Restore Missing Items in Windows Vista Control Panel

Have you ever wondered where the Display Settings icon or Network Connections folder went in the Control Panel’s Classic View? For that matter, why can’t you search for them using the start menu search? Because they are prohibited from loading in the registry – that’s why.

Look ma, no display settings!

To resolve this deliberate oversight, open up regedit.exe using the start menu search box, and then browse down to the following registry key:

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

Once you are there, you will see a number of items in the right-hand pane. Make a backup of that key with the export function, and then delete away.

desk.cpl is the Display Settings wizard, and ncpa.cpl is the network connections folder. I’m going to delete those two, and now if you hit refresh on your control panel (or re-open it) you’ll see the items restored in your Control Panel:

You can even now find them when you search using the start menu search box, which really makes me happy.

Note that you can also hide control panel items using the same key if you choose.

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 08/1/07 and tagged with: Vista Tips & Tweaks, Windows Vista

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Comments (24)

1. August 27, 2007 3:00 am
   anandan

   my windows vista is giving a error message: windows control panel has stopped working, it says control.exe file is currupted. what is the solution for this.

2. September 3, 2007 10:13 am
   Charles hutchings

   Hi
   I have lost the clock from gadgets, can anyone please hekp me?
   Thanks

3. December 31, 2007 3:40 pm
   Matt

   Very nice, thank you. Don’t know why they disabled it in the first place.

4. March 10, 2008 4:52 am
   Kevin

   I have a laptop with Vista Premium Home Edition and the icons in my control panel are missing and the laptop is not recognizing the printer. Microsoft has provided two “hotfixes” which have not resolved the issue (KB Article Number(s): 929637 (x64 and i386)). Will your solution fix the problem?

5. March 16, 2008 4:47 pm
   Sofia

   I am having the same problem as “Kevin.” I tried the hotfixes but did not work. When I try to print it asks if the printer is available.

6. April 19, 2008 3:43 pm
   Dave Miller

   Whoo, now I can get to Network Connections without going via Network and Sharing Center again!

7. June 3, 2008 2:19 am
   Catherine

   Thank you very much. It worked and solved my problem.

8. July 4, 2008 1:28 am
   Oliver

   Thank you soo much, has been bugging me for weeks!

9. August 25, 2008 1:25 pm
   emy

   ok i did all that and that was great to know where all that was but … ex cept i couldnt find the things u said in there there was no cpl or whatever in display my display is fine but in display the desktop and screensaver setting and to change that has disapeared and none of ur solutions help me. grrrr . please help me

10. September 24, 2008 11:04 am
    Joe

    I tried your solution of missing conntol panel. It did not work for me. It may be caused by “cannot find c:\winnt\shell.exe”. Also when I did the registery not all those names were on the right side.

    Can you help.

    Thank you

    Joe

11. September 30, 2008 7:24 am
    Cascade

    hey. i removed my vista central control the ‘ati’ or something. can anyone aide me please? the image and the views on the desktop is being enlarged by it self. and i can’t work it out. it’s been troublesome. i’ve tried to restore it any possible way. but all my efforts has been in vain.
    i need some aide please.
    thank you.

12. October 16, 2008 5:48 am
    mingray

    my vista have similar problem. I’ve tried this and restore my 4 missing items, but there is still more than 10 items are missing even “Windows Update” now. Is there another way to solve this problem?

13. November 15, 2008 8:02 am
    Ann Marie

    This operation is cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your systems administrator. I get this message every time I try to access the control panel or change something on my vista run laptop. I no longer can find or access the control panel at all. How do I get it back.

14. December 2, 2008 1:33 am
    Spacegold

    I must be missing something here. Is there more to display settings than can be accessed through the “personalize” item in the desktop right click menu?

15. January 1, 2009 12:10 pm
    Danny

    The “Indexing Options” icon is missing from my control panel. How do I replace it? Indexing is working fine.

16. February 4, 2009 10:12 pm
    Dylan

    I have the same problem as Danny. Using your described method fixed some of my issues, but the “indexing options” is still hidden

17. February 7, 2009 2:54 pm
    rachel

    In my music file if i select the large icon view I can no longer see the album titles, how do i get them back??

18. April 2, 2009 4:51 am
    tommy

    How about the other missing item ? for example the “Folder Option” missing in the control panel, which .cpl to delete in Registry Editor to retore ?

19. April 8, 2009 12:57 pm
    Heather

    Hi,
    I did what you said, except I was unsure what “export function” meant. I deleted the two from the “don’t load” folder. The display settings and network connections are not in my control panel. Can you please help me?

20. April 10, 2009 8:47 pm
    Zakaria

    I did everything step by step but it didn’t work. I even deleted all of them and not just two.

21. April 13, 2009 6:52 am
    Rodrigo

    If your Control Panel icons are missing, try to start “Software Licensing” service.

22. April 20, 2009 5:04 pm
    Thomas

    I just got a laptop 4 months ago and i tried hooking up microsoft outlook 07 to the net microsoft exchange online through my company. but i can’t find my mail icon in controll panel. I have vista home premium. Could someone help a brother out?

23. May 29, 2009 11:15 am
    Chris

    Thank you for your insight. I am wondering if there is a similar fix to setup a microsoft exchange server. I keep getting the error form Outlook that the setup needs to be completed in control panels, however there is no mail icon in control panels to do this. How would I accomplish getting the setup to work in outlook?

    Thanks eternally!

24. July 2, 2009 2:02 am
    Dotnetshadow

    @Danny, Dylan

    Indexing options missing in control panel
    I too had this problem, this can be easily solved by regedit:

    Go to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls

    Add New Expandable String Value (REG_EXPAND_SZ)
    Name: SearchAdmin
    Value: %SystemRoot%\System32\srchadmin.dll

    Open control panel again and the option returns

    Hope that helps

    DotnetShadow