Windows 10 came with a new configuration page with most of the system settings. A page that for all intents and purposes seemed to be the one that would replace the famous Control Panel but that several years after its launch, both options continue to coexist in the system. There are certain settings that are only available on one site or the other, while others are accessible from both. This makes some users no longer know where to go to make certain adjustments, therefore, we are going to show you how to deactivate the Windows 10 Control Panel and keep only the Configuration page.
There may be several reasons why we want to deactivate the system panel, either because we want to use only the configuration page or to prevent certain users with access to the computer from making changes to certain settings that may affect the correct operation of the system.
Disable Control Panel options in Windows 10
If what we want is to deactivate certain options of the Control Panel , we are going to have to make a change in the Windows registry, therefore, the first thing we must do is make a backup copy of it or create a restore point. In this way, if something goes wrong we can return to having the system as before making the change.
Once this is done, we open a registry window by opening a Run window, Win + R, type regedit and press OK. Next, we navigate to the path HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer and inside the Explorer key we create a new value. To do this, we right-click on the right panel and select the New> 32-bit DWORD Value option. We assign it the name DisallowCpl and the value 1 .
The next thing we have to do is select the Explorer key and click on it with the right mouse button to create a new key with the name DisallowCpl . We go into it and right-click again in the right pane of the registry to create a new string value with each of the options that we want to disable from the control panel.
That is, if we want to deactivate the mouse configuration options of the control panel, we must create a string value with name 1 and assign it the Mouse value. We can repeat this with all the options that we want to deactivate from the panel. Each string value must have a number correspondingly (1,2,3,4, …) and as a value we will have to indicate the exact name of the corresponding option that we want to deactivate.
As we are creating these string values, we will be able to check how, automatically and without having to restart the system, these options disappear from the panel. If not, we will have to close the Control Panel and reopen it for the changes to take effect.
Deactivate the panel using the group policy editor
If we have installed a version of Windows 10 that allows us to access the group policy editor, as it happens with the Pro or Enterprise version, we can also deactivate the control panel in this way.
Therefore, the first thing we have to do is open a Run system window, Win + R, type gpedit.msc and press OK or Enter. This will open the local group policy editor, in which we have to navigate to the option User Configuration> Administrative Templates> Control Panel . In the right panel we will see the policy Prohibit access to the control panel and PC settings.
We click on it and a new window will open in which we must check the box Enabled or Enabled . Once this is done, click on Accept so that the changes are saved. Then, access to the Control Panel will be disabled and we will no longer be able to access its settings and options.
If at any time we want to reactivate access to the Control Panel, we must follow the same steps mentioned for deactivation, but within the group policy window we will have to select the Disabled / Deactivated or Not Configured / Not configured option. We save the changes and we would have the panel activated again.