Show-ControlPanelItem
Opens control panel items.
Syntax
RegularName (Default)
Show-ControlPanelItem
[-Name] <String[]>
[<CommonParameters>]
CanonicalName
Show-ControlPanelItem
-CanonicalName <String[]>
[<CommonParameters>]
ControlPanelItem
Show-ControlPanelItem
[[-InputObject] <ControlPanelItem[]>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The Show-ControlPanelItem cmdlet opens control panel items on the local computer. You can use it
to open control panel items by name, category, or description, even on systems that do not have a
user interface. You can pipe control panel items from the Get-ControlPanelItem cmdlet to
Show-ControlPanelItem.
Show-ControlPanelItem searches only control panel items that can be opened on the system. On
computers that do not have Control Panel or File Explorer, Show-ControlPanelItem searches
only control panel items that can open without these components.
This cmdlet was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Examples
Example 1: Show a control panel item
This example launches the AutoPlay control panel item.
Show-ControlPanelItem -Name "AutoPlay"
Example 2: Pipe a control panel item to this cmdlet
This example opens the Windows Defender Firewall control panel item on the local computer. The name of the Windows Firewall control panel item has changed over the versions of Windows. This example uses a wildcard pattern to find the control panel item.
Get-ControlPanelItem -Name "*Firewall" | Show-ControlPanelItem
Get-ControlPanelItem gets the control panel item and the Show-ControlPanelItem cmdlet opens
it.
Example 3: Use a file name to open a control panel item
This example opens the Programs and Features control panel item by using its application name.
appwiz.cpl
This method is an alternative to using a Show-ControlPanelItem command.
Note
In PowerShell, you can omit the .cpl file extension for control panel files because it's included
in the value of the $Env:PATHEXT environment variable.
Parameters
-CanonicalName
Specifies control panel items by using the specified canonical names or name patterns. Wildcard characters are permitted. If you enter multiple names, this cmdlet opens control panel items that match any of the names, as if the items in the name list were separated by an OR operator.
Parameter properties
| Type: | String[] |
| Default value: | None |
| Supports wildcards: | True |
| DontShow: | False |
Parameter sets
CanonicalName
| Position: | Named |
| Mandatory: | True |
| Value from pipeline: | False |
| Value from pipeline by property name: | False |
| Value from remaining arguments: | False |
-InputObject
Specifies control panel items to open by submitting control panel item objects. Enter a variable
that contains control panel item objects, or type a command or expression that gets control panel
item objects, such as Get-ControlPanelItem.
Parameter properties
| Type: | |
| Default value: | None |
| Supports wildcards: | False |
| DontShow: | False |
Parameter sets
ControlPanelItem
| Position: | 0 |
| Mandatory: | False |
| Value from pipeline: | True |
| Value from pipeline by property name: | False |
| Value from remaining arguments: | False |
-Name
Specifies names of control panel items. Wildcard characters are permitted. If you enter multiple names, this cmdlet opens control panel items that match any of the names, as if the items in the name list were separated by an OR operator.
Parameter properties
| Type: | String[] |
| Default value: | None |
| Supports wildcards: | True |
| DontShow: | False |
Parameter sets
RegularName
| Position: | 0 |
| Mandatory: | True |
| Value from pipeline: | True |
| Value from pipeline by property name: | True |
| Value from remaining arguments: | False |
CommonParameters
This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutBuffer, -OutVariable, -PipelineVariable, -ProgressAction, -Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.
Inputs
System.String, Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ControlPanelItem
You can pipe a name or control panel item object to this cmdlet.
Outputs
None
This cmdlet does not return any output.
