How to Customize Settings Page Visibility in Windows 10?

The Settings app in Windows is improving after each Windows update. This will most likely replace the Control Panel completely in the near future. All of the settings are much better categorized in the Settings app. However, as an administrator, you can disable the pages in the Settings from the standard users. There are settings pages that the standard users should not access for different reasons. In this article, we will show you how you can hide or show Settings pages.

We have also included the Registry Editor method because the Group Policy Editor is not available in the Windows Home Editions.

How to Customize Settings Page Visibility in Windows 10?

Customizing Settings Page Visibility through the Local Group Policy Editor

The Local Group Policy Editor is a Microsoft Management Control that is used to modify different types of settings for the operating systems. There is a policy setting available for almost all of the settings. The user just needs to open the policy setting and change the toggle option for it. You can set this policy for both machine and the user in the Group Policy Editor. We have provided steps through which you can customize the Settings Page Visibility according to your needs:

Note: If you are using Windows Home Edition, then skip this method and try using the Registry Editor method.

Hold the Windows key and press the R key to open a Run dialog. Then type “gpedit.msc” and press the Enter key to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
Note: Choose the Yes option for the User Account Control prompt.
In the Computer Configuration, navigate to the following policy setting:
```
Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Control Panel
```
Double-click on the Settings Page Visibility policy setting. A new window will open, then change the toggle option from Not Configured to Enabled. Type the “showonly:” without quotations and then URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the settings page in the box as shown below.
```
showonly:about;wifi;network-status
```
Similarly, users can also write “hide:” without quotations and then URI of the settings pages to hide only those pages and not others. Multiple pages URI can be separated by semicolon in between them.
After that, click on the Ok/Apply buttons to apply the changes. This will hide and show the pages only the administrator wants them to show.

Customizing Settings Page Visibility through the Registry Editor

If users don’t have the Local Group Policy Editor on their system, they can use the Registry Editor for the same purpose. However, in this method, users will be required to use some technical steps to achieve the same result as GPO. You can set this policy for both machine and the user in the Registry Editor. Users need to create the missing key or value manually in the Registry Editor.

Press the Windows + R keys together to open a Run dialog. Then type “regedit” and press the Enter key to open Registry Editor. Choose the Yes button for UAC (User Account Control) prompt.

In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Right-click on the right pane of the Explorer key and choose the New > String option. Name that value as “SettingsPageVisibility“.
Double-click on the value and put the command “showonly:URI” without quotation and the URI of the page. Similarly, you can also type the command “hide:URI” for the page to hide.
Note: Multiple URIs are separated by a semicolon in between them.
After that, click on the Ok button to save the changes. Make sure to restart your computer after modifying the Registry Editor.

Additional: List of URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)

We have included the full list of URIs that you can use to customize your Settings Page Visibility. If all of the pages in a category is hidden, then the category will not show in the Settings app.

System

Display: display
Notifications & actions: notifications
Power & sleep: powersleep
Battery: batterysaver
Battery > Battery usage by app: batterysaver-usagedetails
Storage: storagesense
Tablet mode: tabletmode
Multitasking: multitasking
Projecting to this PC: project
Shared Experiences: crossdevice
About: about

Devices

Bluetooth & other devices: bluetooth
Printers & scanners: printers
Mouse: mousetouchpad
Touchpad: devices-touchpad
Typing: typing
Pen & Windows Ink: pen
AutoPlay: autoplay
USB: usb

Personalization

Background: personalization-background
Colors: colors
Lock screen: lockscreen
Themes: themes
Start: personalization-start
Taskbar: taskbar

Apps

Apps & features: appsfeatures
Apps & features > Manage optional features: optionalfeatures
Default apps: defaultapps
Offline maps: maps
Apps for websites: appsforwebsites

Accounts

Your info: yourinfo
Email & app accounts: emailandaccounts
Sign-in options: signinoptions
Access work or school: workplace
Family & other people: otherusers
Sync your settings: sync

Time & language

Date & time: dateandtime
Region & language: regionlanguage
Speech: speech

Gaming

Game bar: gaming-gamebar
Game DVR: gaming-gamedvr
Broadcasting: gaming-broadcasting
Game Mode: gaming-gamemode

Ease of Access

Narrator: easeofaccess-narrator
Magnifier: easeofaccess-magnifier
High contrast: easeofaccess-highcontrast
Closed captions: easeofaccess-closedcaptioning
Keyboard: easeofaccess-keyboard
Mouse: easeofaccess-mouse
Other options: easeofaccess-otheroptions

Privacy

General: privacy
Location: privacy-location
Camera: privacy-webcam
Microphone: privacy-microphone
Notifications: privacy-notifications
Speech, inking, & typing: privacy-speechtyping
Account info: privacy-accountinfo
Contacts: privacy-contacts
Calendar: privacy-calandar
Call History: privacy-callhistory
Email: privacy-email
Tasks: privacy-tasks
Messaging: privacy-messaging
Radios: privacy-radios
Other devices: privacy-customdevices
Feedback & diagnostics: privacy-feedback
Background apps: privacy-backgroundapps
App diagnostics: privacy-appdiagnostics

Update & Security

Windows Update: windowsupdate
Windows Update > Check for updates: windowsupdate-action
Windows Update > Update history: windowsupdate-history
Windows Update > Restart options: windowsupdate-restartoptions
Windows Update > Advanced options: windowsupdate-options
Windows Defender: windowsdefender
Backup: backup
Troubleshoot: troubleshoot
Recovery: recovery
Activation: activation
Find My Device: findmydevice
For developers: developers
Windows Insider Program: windowsinsider

Mixed Reality

Mixed reality: holographic
Audio and speech: holographic-audio