Windows 7 - How to remove Control Panel items by editing registry?

Hi.
I want to remove some control panel items (.cpl) from the Control Panel list.
I own a bit tweaked version of Windows 7 and I cant access gpedit, so I have to do it in the registry.
I've started to looking into

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Panel\don’t load

and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace

where I've deleted some of the entrys but they still show up in Control Panel.
Any ideas?

Under the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\ create a key and name it "don't load".

Now, under the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\don't load, create a new string value and give it the name of the applet which you want to hide. Google for the applet names, they'll all have the extension .cpl. E.g. if you want to get rid of "Phone and Modem", the name will be "Modem.cpl".

Set the value of this string to "no".

Thank You for the answer.
I will try that. Now the question is: how to know what .cpl corresponds to what. I've tried some research on the web but there is nothing that really agitate that.
And I've found a line:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load

Is that the same thing? I'm quite confused.

1) These pages have a long list of the .cpl names.

Create your own custom Windows Vista Control Panel | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com

Add Or Remove Control Panel Applets in Windows 7 & Vista

2) I tried adding the dont load subkey to the HKLM key you mentioned (there was none initially. This is an XP machine i'm using right now, sorry), then added a string value for sysdm.cpl (system properties) but it didnt work. But doing it the HKCU way works. In any case, also see this article.

Restore Missing Items in Windows Vista Control Panel - How-To Geek

This is so weird I found this:

How to Hide / Show Specific Control Panel Applets / Icons in Windows? - Tweaking with Vishal

And non of that accualy works!?

That site also talks about HKCU. Did you try it? The HKCU thing works on my (XP) machine.

You're in luck, I just wrote a program for adding custom stuff to the Control Panel not so long ago..


Each Clsid (the long strings) listed under "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\Namespace\" for the Control Panel will have a matching CLSID with the same string name listed under "HKEY_Classes_Root\CLSID", they each require the relevant keys removing from there also.

Did you make backups of the keys that you have already removed by any chance because it would be alot easier? (you don't need to re-apply the backups, just open them up in Notepad for the CLSID's)

If you havn't got the backups then you could try searching for each CPL's full name in the registry and check if each find falls under the "HKEY_Classes_Root\CLSID" tree. If they are under that key AND have "System.ApplicationName", "InfoTip", "Shell" and "DefaultIcon" as subkeys then these are typically the CPL's.

Hope this helps,
Sean.


(I'm sure you don't need me to say this but always backup when playing in the registry!)

EDIT: Just went through my favourites for the link, the info was taken from here when I wrote my app: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb776843(VS.85).aspx

Damn...
Thank you fot help.
I'm getting to work. The sad thing is I didnt made backups :-)

Edit: Is there a way to do this? There are lots of keys there.

You could always try a recent System Restore Point to place the keys back that you removed if the search part of my solution takes too long..

Haha, no restore point either. I'll have to do it the hard way and I hope it would work 100%

Edit: I have problems with deleting/editing some of the keys under "HKEY_Classes_Root\CLSID