Understanding Control Panel Files
Many of the Control Panel icons represent Control Panel extension files, which use the .cpl extension. These files reside in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. When you open Control Panel, Windows 8 scans the System32 folder looking for CPL files, and then displays an icon for each one.
The CPL files offer an alternative method for launching individual Control Panel dialog boxes. The idea is that you run control.exe and specify the name of a CPL file as a parameter. This bypasses the Control Panel folder and opens the icon directly. Here’s the syntax:
control CPLfile [,option1 [, option2]]
CPLfile—The name of the file that corresponds to the Control Panel icon you want to open (see Table 23.1, later in this chapter). ...
Get Windows 8 In Depth now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
