In this post, MiniTool Software will introduce what Control Panel is and how to add the Control Panel icon to desktop on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer. You can also learn some related information about desktop icon settings.

What Is Control Panel?

The Control Panel is a Windows component, which offers the ability to view and change system settings on your Windows device. It has a set of applets and you can use them to add or remove hardware and software, control user accounts, change accessibility options, access network settings, change power settings, change the system date and time, change default programs, and do other related settings.

Control Panel on Windows 10

By default, the Control Panel icon is not showing up on desktop. So, you need to use other ways to open Control Panel on your Windows computer. But there is a trick: you can add the Control Panel icon to desktop.

Now, we will show you how to how to put Control Panel on desktop via desktop icon settings.

How to Add Control Panel to Desktop on Windows 10?

Step 1: Right-click the desktop and select Personalize. You can also go to Start > Settings > Personalization to open the Personalization page.

Step 2: Select Theme from the left menu.

Step 3: Click the Desktop icon settings link from the right section on the Personalization page.

click Desktop icon settings

Step 4: The Desktop Icon Settings interface will pop up, on which you can see the Control Panel option is not selected. To show the Control Panel icon on desktop, you should make it to be selected.

select Control Panel

Step 5: Click Apply.

Step 6: Click OK to save the change.

After these steps, you can see the Control Panel icon on desktop. If you want to access Control Panel and make further operations, you can just click the Control Panel icon on desktop.

How to Remove the Control Panel icon from Desktop on Windows 10?

You can just delete the Control Panel icon from desktop. You can also go to Desktop Icon Settings using the above steps, then uncheck Control Panel, and save the change to remove the icon.

How to Add Control Panel to Desktop on Windows 11?

Step 1: Right-click the desktop and select Personalize. You can also go to Start > Settings > Personalization to open the Personalization page.

Step 2: Select Theme from the right panel.

click Themes

Step 3: Click Desktop icon settings under Related settings on the next page.

click Desktop icon settings

Step 4: On the Desktop Icon Settings page, check Control Panel in the Desktop Icons section.

select Control Panel

Step 5: Click Apply.

Step 6: Click OK.

How to Remove the Control Panel icon from Desktop on Windows 11?

Likewise, you can directly delete the Control Panel icon from desktop to remove it. You can also go to Desktop Icon Settings and uncheck it to move its icon from desktop.

How to Open Control Panel in Windows 11? [7 Ways]
How to Open Control Panel in Windows 11? [7 Ways]

This post introduces how to open Control Panel in Windows 11 using different methods and some other related information.

Read More

Desktop Icon Settings

The Control Panel icon is not the only icon you can add to desktop via Desktop Icon Settings. These desktop icons are available:

  • Computer (This PC)
  • Recycle Bin
  • User’s Files (Administrator)
  • Control Panel
  • Network

available desktop icons

You can just select the icons you want to be displayed on desktop and save the change.

On the other hand, you can also change the default desktop icons in Desktop Icon Settings.

Bottom Line

Here are the methods to add the Control Panel icon to desktop on Windows 10 and Windows 11 computer via Desktop Icon Settings. It is easy to do this job.

Additionally, if you want to recover your files from desktop, you can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery. It is a professional data recovery software that can work on all versions of Windows, including the latest Windows 11.

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Should you have other related issues, you can let us know in the comments.

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