Reference number: CH000136

Adding / removing icons in Windows Control Panel.

Issue:

Adding / removing icons in Windows Control Panel.

Cause:

Missing Control Panel icons can be caused by any of the below possibilities.

1. Control Panel icon was deleted or has become corrupt.
2. Related software program or hardware device has been uninstalled or is no longer being detected by Windows.

Solution:

Note: Before following any of the below steps if you're running Windows ME / XP or later we suggest that Control Panel be setup to show icons in Classic View. Additional information about how to do this can be found in document CH001040.

Enabling and removing Control Panel icons easily with TweakUI

Microsoft Windows XP and later revisions of Windows users can easily enable and remove Control Panel icons with the TweakUI program. If you do not have TweakUI installed additional information and a link to the free download can be found on document CH000141.

After TweakUI has been installed you'll be able to check and uncheck the the icons you wish or do not wish to display in the Windows Control Panel under the Control Panel section.

Adding Windows Control Panel icons

Users can add a Windows Control Panel icon by installing the software program or hardware device related to the icon. If doing this does not install an icon into the Windows Control Panel that is either listed in the below chart or has been present in the past, follow the below steps.

1. Reinstall the software program or hardware device associated with the program. This should copy the the necessary .CPL file back onto the computer. 
2. Manually copy, expand, and/or extract the .cpl file back into the Windows System or System 32 directory.

Note: Unless your software program or hardware device has a .cpl file associated with it, the program will not create an icon in your Control Panel. 

Manually testing or running a Windows Control Panel .cpl file

If you are unfamiliar with what each .CPL file does,

1. Users can use the MS-DOS control file to execute many of the .CPL files by typing "control <name of .cpl file>.cpl". See our control command page for additional information and help with this command. 
2. Users can also use the rundll32 file to open the Control Panel icons. Below is an example of how a user would open the Date/Time Properties window using the rundll32 file. If you wish to run an alternate .cpl file, replace the TimeDate.cpl with a different .cpl. 

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL TimeDate.cpl

Hiding Windows Control Panel icons

If you wish to simply hide an icon from being displayed in the Control Panel you can delete or move the icon as explained in the below steps or hide the icon by editing the control.ini file. Additional information and help with this file can be found on document CH000875.

Removing Windows Control Panel icons

Using the Microsoft Find utility, users can locate all .cpl files on their computer. Additional information about the find utility can be found in document CHFIND.

Once all the .cpl files have been found, locate the file associated with your icon and delete the file or move it to an alternate location.

Windows Control Panel icons and their associated files

Below is a small chart of the available files and their associated Control Panel icons. Please keep in mind that not all of the below files or icons are available in all versions of Microsoft Windows and may be missing because the associated hardware device, software program, or other setting is not installed. In the below chart we have also listed which icons are listed in each of the Windows Operating Systems. Icons that have an asterisks in the availability section indicate that a third-party software program not available through the Microsoft Windows CD must be installed before the icon is displayed. 

Additional information:

Microsoft Windows stores information about each of the icons that are shown in the Control Panel in files with the extension .CPL. If these files are present and not corrupted, Microsoft Windows will display these icons, otherwise, these icons will not be visible. The Control Panel files are often found in the C:\Windows\System, C:\Windows\System32, or C:\Winnt\system32 directories once the hardware device or software program related to the icon has been installed.

• Additional information about the Microsoft Windows Control Panel as well as related dictionary definitions can be found on our Control Panel dictionary definition.