JSI Tip 9207. How can I hide a Control Panel applet from Control Panel, using the registry?

In tip 3274 Can I hide selected Control Panel applets, I explained how to hide selected Control Panel applets using Group Policy. I also explained how Group Policy stored your selection in the Registry.

To hide applets from the Control Panel display:

1. Use the Registry Editor to navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl Paneldon't load. If the don't load sub-key is missing, add it.

2. To hide an applet, add a Value Name that is the applet .cpl as a string (REG_SZ) data type. While technically, it doesn't matter if you set the data value, I like to set mine to No.

3. You must logoff and logon for these settings to become effective.

NOTE: You may find that the following two applets are already configured:

ncpa.cpl
odbccp32.cpl

If you remove the odbccp32.cpl Value Name, Data Sources (ODBC) is displayed in Control Panel.

If you remove the ncpa.cpl Value Name, a second Network Connections icon is displayed, the new one requiring a double-click to see the configurable objects.

Here is a list of some common Control Panel applets:

I have scripted HideApplet.bat to add and delete applets.

The syntax for using HideApplet.bat is:

HideApplet Applet A|D

Where A adds the applet and D deletes the applet.

Example

To add the tablet.cpl applet to the don't load list:

hideapplet tablet.cpl a

To delete the odbccp32.cpl from the don't load list:

hideapplet odbccp32.cpl d

HideApplet.bat contains:

@echo offsetlocalif {%2}

{} goto error:loopif {%2}

{} endlocal&goto :EOFset applet=%1set AddRem=%2shiftshiftif /i "%AddRem%" EQU "A" goto Addif /i "%AddRem%" EQU "D" goto Del@echo Syntax: HideApplet Applet A^|D@echo Syntax: HideApplet %applet% %AddRem%goto loop:error@echo Syntax: HideApplet Applet A^|Dendlocalgoto :EOF:Add@echo REG ADD "HKCUControl Paneldon't load" /V %Applet% /T REG_SZ /F /D "No"REG ADD "HKCUControl Paneldon't load" /V %Applet% /T REG_SZ /F /D "No"@echo.goto loop:Del@echo REG DELETE "HKCUControl Paneldon't load" /V %Applet% /FREG DELETE "HKCUControl Paneldon't load" /V %Applet% /[email protected] loop