Settings using powershell/cmd?

Thanks for the info, I was also searching some documentation and I realize that probably a couple of scripts can't replace years of experience and insight of how windows works under the hood, there is no magic "document that explain everything".

Thanks to @dalchina and @TairikuOkami for your help.

roy111 said:

Thanks dalchina, but I'm looking for something different, I do not want, if possible, to use the settings interface, there are too much nested options and I can't remember where things are.
I'll try to be more clear (hopefully)
Lets say I want to turn on "night mode", instead of opening settings, and click on the switch, is it possible to give a powershell command to do that? Something like this totally fake command below

Code:

pwsettings -nightlight -option ON

Yes, you could use PowerShell, a BAT/CMD file or other method (I use AutoHotkey 'cos I find the syntax easier than PowerShell plus I can create GUIs with toggles/options/buttons, etc.)

As @dalchina mentions, the secret is finding the registry locations where the settings are amended. There are tools like Active Registry Monitor that will help but probably the simplest (and cheapest... it's free) is to use Sysinternals/TechNet's Process Monitor (ProcMon).

Rather than reinvent the wheel, have a look at these tutorials/videos about using Process Monitor:

• Defrag Tools: #3 - Process Monitor
• Defrag Tools: #4 - Process Monitor - Examples
• Using Process Monitor to Troubleshoot and Find Registry Hacks
  

Using your example of Win 10's Power light, the process (using ProcMon) would be:

1. Start ProcMon.
(Tip: Create a shortcut to Procmon.exe, set it to 'Run as administrator' and append -NoConnect to the target. This will start ProcMon as elevated and, more importantly, NOT monitoring.)


2. Turn off monitoring for everything except the registry, i.e. on the toolbar leave just Show Registry Activity enabled:


3. Add RegSetValue as a filter. (Perhaps easiest is to just download, unzip and import this filter: RegSetValue.zip.)

4. Open Settings and navigate to System > Display.

5. Amend window sizes so both the Settings and Procmon windows are visible/not overlapping:


6. In ProcMon, click on the Capture button (or use CTRL+E).

7. In Settings, click on the Night light toggle switch.

8. Wait a second or two then, in ProcMon, click on the Capture button (or use CTRL+E) to stop capturing.

9. Right-click on the captured RegSetValue results and choose Jump To... . This will open the Registry Editor at the keys you need to examine.

(My test showed that the process invoked a change in two registry keys:


This is because toggling the Night light switch in Settings > System > Display also toggles a setting in Settings > System > Display > Night light settings.)

Using this process you can build PowerShell, BAT/CMD, AHK scripts to implement the changes you want without even opening the Settings app.

Hope this helps...

Thanks for your help everybody! Really some good ideas.