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

This article was posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

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