Add Control Panel to the Desktop Right-Click Menu in Vista

A couple of days ago I noticed a thread on our forum asking how to add Control Panel to the desktop context menu, so I decided to write up the solution for everybody, since it seems like a really useful hack.

Since we like to explain with screenshots, when you right-click on the desktop you’ll see a new menu item called Control Panel:



Once you select that item, obviously it will immediately open up Control Panel:



Of course you could use the same technique to add any item into the context menu, or you could even use the same location in the registry to remove things like the NVIDIA Control Panel or ATI Control Center from the menu.

Manual Registry Hack

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell

Once you are there, you’ll want to right-click on “shell” and create a new key called Control Panel.




Under that one, you’ll want to right-click and create a new key called “command”.



Select the “command” key on the left-hand side, and then set the (Default) value on the right-hand side to the following:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL

You should immediately see the new item in your context menu, and it should be working. To remove, simply delete the Control Panel key.

Downloadable Registry Hack

Simply download, extract, and double-click on the AddControlPanelToDesktopMenu.reg file to enter the information into the registry. You should immediately see the new item. To remove, use the included remove script.

Download AddControlPanelToDesktopMenu Registry Hack

Are there any other items you would like to see added into the context menu? Tell us in the comments.