shortcut to control panel page

[mickey megabyte]

hi all, not been about for a few weeks, but now i need your help:

how do i open up a certain tab of the control panel with a shortcut?

i use the page shown below a lot, switching between mic and line-in inputs whilst recording, and i'm tired of having to click start >> control panel >> hardware and sound >> sound >> recording tab - i just want to click on a shortcut.



i know that control.exe mmsys.cpl will open up the default 'playback' tab, but how do i get to auto-open the recording tab?

as far as i remember, ever since windows 3, you could simply add ,2 to open the second tab, thusly: control.exe mmsys.cpl, 2

but that doesn't seem to work any more with windows 7. i did think about running the shortcut in xp compatibility mode, but no go...

i know it's just one extra mouse-click to get to where i want to go, but this problem is making my geek-bone itch.

anyone know how to do it?

 

[steve-pressman]

There is no Image Mickey


Steve

 

[mickey megabyte]

strange, i can see one

i must have mucked up the attachments somehow...

 

[cluberti]

Procmon is your friend - changing it to show just process and thread activity, and then opening the recording options from the taskbar, it shows this process starting:
control.exe mmsys.cpl,,recording

Sure enough, running the above does it.

 

[mickey megabyte]

wow - great!

thanks a lot cluberti

+ rep indeed.

(i wish i could read your avatar better...)

 

[cluberti]

I'll put up a full version on my website later today and link it or something . Thanks for the rep too.

 

[mickey megabyte]

rep fully deserved!

as for your avatar, it's just the middle intersect bit that i can't read.

even more off topic, i may have some work for you...next tuesday, i have to vaccinate 42 cats - want to help?

 

[Dwarf]

Right-click the speaker icon in the notification area (the Windows one, not the Realtek or whatever one) and click on Recording devices.

 

[mickey megabyte]

that's a good one too, Dwarf!

so obvious really...i should be embarrased - but if you don't ask, you won't find out...

have some rep yourself.

 

[karlsnooks]

You have a couple more options.

1. google God Mode. The name is wierd but --
2. another alternative -go to \windows\system32 and dir *.cpl.
You will get:
appwiz.cpl
bthprops.cpl
collab.cpl
desk.cpl
Firewall.cpl
hdwwiz.cpl
inetcpl.cpl
infocardcpl.cpl
intl.cpl
irprops.cpl
joy.cpl
main.cpl
mmsys.cpl
ncpa.cpl
powercfg.cpl
sysdm.cpl
TabletPC.cpl
telephon.cpl
timedate.cpl
wscui.cpl

 

[Brink]

Here's another way to create shortcuts for all of the tabs in Sounds.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/56892-sound-shortcuts-create.html

 

[Dwarf]

OK, here you go. The command still works, but it should read control.exe mmsys.cpl ,X where X is 0 - 3 as follows (note the spaces in the syntax):

0 Playback, 1 Recording 2 Sounds 3 Communications

To create a shortcut on the desktop, follow the simple guide below.

Right-click on the desktop and select New > Shortcut. Click on Browse... and select the target of the shortcut (this is where the shortcut is to be placed, not the target of it when it is clicked on). In my case, I have selected Desktop. Click on OK and then Next.

Give the shortcut an appropriate name (e.g. Recording) and click Finish.

The shortcut after initial creation.

Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties. In the Target: box, type the appropriate target for the shortcut (the command that is executed when you click on the completed shortcut) and then click OK. In this case, it is control.exe mmsys.cpl ,1

The completed shortcut.

 

[mickey megabyte]

thanks again Brink, i did a quick search, but obviously didn't find one of your famed tutorials straight away.

Dwarf, i think it's odd that you can't stick the ,2 in the shortcut straight away - that was my inital question all those posts ago...instead, i now use ,,recording.

 

[Dwarf]

Dwarf, i think it's odd that you can't stick the ,2 in the shortcut straight away - that was my inital question all those posts ago...instead, i now use ,,recording.

You have to carry out the shortcut creation in the order specified. Note the number required is 1 and not 2.

OK, here you go. The command still works, but it should read control.exe mmsys.cpl ,X where X is 0 - 3 as follows (note the spaces in the syntax):

0 Playback, 1 Recording 2 Sounds 3 Communications

Thanks for the Tutorial link, Shawn.

 

[Brink]

De nada. I guess I should add a separate listing for each tab in the index for it.

 

[cluberti]

Very interesting. I've always just used procmon filtering on processes to see what Windows runs to get the shortcut commands. Hasn't failed me yet .

 

[cluberti]

I'll put up a full version on my website later today and link it or something . Thanks for the rep too.

As promised:
http://www.cluberti.com/images/avatar.jpg