Run Control Panel Applets From The Command Prompt

If you are working with the Command Prompt and need to open a Control Panel, you can open the applet from the command line. All you have to do is enter rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL + the applet you need and press Enter.

To access the Control Panel while in the Command Prompt window, you need a  batch file to do the job for you.   You can write it using Notepad. When you save the file, be sure to use the .bat extension. Call the file  cpanel.bat.

@echo off
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL %1.cpl

Choose File, Save As, and name the file cpanel.bat. Now you can enter cpanel from the command prompt to activate.  The commands below show what apps use can use using cpanel.bat.

accessibility: access
Add/Remove Programs: appwiz
Display: desk
Joystick:joy
Mouse: main
Multimedia: mmsys
Modems: modem
Regional Settings: intl
System: sysdm
Time/Date: timedate.cpl

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