Add classic personalization Desktop menu in Windows 10

If you are using Windows 10 for a while, you definitely know that the classic Personalization options were removed in one of the pre-release builds. All options to personalize are now there in the Settings app, which is a Metro app designed for touch screen users and has controls which are poorly designed or have limited functionality. If you are not satisfied by this new way to tune up your OS appearance, you might be interested in accessing the classic Control panel applets. Thankfully, it is still possible.

As of this writing, the latest Windows 10 release is build 1511, also known as Threshold 2 (TH2) or November update. It still contains all working applets like Desktop background, window color, sounds and screen saver. Microsoft just hides them from the classic Control Panel. They can be opened using appropriate commands.

See the older article "Add classic personalization menu in Windows 10 build 10074" for the full command reference.

There are different methods to open classic appearance settings.

• Using the commands mentioned above, you can create shortcuts and put them on the Desktop or in any other folder on your hard drive. The next time you need to customize the appearance, you can just click the appropriate shortcut.
• Create a Desktop context menu which contains the appropriate commands. It will look like this:
  This can be done by a simple Registry tweak. I made ready-to-use Registry files for you, so you can download and double click them to get such a menu.

  Download Registry Files

  It contains the following commands:

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT]
  "Icon"="themecpl.dll"
  "MUIVerb"="Appearance"
  "Position"="Bottom"
  "SubCommands"=""
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell]
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\01DesktopBackground]
  "Icon"="imageres.dll,-110"
  "MUIVerb"="Desktop Background"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\01DesktopBackground\Command]
  @="explorer.exe shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageWallpaper"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\02Color]
  "Icon"="themecpl.dll"
  "MUIVerb"="Color"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\02Color\Command]
  @="explorer.exe shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageColorization"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\03Sounds]
  "Icon"="mmsys.cpl"
  "MUIVerb"="Sounds"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\03Sounds\Command]
  @="rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL mmsys.cpl ,2"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\04Screen Saver]
  "Icon"="PhotoScreensaver.scr"
  "MUIVerb"="Screen Saver"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\04Screen Saver\Command]
  @="rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,screensaver,@screensaver"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\05DesktopIcons]
  "Icon"="desk.cpl"
  "MUIVerb"="Change desktop icons"
  "CommandFlags"=dword:00000020
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\05DesktopIcons\Command]
  @="rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,,0"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\06Cursors]
  "Icon"="main.cpl"
  "MUIVerb"="Change mouse pointers"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\06Cursors\Command]
  @="rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL main.cpl,,1"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\07Display]
  "Icon"="display.dll,-1"
  "MUIVerb"="Classic Display options"
  "CommandFlags"=dword:00000020
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Appearance_WAT\Shell\07Display\Command]
  @="control.exe desk.cpl,Settings,@Settings"

  Alternatively, you can use Winaero Tweaker. With one click, you can enable or disable the "Appearance" Desktop context menu.
  This will save your time and you can avoid manual Registry editing.

• Use Personalization Panel for Windows 10. My special freeware app re-invents classic Personalization options with recreated applets which work like the original. The app also supports Desktop context menu integration. Once you start using it, you won't notice much difference compared to the same applets in Windows 7 or Windows 8.

You can decide for yourself which method is most suitable for you. The result will be the same - you will be able to use the classic user interface instead of the Settings app. Please keep in mind that Microsoft continues to eliminate code which belongs to the classic Control Panel. So, some day, the tricks mentioned in this article might stop working. It can happen in some new Windows 10 build or after installing an update to Windows 10.

Which user interface you prefer to personalize the operating system - the new one (Settings app) or the classic UI?

Support us

Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options: