How to Open the Control Panel From the Command Prompt in Windows 7

By Nick Peers

Use the Command Prompt utility in Windows 7 to run commands, launch programs and open the Control Panel. Open the Control Panel utility by using the control command, or open Control Panel folders by appending optional parameters to the control command. In Windows 7, you can run the control command from any folder, not just from the default working folder. The control command and its parameters work in Windows 8.1 as well, and can also be included in batch files.

Using the Control Command

Launch the Command Prompt by clicking the "Start" button, typing "command" and then clicking "Command Prompt." Type "control" (without the quotation marks) into the Command Prompt and press "Enter" to open the Control Panel. To run the control command as a different user, use the "runas /user:User_Name control" command; replace "User_Name" with the name of the user -- "administrator" for example. Another way to open the Control Panel is using the Run dialog. Press "Windows-R" to display the Run dialog, type "control" and press "Enter."

Opening Control Panel Folders

Open Control Panel folders by appending parameters to the control command in the Command Prompt. To open the "Add/Remove Programs" section, run the "control appwiz.cpl" command. Open the Display Properties tool by running the "control desk.cpl" command. Append the "inetcpl.cpl" parameter to the control command to open the Internet Properties tool, "hdwwiz.cpl" to open the Device Manager utility, "ncpa.cpl" for the Network Connections section, or "netsetup.cpl" to launch the Network Setup Wizard. Open the Windows Firewall section with "control firewall.cpl."

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