In previous versions of Windows there was a Group Policy that administrators could use to hide certain elements of the systems Control Panel that their users did not need to access.
In Windows 10 Version 1703, the Creators Update which was just released a couple of weeks ago, Microsoft has added a new Group Policy for the latest version of Windows that gives you that same control but over the various settings pages that appear in the Windows Settings app.
As Microsoft continues to move more of the legacy Control Panel options into the new modern Windows Settings app this Group Policy will come in very handy for many organizations.
This new policy is located in your Group Policy Editor at Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Control Panel and is called “Settings Page Visibility”.
Double click that entry on the right hand side to open the configuration window:
Once you have selected to enable the policy you just need to list the pages you will either show or hide.
There are just two variations of the string necessary to implement this policy based on whether you are hiding a few pages or only showing a few pages.
To hide select pages use this syntax:
hide:findmydevice
for multiple pages just use a semi-colon as a separator:
hide:findmydevice;maps;display
If you want to show only specific pages the syntax is just like that for hide as shown above just substitute show for hide.
Your choice of which syntax to use all depends on how many pages you are hiding/showing. Pick the one that best suits your needs and saves you some typing!
Over on the Michael Niehaus' Windows and Office Deployment Ramblings blog he has more detail on the usage of this policy including screenshots, etc.
He also provides a partial list of the URIs that you can use with this policy which I will add here for easy reference:
- ms-settings:about
- ms-settings:activation
- ms-settings:appsfeatures
- ms-settings:appsforwebsites
- ms-settings:backup
- ms-settings:batterysaver
- ms-settings:bluetooth
- ms-settings:colors
- ms-settings:cortana
- ms-settings:datausage
- ms-settings:dateandtime
- ms-settings:defaultapps
- ms-settings:developers
- ms-settings:deviceencryption
- ms-settings:display
- ms-settings:emailandaccounts
- ms-settings:extras
- ms-settings:findmydevice
- ms-settings:lockscreen
- ms-settings:maps
- ms-settings:network-ethernet
- ms-settings:network-mobilehotspot
- ms-settings:network-proxy
- ms-settings:network-vpn
- ms-settings:network-directaccess
- ms-settings:network-wifi
- ms-settings:notifications
- ms-settings:optionalfeatures
- ms-settings:powersleep
- ms-settings:printers
- ms-settings:privacy
- ms-settings:personalization
- ms-settings:recovery
- ms-settings:regionlanguage
- ms-settings:storagesense
- ms-settings:tabletmode
- ms-settings:taskbar
- ms-settings:themes
- ms-settings:troubleshoot
- ms-settings:typing
- ms-settings:usb
- ms-settings:windowsdefender
- ms-settings:windowsinsider
- ms-settings:windowsupdate
- ms-settings:yourinfo
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