Share via

Group Policy Settings for Action Center

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 7

Action Center is a new feature in Windows 7 that serves as a hub for messages that are related to the security and maintenance of Windows and also as a starting point for addressing issues with Windows. It consists of a notification area icon, a fly-out menu from that icon, and a Control Panel.

The full path of this node in the Group Policy Management Console is:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar

Available policy settings:

Name Explanation Requirements

Remove the Action Center icon

If you enable this policy setting, you remove the Action Center icon from the notification area. This also means that Action Center will not display any balloon notifications.

At least Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Additional Group Policy settings to control the Action Center Control Panel are located in the Group Policy Management Console at:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel

Available policy settings:

Name Explanation Requirements

Hide specified Control Panel items

This policy setting allows you to hide specified Control Panel items.

If you enable this policy setting, you remove Control Panel items (such as Mouse, System, or Personalization) from the Control Panel window and the Start menu. To hide a Control Panel item, enter the Control Panel item's canonical name (for example, Microsoft.Mouse, Microsoft.System, or Microsoft.Personalization).

For a complete list of canonical and module names of Control Panel items, see Executing Control Panel Items (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122973) on the Microsoft Web site.

Note
If you enable the Hide specified Control Panel items policy setting and the Show only specified Control Panel items policy setting, the Show only specified Control Panel items policy setting is ignored.

At least Windows 2000

Show only specified Control Panel items

This policy setting allows you to specify which items appear on the Start menu and in Control Panel, and it provides other ways to access Control Panel items (such as shortcuts in Help and Support or command lines that use control.exe).

If you enable this policy setting, you hide all Control Panel items and folders except those specified in this setting. This setting removes all Control Panel items (such as Mouse, System, or Personalization) from the Control Panel window and the Start menu. The only items displayed in Control Panel are those you specify in this setting.

To display a Control Panel item, enter the Control Panel item's canonical name (for example, Microsoft.Mouse, Microsoft.System, or Microsoft.Personalization).

For a complete list of canonical and module names of Control Panel items, see Executing Control Panel Items (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122973) on the Microsoft Web site.

Note

If you enable the Hide specified Control Panel items policy setting and the Show only specified Control Panel items policy setting, the Show only specified Control Panel items policy setting is ignored.

At least Windows 2000