Question How can I Create a Shortcut to a Specific Page in the Control Panel?

[MarshTheBacca]

I find myself going into control panel to get to 'Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall' quite often, and I think it'd save me some time to just create a shortcut on my desktop that I can just double click to instantly get to that window. I've tried manually creating a shortcut with the target: "C:\Windows\System32\control.exe Panel\All Control Panel Items\Windows Defender Firewall\Allowed applications", but when I double click it, nothing happens.
I can easily create a shortcut for 'Windows Defender Firewall' because I can go onto 'View>Small Icons' to see 'All Control Panel Items', and I can drag the icon for 'Windows Defender Firewall' onto my desktop and it works, but the menu of 'Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall' doesn't appear on 'All Control Panel Items'.

Anyone got any ideas? Thanks

 

[Ralston18]

Consider using Powershell.

Check the following link:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials...ps-controlled-folder-access-windows-10-a.html

You can find similar links by googling "create allowed applications shortcut powershell" or similar words and phrasing.

Do be very cautious about anything editing the Registry - hold on any Registry manipulations as a last resort.

The key is to discover the specific ps script that will present you with the desired option.

Then that script executed via a shortcut icon.

 

[gardenman]

I looked for a answer to your question and couldn't find it.

I know that you can open the Control Panel applets by typing them on the command line after control.exe. For example:
control.exe desk.cpl
or
control.exe powercfg.cpl
etc.

So I tried the Firewall.cpl and it just takes you to main Firewall page.

I did more research and found this page: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/86339-list-commands-open-control-panel-items-windows-10-a.html and noticed that some control panel applets support a /page parameter. It's usually in this format:
control /name Microsoft.PowerOptions /page pageCreateNewPlan
So I tried control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall and it worked.

Next I needed to find the correct /Page parameter. I used Notepad++ to look through the binary Firewall files (I searched for the word "Page") and in FirewallControlPanel.dll I found a line with a bunch of page options. It's a mess but here is what part of it looks like:

Spoiler

<pagedefinition><properties elementprovider="{DDECE4B2-979F-4CDB-9F58-B036FE5A510C}" initializer="{1CD0938D-1AC1-49DE-AA04-F2C92D4A02D1}" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" layout="201" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" navpane="true" canonicalname="Hub" /><childpages><pagedefinition><properties layout="202" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-31" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageConfigureSettings"/></pagedefinition> <pagedefinition><properties layout="203" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-32" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageConfigureApps"/></pagedefinition> <pagedefinition><properties layout="204" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-33" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageRestoreDefaults"/></pagedefinition> </childpages> </pagedefinition> <duixml>

Since the /page parameter usually starts with the word page, I tried a few of them until I figured it out.

control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall /page PageConfigureApps

Sorry for the detailed explanation. There's probably easier ways to find such info. Anyway, maybe this will help.

 

[wpgwpg]

Open Control Panel, Set it to "View large icons", then click & hold the left mouse button down and drag the icon to the desktop. I've been doing that for years.

 

[MarshTheBacca]

Open Control Panel, Set it to "View large icons", then click & hold the left mouse button down and drag the icon to the desktop. I've been doing that for years.

Did you read my question? I said I already tried doing that but 'Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall' doesn't show up on 'View Large Icons'; 'Windows Defender Firewall' does show up, however that's not the menu I'm after.

 

[MarshTheBacca]

I looked for a answer to your question and couldn't find it.

I know that you can open the Control Panel applets by typing them on the command line after control.exe. For example:
control.exe desk.cpl
or
control.exe powercfg.cpl
etc.

So I tried the Firewall.cpl and it just takes you to main Firewall page.

I did more research and found this page: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/86339-list-commands-open-control-panel-items-windows-10-a.html and noticed that some control panel applets support a /page parameter. It's usually in this format:
control /name Microsoft.PowerOptions /page pageCreateNewPlan
So I tried control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall and it worked.

Next I needed to find the correct /Page parameter. I used Notepad++ to look through the binary Firewall files (I searched for the word "Page") and in FirewallControlPanel.dll I found a line with a bunch of page options. It's a mess but here is what part of it looks like:

Spoiler

<pagedefinition><properties elementprovider="{DDECE4B2-979F-4CDB-9F58-B036FE5A510C}" initializer="{1CD0938D-1AC1-49DE-AA04-F2C92D4A02D1}" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" layout="201" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" navpane="true" canonicalname="Hub" /><childpages><pagedefinition><properties layout="202" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-31" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageConfigureSettings"/></pagedefinition> <pagedefinition><properties layout="203" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-32" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageConfigureApps"/></pagedefinition> <pagedefinition><properties layout="204" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-33" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageRestoreDefaults"/></pagedefinition> </childpages> </pagedefinition> <duixml>

Since the /page parameter usually starts with the word page, I tried a few of them until I figured it out.

control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall /page PageConfigureApps

Sorry for the detailed explanation. There's probably easier ways to find such info. Anyway, maybe this will help.

I'm impressed with the effort you put in for this and it's interesting to see your process. I'm not familiar at all powershell, and I can see how much work went into getting that line 'control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall /page PageConfigureApps'. How do I apply this to a shortcut for my desktop?

Thanks

 

[gardenman]

Hi, highlight the line here and right click to Copy it to the clipboard:

control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall /page PageConfigureApps

Right click on your desktop and choose New -> Shortcut.
Where it asks for the location, right click and choose Paste.
Choose Next.
Type in a good name for the shortcut. It will be control.exe but you should change it. Something like Firewall Allowed Apps would be good.
Choose Finish.

That should create the shortcut on your desktop.

 

[MarshTheBacca]

Hi, highlight the line here and right click to Copy it to the clipboard:

control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall /page PageConfigureApps

Right click on your desktop and choose New -> Shortcut.
Where it asks for the location, right click and choose Paste.
Choose Next.
Type in a good name for the shortcut. It will be control.exe but you should change it. Something like Firewall Allowed Apps would be good.
Choose Finish.

That should create the shortcut on your desktop.

Thank you so much, it works.

 

[JuggleMan]

I looked for a answer to your question and couldn't find it.

I know that you can open the Control Panel applets by typing them on the command line after control.exe. For example:
control.exe desk.cpl
or
control.exe powercfg.cpl
etc.

So I tried the Firewall.cpl and it just takes you to main Firewall page.

I did more research and found this page: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/86339-list-commands-open-control-panel-items-windows-10-a.html and noticed that some control panel applets support a /page parameter. It's usually in this format:
control /name Microsoft.PowerOptions /page pageCreateNewPlan
So I tried control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall and it worked.

Next I needed to find the correct /Page parameter. I used Notepad++ to look through the binary Firewall files (I searched for the word "Page") and in FirewallControlPanel.dll I found a line with a bunch of page options. It's a mess but here is what part of it looks like:

Spoiler

<pagedefinition><properties elementprovider="{DDECE4B2-979F-4CDB-9F58-B036FE5A510C}" initializer="{1CD0938D-1AC1-49DE-AA04-F2C92D4A02D1}" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" layout="201" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" navpane="true" canonicalname="Hub" /><childpages><pagedefinition><properties layout="202" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-31" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageConfigureSettings"/></pagedefinition> <pagedefinition><properties layout="203" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-32" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageConfigureApps"/></pagedefinition> <pagedefinition><properties layout="204" icon="FirewallControlPanel.dll,-1" displayname="@FirewallControlPanel.dll,-33" helptopic="mshelp://windows/?id=230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee" canonicalname="PageRestoreDefaults"/></pagedefinition> </childpages> </pagedefinition> <duixml>

Since the /page parameter usually starts with the word page, I tried a few of them until I figured it out.

control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall /page PageConfigureApps

Sorry for the detailed explanation. There's probably easier ways to find such info. Anyway, maybe this will help.

I'm trying to find a way to get to the mouse settings under Ease of Access. Using your tips, I was able to get "control /access.cpl" to open the main Ease of Access Center page, but I'm trying to find out how to get it to open the "Make the mouse easier to use" page.

You said you used a text editor to look through the binary files to find the page name. Can you explain how you did that? When I open the file ""C:\Windows\System32\accessibilitycpl.dll" it's unreadable in Notepad++.

 

[gardenman]

control /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter /page pageEasierToClick

I looked in accessibilitycpl.dll and couldn't find it. I found the "parameter" here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/controlpanel-canonical-names