Control Panel is a component of Microsoft Windows that provides the ability to view and change system settings.

Some functions, particularly the ability to add and remove user accounts, were moved exclusively to this app on Windows 8 and cannot be performed from Control Panel.

[citation needed] The applets listed below are components of the Microsoft Windows control panel, which allows users to define a range of settings for their computer, monitor the status of devices such as printers and modems, and set up new hardware, programs and network connections.

Each applet is stored individually as a separate file (usually a .cpl file), folder or DLL, the locations of which are stored in the registry under the following keys: The control panel then uses these lists to locate the applets and load them into the control panel program (control.exe) when started by the user.

In addition to using the control panel, a user can also invoke the applets manually via the command processor.

For instance, the syntax "Control.exe inetcpl.cpl" or "control.exe /name Microsoft.InternetOptions" will run the internet properties applet in Windows XP or Vista respectively.

This panel is not available in Windows Server 2003, where the syntax "control userpasswords" will instead run the Local Users and Groups utility.

This panel is not available in the Windows 2000 Server family, where it will instead run the Local Users and Groups utility.