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.