Saver, Display Settings and More in Windows

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.

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So here are the various commands to launch Desktop Properties tabs directly:

Command to open “Themes” page:

Applying_Custom_Theme.jpg

control desk.cpl,,@themes

Command to open “Desktop Background” page:

DesktopBackground.jpg

control desk.cpl,,@desktop

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OR

control desk.cpl,,@background

Command to open “Screen Saver” page:

ScreenSaverSettings.jpg

control desk.cpl,,1

OR

control desk.cpl,,@screensaver

Command to open “Appearance” page:

AppearanceSettings.jpg

control desk.cpl,,2

OR

control desk.cpl,,@appearance

Command to open “Display Settings -> Screen Resolution” page:

DisplaySettings.jpg

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:

DesktopIconSettings.jpg

control desk.cpl,,0

OR

control desk.cpl,,@web

Command to open “DPI Scaling” page:

DPI.jpg

dpiscaling

Command to open “Window Colorization” page:

Windows_Color_and_Appearanc.png

explorer shell:::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\1\::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}\pageColorization

Command to open “Display Settings -> Change Size of Items” page:

Enable_Common_Scaling_Windows_8_1_Display_Screens.png

explorer.exe shell:::{C555438B-3C23-4769-A71F-B6D3D9B6053A}

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:

CreatingNewShortcut.jpg

Enter the desired shortcut command and click on “Next” button. It’ll ask for name of shortcut, provide a meaningful name:

SavingNewShortcut.jpg

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

Also Check:

Add “Desktop Shortcuts” Cascading Menu in Windows 7 and Later Desktop Context Menu

Add “Desktop Shortcuts” Cascading Menu in My Computer Context Menu in Windows 7 and Later

Published in: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. 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?

  2. ^^ 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.

  3. ^^ 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.

  4. ^^ 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. 😉

  5. 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.

  6. 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 ??

  7. oh! sorry i tried and got it..

    control sysdm.cpl,,1 for Computer name etc..

    thanks a lot VG.. 🙂 for this idea..

  8. Hello Vishal,

    I know that “control desk.cpl,,@themes” opens the first tab from the desk.cpl. Cool.

    But where do I find this content of this tab in order to hack/change the font size (for example). Many cpl files do not contain the text/pictures they show in the tabs. How am I supposed to find them?

    Thank you

    Peter

  9. VG I am using windows 10 home. When I enter the commands … “control desk.cpl,,@themes” in run or explorer it takes me to the default Win10 setting am I missing something?

  10. ^^ Since Microsoft has moved Themes page to Settings app, the command now launches Themes page in Settings app.

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