Assigning Control Panel Categories

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As of Microsoft Windows XP, Control Panel supports categorization of Control Panel items. Items are registered to appear in one or more category. New categories cannot be created.

To register a Control Panel item in one or more categories, add values as explained in the Executable Control Panel Item Registration or DLL Control Panel Item Registration section of Registering Control Panel Items, as appropriate.

Category ID Category Name (Windows XP) Category Name (Windows Vista)
0 Other Control Panel Options.
Note  Any Control Panel item that does not specify a category ID appears in this category.
Additional Options.
Note  Any Control Panel item that does not specify a category ID appears in this category.
1 Appearance and Themes Appearance and Personalization
2 Printers and Other Hardware Hardware and Sound
3 Network and Internet Connections Network and Internet
4 Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices No longer used. Any item that adds itself only to category 4 appears in the Hardware and Sound category.
5 Performance and Maintenance System and Maintenance
6 Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options Clock, Language, and Region
7 Accessibility Options Ease of Access
8 Add or Remove Programs Programs
9 User Accounts User Accounts. (When not connected to a domain, this is called User Accounts and Family Safety.)
10 (0xA) Security Center
Note  Available only in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later.
Security
11 Not used. Mobile PC. This category is only visible on mobile PCs.

In Windows XP, the categories Add or Remove Programs and User Accounts work somewhat differently from other categories in Control Panel. When one or more items are added to one of these two categories, the associated link in Control Panel opens a category page. The registered items appear in the lower portion of the page under the heading "or Pick a Control Panel icon". When no items are registered for one of these categories, the associated link in Control Panel directly invokes the standard Windows item for that category. In Windows Vista, the Programs category and the User Accounts category do not have this property.

The Security Center category, available in only Windows XP SP2, is also somewhat non-standard. Clicking this category opens the Security Center page in a new window. Items registered for Security Center appear in the lower portion of that page under the heading Manage security settings for:. Clicking an icon opens the Control Panel item.