Configure Windows 10 Settings visibility to hide all or select settings

You can block or restrict access of users to one or more of the Windows 10 Settings pages using the Group Policy or Registry. If as an IT admin you do not want to give access to Windows 10 Settings, you can configure Group Policy Object or tweak the Windows Registry. We have already see how to restrict access to the Control Panel, now let us see how you can restrict access to the Settings panel. You can hide all the Windows 10 Settings or hide only selected settings in the Settings page using Group Policy Object or Windows Registry.

Hide Settings in Windows 10

Restricting access to the Settings page is not difficult on Windows 10 v1703. Moreover, you can either hide all the settings pages of Settings app if you do not want to use that anymore or you can show or hide particular settings page only. There are two ways to do it. First, you can use the Group Policy Editor or you can use the Registry Editor.

Before you begin, do remember to create a system restore point first.

Restrict access to Windows 10 Settings page using Registry Editor

Run regedit to open the Registry Editor and then navigate to the following path:

Here you have to create a String Value on the right-hand side. Right-click on an empty space, select New > String Value. Name it SettingsPageVisibility. Now, double-click on that string value and enter the following in the Value name field-

To show a particular page and hide all the others:

To hide a particular page and show the rest:

For example, to hide the About page, enter the following value:

If you want to show Bluetooth and About page, and hide all the other page, enter the following value;

In this fashion, you can show or hide any Settings page of Settings app.

Hide Windows 10 Settings using Group Policy Editor

Using Group Policy Editor to hide Settings page in Windows 10 is even easier than using the Registry Editor.Run gpedit.msc, to open the Group Policy Editor and then navigate to the following setting:

On the right-hand side, you can find an option called Settings Page Visibility. By default, it should be set to Not Configured. Select Enabled and enter a value in the Settings Page Visibility box just like you did in Registry Editor.

This policy specifies the list of pages to show or hide from the System Settings app. This policy allows an administrator to block a given set of pages from the System Settings app. Blocked pages will not be visible in the app, and if all pages in a category are blocked the category will be hidden as well. Direct navigation to a blocked page via URI, context menu in Explorer or other means will result in the front page of Settings being shown instead. This policy has two modes: it can either specify a list of settings pages to show or a list of pages to hide. To specify a list of pages to show, the policy string must begin with “showonly:” (without quotes), and to specify a list of pages to hide, it must begin with “hide:”. If a page in a showonly list would normally be hidden for other reasons (such as a missing hardware device), this policy will not force that page to appear. After this, the policy string must contain a semicolon-delimited list of settings page identifiers. The identifier for any given settings page is the published URI for that page, minus the “ms-settings:” protocol part.

Technet has listed the URIs to use along with showonly or hide keyword to show or hide a particular settings page:

• about
• activation
• appsfeatures
• appsforwebsites
• backup
• batterysaver
• bluetooth
• colors
• cortana
• datausage
• dateandtime
• defaultapps
• developers
• deviceencryption
• display
• emailandaccounts
• extras
• findmydevice
• lockscreen
• maps
• network-ethernet
• network-mobilehotspot
• network-proxy
• network-vpn
• network-directaccess
• network-wifi
• notifications
• optionalfeatures
• powersleep
• printers
• privacy
• personalization
• recovery
• regionlanguage
• storagesense
• tabletmode
• taskbar
• themes
• troubleshoot
• typing
• usb
• windowsdefender
• windowsinsider
• windowsupdate
• yourinfo

In this way, you can hide all the Windows 10 Settings or hide only selected settings in the Settings app using Group Policy Object or Windows Registry.

Nt-gm79sp / powercfg-win10-more-settings.cmd

@ echo on

REM checked for Windows 10

REM fork from https://gist.github.com/theultramage/cbdfdbb733d4a5b7d2669a6255b4b94b

REM you may want full list https://gist.github.com/raspi/203aef3694e34fefebf772c78c37ec2c

REM SET attrib=+ATTRIB_HIDE

SET attrib = -ATTRIB_HIDE

REM Hard disk burst ignore time

powercfg -attributes 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 80e3c60e-bb94-4ad8-bbe0-0d3195efc663 %attrib%

REM AHCI Link Power Management — HIPM/DIPM

powercfg -attributes 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 %attrib%

REM AHCI Link Power Management — Adaptive

powercfg -attributes 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 dab60367-53fe-4fbc-825e-521d069d2456 %attrib%

REM NVMe Idle Timeout

powercfg -attributes 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 d639518a-e56d-4345-8af2-b9f32fb26109 %attrib%

REM NVMe Power State Transition Latency Tolerance

powercfg -attributes 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442 fc95af4d-40e7-4b6d-835a-56d131dbc80e %attrib%

REM Sleep transition settings

REM Allow Away Mode Policy

powercfg -attributes 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20 25dfa149-5dd1-4736-b5ab-e8a37b5b8187 %attrib%

REM System unattended sleep timeout

powercfg -attributes 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20 7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0 %attrib%

REM Allow System Required Policy

powercfg -attributes 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20 A4B195F5-8225-47D8-8012-9D41369786E2 %attrib%

REM Allow Standby States

powercfg -attributes 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20 abfc2519-3608-4c2a-94ea-171b0ed546ab %attrib%

REM Allow sleep with remote opens

powercfg -attributes 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20 d4c1d4c8-d5cc-43d3-b83e-fc51215cb04d %attrib%

REM System FastS4 Support

powercfg -attributes 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20 94AC6D29-73CE-41A6-809F-6363BA21B47E %attrib%

REM Device idle policy

REM NOTE: shows in first node of settings tree if unhidden

powercfg -attributes 4faab71a-92e5-4726-b531-224559672d19 %attrib%

REM Processor power settings

REM Processor performance boost policy

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 45bcc044-d885-43e2-8605-ee0ec6e96b59 %attrib%

REM Processor performance increase policy

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 465e1f50-b610-473a-ab58-00d1077dc418 %attrib%

REM Processor performance increase threshold

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 06cadf0e-64ed-448a-8927-ce7bf90eb35d %attrib%

REM Processor performance increase threshold for Processor Power Efficiency Class 1

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 06cadf0e-64ed-448a-8927-ce7bf90eb35e %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking min cores

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking min cores for Processor Power Efficiency Class 1

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318584 %attrib%

REM Processor performance decrease threshold

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 12a0ab44-fe28-4fa9-b3bd-4b64f44960a6 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking increase time

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 2ddd5a84-5a71-437e-912a-db0b8c788732 %attrib%

REM Allow Throttle States

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 3b04d4fd-1cc7-4f23-ab1c-d1337819c4bb %attrib%

REM Processor performance decrease policy

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 40fbefc7-2e9d-4d25-a185-0cfd8574bac6 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking parked performance state

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 447235c7-6a8d-4cc0-8e24-9eaf70b96e2b %attrib%

REM Processor idle demote threshold

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 4b92d758-5a24-4851-a470-815d78aee119 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking distribution threshold

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 4bdaf4e9-d103-46d7-a5f0-6280121616ef %attrib%

REM Processor performance time check interval

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 4d2b0152-7d5c-498b-88e2-34345392a2c5 %attrib%

REM Processor duty cycling

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 4e4450b3-6179-4e91-b8f1-5bb9938f81a1 %attrib%

REM Processor idle disable

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 5d76a2ca-e8c0-402f-a133-2158492d58ad %attrib%

REM Processor idle threshold scaling

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 6c2993b0-8f48-481f-bcc6-00dd2742aa06 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking decrease policy

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 71021b41-c749-4d21-be74-a00f335d582b %attrib%

REM Maximum processor frequency

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 75b0ae3f-bce0-45a7-8c89-c9611c25e100 %attrib%

REM Processor idle promote threshold

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 7b224883-b3cc-4d79-819f-8374152cbe7c %attrib%

REM Processor performance history count

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 7d24baa7-0b84-480f-840c-1b0743c00f5f %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking over utilization threshold

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 943c8cb6-6f93-4227-ad87-e9a3feec08d1 %attrib%

REM Processor performance increase time

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 984cf492-3bed-4488-a8f9-4286c97bf5aa %attrib%

REM Processor idle time check

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 c4581c31-89ab-4597-8e2b-9c9cab440e6b %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking increase policy

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 c7be0679-2817-4d69-9d02-519a537ed0c6 %attrib%

REM Processor performance decrease time

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 d8edeb9b-95cf-4f95-a73c-b061973693c8 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking decrease time

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 dfd10d17-d5eb-45dd-877a-9a34ddd15c82 %attrib%

REM Processor performance core parking max cores

powercfg -attributes 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 ea062031-0e34-4ff1-9b6d-eb1059334028 %attrib%

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Spaier commented Feb 11, 2020

REM Processor performance boost mode
powercfg.exe -attributes SUB_PROCESSOR be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7 %attrib%

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emadha commented Aug 2, 2020

i tried some of these but in my situation the -ATTRIB_HIDE | + ATTRIB_HIDE actually hid the option from the power settings, i checked in the regsitery and i saw the Attribute field set to either 1 or 0, but on my windows only value of 2 for Attribute key made the key show. if -ATTRIB_HIDE is 0 and +ATTRIB_HIDE is 1 what’s the key for the value ‘2’ ?

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Hidden Tricks Inside Windows 10

Windows is a vast operating system with plenty of features you might never stumble upon. Make the most of Windows 10 with these expert tips.

Microsoft Windows isn’t any one thing; it’s an interwoven patchwork of tools built atop features that trace back to the beginning of the time-tested operating system.

With such a complex piece of software, it makes sense that there are little tricks and UI flourishes most people don’t even know about. Maybe you haven’t poked around Windows 10 too much after coming over from Windows 7, or perhaps you recently made the switch from a Mac. Well, it’s time to understand all the secret Windows 10 has to offer.

We have compiled a list of useful tips that will help you get more out of your Windows 10 experience. Or, at least, teach you some things you may not have known about. Some have been available in Windows for a number of generations, while others are native to Windows 10.

Microsoft’s most recent update for the OS arrived in May, introducing a bunch of new features with Windows 10 version 2004. So there are plenty of ways to make the most of a constantly evolving Windows experience.

Secret Start Menu

If you’re a fan of that old-school (i.e. non-tiled) Start menu experience, you can still (sort of) have it. Right-click on the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner to prompt a textual jump menu with a number of familiar destinations, including Apps and Features, Search, and Run. All these options are available through the standard menu interface, but you’ll be able to access them quicker here.

Similarly, there’s a lot you can do with the Windows 10 taskbar. Right-click on the taskbar for a handy menu that will allow you to quickly access a number of presets for the toolbars, Cortana, and window schemes.

Want to personalize those Start menu tiles? Right-click on them to prompt a pop-up menu. This menu will give you various options, like the ability to un-pin from the Start menu, resize the windows, or turn that live tile off.

Show Desktop Button

Dating back to Windows 7, the Show Desktop button is a handy little feature. On the bottom-right corner of the desktop is a secret button. Don’t see it? Look all the way to the bottom and right, beyond the date and time. There you’ll find a small little sliver of an invisible button. Click it to minimize all your open windows at once.

There’s also the option to have windows minimize when you hover over this button versus clicking. Select your preference in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, then flip the switch under «Use peek to preview the desktop.»

Enhanced Windows Search

If searches are taking too long in Windows, you can narrow things down a bit thanks to the May 2020 Update. Under Settings > Search > Searching Windows set search to Classic, which only applies to Libraries and Desktop, or choose Enhanced indexing to search the whole computer. A new algorithm also helps Windows adjust when it’s working, using less resources while gaming or when disk usage is over 80 percent.

Shake Away the Mess

This feature actually debuted in Windows 7, but many people don’t know about it or use it (but they should—it’s cool!). If you have a display full of windows, clear the clutter by grabbing the top of the window you do like and «shaking» it to minimize all the other windows. Suddenly having shaker’s remorse? Shake again and the windows will come back.

Rotate Your Screen

If you use multiple displays, this feature allows you to orient a particular monitor to fit your needs. The quickest way to do this is to simultaneously press and hold Ctrl + Alt together, then use a directional arrow to flip the screen. The right and left arrows turn the screen 90 degrees, while the down arrow will flip it upside down. Use the up arrow to bring the screen back to its normal position.

These key commands only work with certain computers, so if you can’t get them to work, you can go through Settings > System > Display, or right-click on the desktop and choose Display Settings to get there faster. Choose an option from the Display Orientation drop-down menu to turn your page around in all sorts of ways.

Enable Slide to Shutdown

This trick is complicated and probably not worth the effort for what you get out of it, but you can use it to slide your computer to the off position. Right-click on the desktop and select New > Shortcut. In the ensuing pop-up window, paste the following line of code:

This creates a clickable icon on your desktop, which you can rename. Right-click the file and enter Properties to add a shortcut key or double-click the file to tun the program. This prompts a pull-down shade to appear, which you can drag with the mouse down to the bottom of the screen. Keep in mind, this is shutdown, not sleep.

Enable ‘God Mode’

Are you a power user who wants access to your PC’s nitty gritty? «God mode» is for you. Right-click on the desktop and select New > Folder. Re-name the new folder with this bit of code:

To enter the «God Mode» window, double-click the folder and go nuts.

Drag to Pin Windows

This feature was available as far back as Windows 7 but has some extras in Windows 10. Grab any window and drag it to the side, where it will «fit» to half the screen. You also have the option of dragging the window to any corner to have the window take over a quarter of the screen instead of half.

If you’re using multiple screens, drag to a border corner and wait for a prompt signal to let you know if the window will open in that corner. You can prompt similar behavior by using the Windows key plus any of the directional arrow buttons.

Quickly Jump Between Virtual Desktops

Do you like to multitask on your PC? In Windows 10, Microsoft finally provided out-of-the-box access to virtual desktops. So now you can really multitask.

To try it out, click on Task View (the icon next to the search box). This will separate all your open windows and apps into icons. You can then drag any of them over to where it says «New desktop,» which creates a new virtual desktop. This would allow you to, say, separate your work apps, personal apps, and social media into different desktops.

Once you click out of Task View, you can toggle between virtual desktops by pressing the Windows key + Ctrl + right/left arrows. To remove the virtual desktops, just go back into task view and delete the individual virtual desktops—this will not close out the apps contained within that desktop, but rather just send them to the next lower desktop.

While you’re here, you should notice that Windows saves a timeline on all your app activity on this page. You can save up to 30 days of activity when signed in with a Microsoft Account. Click on an activity and open it back like just like the day you were using it.

Customize the Command Prompt

This feature will probably only be useful to a narrow niche of users, but if you like to dig your virtual fingers into the innards of Windows via the Command Prompt, Windows 10 provides a few customization options.

To access the Command Prompt interface in Windows 10, click on the Windows menu and type «Command Prompt» to bring up quick access to the desktop app. Click the icon to open the Command Prompt, then right-click at the top of the window and choose Properties.

This pop-up window allows you to personalize the experience by changing the font, layout, colors, and more of the Command Prompt. You can also turn the window transparent by opening the Colors tab and moving the Opacity slider. This feature lets you code away in the Command Prompt while simultaneously observing the desktop.

Silence Notifications With Focus Assist

Formerly known as Quiet Hours, Focus Assist is a redesigned April 2018 Update feature that gives you greater control over the notifications that pop up on your PC. Head to Settings > System > Focus Assist and then read our full how-to guide for customizing notifications for everything from contacts and apps to task-specific alarms.

Nearby Sharing

In an open document or photo, you can share the file directly with nearby devices the same way Apple’s AirDrop works. Click the Share icon atop your doc or photo toolbar to open the panel, and then click Turn On Nearby Sharing to see which nearby recipients are in range.

Control this feature by going into Settings > System > Shared Experiences to turn Nearby Sharing on and off. You can also set it to share with anyone or only your devices for easy file transfer.

Stop Typing, Start Dictating

Speech recognition has always been a strong suit for Microsoft, but recent Windows 10 releases have made it almost second nature. At any time you can use the Windows Key-H hotkey combination to pop up a box that records your voice through your Windows machine’s microphone and dictates the speech in your current text field. You’ll still need to type manual punctuation, but save yourself some typing by dictating emails, messages, and more.

Dark Mode and Light Mode

Windows 10 gives you a significant amount of control over color themes. Open Settings > Personalization > Colors and you can set the operating system to either dark mode or light mode. These themes change the color of the Start menu, taskbar, action center, File Explorer, settings menus, and any other programs that are compliant with these palette changes.

There is also a custom option that will let you set one theme for Windows menus and another for apps. Want a little more color? There are swatches of color themes available to choose from that can help your menus and taskbars really pop.

Cloud Clipboard

The Windows clipboard had not changed much until the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, allowing you to save multiple items at once and paste across devices. Open Settings > System > Clipboard and turn on Clipboard History to start doing more. Check out our full guide for how to use it.

Revamped Screen Capture Tool

Microsoft introduced a new screen capture tool with the October 2018 Update called Snip & Sketch. The app’s capabilities are far more robust than the simple Snipping Tool, with a screen capture tool to revival the one in recent versions of macOS. Use the shortcut Shift + Windows key + S to choose between rectangular, freeform, window, or full screen snip. You will then find the tool has a built-in image editor separate from Microsoft Paint.

Test Files and Apps in the Sandbox

Windows 10 Pro users have an extra asset to protect them against dangerous apps and files. If you enable Windows Sandbox inside the Control Panel, it will create a virtual instance of Windows inside Windows. You can then safely open anything you’re not sure about before introducing it to your actual Windows installation. Once you close out of Sandbox, everything inside it goes away without hurting your computer.

Hidden Game Bar

Using the Windows key + G command, you can pull up the new-and-improved Game Bar. This lets you switch your Windows PC into gaming mode (which pools system resources to the game, turns off notifications, and lets you record and broadcast your gaming), along with added panels for controlling your audio, monitoring FPS, and tracking achievements.

You can also go to Settings > Gaming and configure custom keyboard shortcuts for turning your microphone, screen capture, recording timer, and more on and off while gaming. And be sure to check out our roundup of the Best PC Games.

Press Pause On Updates

We all know updates are important. They give your OS the latest features, security patches, and more. But sometimes you just want Windows to leave you alone without those incessant pop-ups. With the May 2019 Update, go to Settings > Updates and Security > Windows Update and you can pause upcoming feature updates. Options vary based on which version of Windows 10 you have (Home vs. Pro), but here’s a rundown.

Cloud Reset

Microsoft introduced a new cloud-based reset feature that should help users when Windows crashes. If there’s no recovery drive or USB drive to reset the operating system, you can do it remotely. The option re-installs the same version of Windows previously running, but it will still require removing all your apps and personal files. You can find this option under Settings > Update & Security > Recovery.

Unlock Kaimoji and Symbols

Hit Windows Key-Period(.) to pop up an expanded bottom-right menu of emojis, «Kaimoji» characters built from unicode characters, and a wide array of miscellaneous symbols.

Take Measurements

Windows has several built-in apps that may look useless but offer helpful hidden features. For instance, the Calculator app can also calculate the difference between two dates and convert basically any unit of measure, including time, energy, temperature, mass, and even currency.

The Alarms & Clock app can calculate the time difference between two locations, even into the future. Open the app, click the Clock tab, and select the + icon at the bottom to add locations. Click the Compare icon to open a timeline. As you scroll across the timeline, the time changes on the map points, allowing you to keep track of time differences more easily.

View File Extensions in File Explorer

By default, Windows hides file extensions in File Explorer, requiring you to dig into the file’s properties to see if it’s a .jpg or .png file. If you’re someone who frequently needs to look this information up, it might be a good idea to set it so Windows shows you the file extension automatically.

The quickest way to do this is to search «File Explorer Options» in the Windows search bar, then select the Control Panel settings page in the results to open a new window. Select View, then scroll down to the option «Hide extension for known file types» and uncheck the box. Click Apply, and now file types will be listed at the end of all file names inside File Explorer.