What are the .cpl files in the system32 directory?

John Savill

March 4, 1999

1 Min Read
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A. Each .cpl file represents one or more control panel applets (Start - Settings - Control Panel). Below is a list of common .cpl files and what Control Panel Applets they represent

.cpl file name

Control Panel Applets

ACCESS.CPL

Accessibility options

APPWIZ.CPL

Add/remove programs

CONSOLE.CPL

Console

DESK.CPL

Display

DEVAPPS.CPL

PCMCIA, SCSI adapters and tape drives

INETCPL.CPL

Internet

INTL.CPL

Regional Settings

JOY.CPL

Joystick

MAIN.CPL

Fonts, keyboard, mouse and printers

MLCFG32.CPL

Mail

MMSYS.CPL

Sounds and multimedia

MODEM.CPL

Modems

NCPA.CPL

Network

NTGUARD.CPL

Dr Solomons

ODBCCP32.CPL

ODBC

PORTS.CPL

Ports

RASCPL.CPL

Dial up monitor

SRVMGR.CPL

Server, services and devices

SYSDM.CPL

System

TELEPHON.CPL

Telephony

TIMEDATE.CPL

Date/time

TWEAKUI.CPL

TWEAKUI

UPS.CPL

UPS

If you renames any of these files then the items they represent in the Control Panel would not be shown, e.g.
rename timedate.cpl timedate.non
would remove the date/time control panel applet.

Also, setting HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorerNoSetFolders (REG_DWORD) to 1 will hide the Control Panel, Printers and My Computer in Explorer and Start Menu. You would normally need to create this value as it does not exist by default.

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