How to Hide or Show Pages from Settings in Windows 10
The Settings app is where you can change most settings at in Windows 10. Settings will eventually replace the Control Panel.
Settings is organized into separate System, Devices, Network & Internet, Personalization, Apps, Accounts, Time & language, Gaming, Ease of Access, Privacy, Update & security, and Mixed reality categories. Each category has its own pages of settings. Each settings page is represented by an identifier. The identifier for any given settings page is the published URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) for that page, minus the "ms-settings:" protocol part at the beginning of its URI command.
If you like, you can specify a list of pages to show or hide from the System Settings app starting with Windows 10 build 15002. If all pages in a category are listed to be hidden, then the category will be hidden as well.
See also: How to use the Settings app Group Policy on Windows 10 | Microsoft Support
This tutorial will show you how to specify a list of Settings pages to show or hide for all users in Windows 10.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to hide or show Settings pages.
Contents
- Option One: To Hide or Show Settings Pages in Local Group Policy Editor
- Option Two: To Hide or Show Settings Pages in Registry Editor
EXAMPLE: Settings
The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option Two below.
1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2 In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel
3 In the right pane of Control Panel in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Settings Page Visibility policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (all), step 6 (hide), or step 7 (show only) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below step 7)
Not Configured is the default setting.
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below step 7)
B) In the Settings Page Visibility field, enter this below, click/tap on OK when finished, and go to step 8 below.
hide:pageURI;pageURI;pageURI
Substitute pageURI in the command above with the URI command (click on link) minus the "ms-settings:" protocol part for each settings page you want to hide with each page separated by a semicolon.
You can specify one or more settings pageURI to hide.
For example: To hide the Bluetooth (ms-settings:bluetooth), VPN (ms-settings:network-vpn), and Proxy (ms-settings:network-proxy) pages in the Settings app, I would enter this below into the Settings Page Visibility field.
hide:bluetooth;network-vpn;network-proxy
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below)
B) In the Settings Page Visibility field, enter this below, click/tap on OK when finished, and go to step 8 below.
showonly:pageURI;pageURI;pageURI
Substitute pageURI in the command above with the URI command (click on link) minus the "ms-settings:" protocol part for each settings pages you want to show with each page separated by a semicolon.
You can specify one or more settings pageURI to show.
Any settings pageURI you do not list to show will be hidden in Settings.
8 You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
9 If Settings is currently open, then close and reopen Settings to apply.
1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.
2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
3 Do step 4 (all), step 5 (hide), or step 6 (show only) below for what you would like to do.
This is the default setting.
A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, right click or press and hold on the SettingsPageVisibility string value (if available), and click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)
B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, double click/tap on the SettingsPageVisibility string value (REG_SZ) to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)
If you do not have a SettingsPageVisibility string value, then right click or press and hold on an empty space in the right pane of the Explorer key, click/tap on New, click/tap on String Value, type SettingsPageVisibility for the name, and press Enter.
B) Enter this below, click/tap on OK when finished, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
hide:pageURI;pageURI;pageURI
Substitute pageURI in the command above with the URI command (click on link) minus the "ms-settings:" protocol part for each settings page you want to hide with each page separated by a semicolon.
You can specify one or more settings pageURI to hide.
For example: To hide the Bluetooth (ms-settings:bluetooth), VPN (ms-settings:network-vpn), and Proxy (ms-settings:network-proxy) pages in the Settings app, I would enter this below as the value data for the Settings Page Visibility string value.
hide:bluetooth;network-vpn;network-proxy
A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, double click/tap on the SettingsPageVisibility string value (REG_SZ) to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)
If you do not have a SettingsPageVisibility string value, then right click or press and hold on an empty space in the right pane of the Explorer key, click/tap on New, click/tap on String Value, type SettingsPageVisibility for the name, and press Enter.
B) Enter this below, click/tap on OK when finished, and go to step 7 below.
showonly:pageURI;pageURI;pageURI
Substitute pageURI in the command above with the URI command (click on link) minus the "ms-settings:" protocol part for each settings pages you want to show with each page separated by a semicolon.
You can specify one or more settings pageURI to show.
Any settings pageURI you do not list to show will be hidden in Settings.
7 You can now close Registry Editor if you like.
8 If Settings is currently open, then close and reopen Settings to apply.
That's it,
Shawn
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