On Thu, 1/22/2026 2:54 PM, T wrote:

Hi All,

W11 25H2

Anyone know how I can run

ÿÿÿÿ "control panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers"

from the command line?

Yours in Confusion,
-T

I don't think there is a .msc or a .cpt for that, so it might
be a job for a URI.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/develop/launch/launch-settings

explorer ms-settings:devices
explorer ms-settings:connecteddevices

Just a guess.
Paul


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

W11 25H2

Anyone know how I can run

"control panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers"

from the command line?

Maybe use the old-style Control Panel shortcut of:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL PrintersFolder

or

shell:printersfolder
(in File Explorer address bar,
or a shortcut to "explore.exe shell:printersfolder")

Andy gave the shell directive with Class ID to open the Control Panel
page. You can enter that into the address bar of File Explorer, in the
Run Dialog (Win+R), or use a shortcut to run:

explorer.exe shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}

In Powershell, use:

Start-Process -FilePath ?control.exe? -ArgumentList ?printers?
or
Start-Process "explorer.exe" "shell:PrintersFolder"

Those work in Windows 10, and probably in Windows 11, too.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

Anyone know how I can run

ÿÿÿÿÿ "control panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers"

from the command line?

maybe
explorer "shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}"

That is missing the tool bar at the top with add new etc.

In Windows 10, when I run control.exe, click on "Devices and Printers",
that dialog does not show a "New" button. It does have "Add a device"
and "Add a printer" buttons, or use the File menu to add devices or
printers. Maybe they changed the UI for the dialog in Windows 11. When
you navigate Control Panel (control.exe) to "Devices and Printers", you
see a "New" button?

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Thu, 1/22/2026 3:36 PM, VanguardLH wrote:

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

W11 25H2

Anyone know how I can run

"control panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers"

from the command line?

Maybe use the old-style Control Panel shortcut of:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL PrintersFolder

or

shell:printersfolder
(in File Explorer address bar,
or a shortcut to "explore.exe shell:printersfolder")

Andy gave the shell directive with Class ID to open the Control Panel
page. You can enter that into the address bar of File Explorer, in the
Run Dialog (Win+R), or use a shortcut to run:

explorer.exe shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}

In Powershell, use:

Start-Process -FilePath ?control.exe? -ArgumentList ?printers?
or
Start-Process "explorer.exe" "shell:PrintersFolder"

Those work in Windows 10, and probably in Windows 11, too.

With your

explorer shell:printersfolder

if you right click in that window, there
is an Add Printer in there.

Paul


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

VanguardLH wrote on 1/22/2026 1:41 PM:

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

Anyone know how I can run

ÿÿÿÿÿ "control panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers"

from the command line?

maybe
explorer "shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}"

That is missing the tool bar at the top with add new etc.

In Windows 10, when I run control.exe, click on "Devices and Printers",
that dialog does not show a "New" button. It does have "Add a device"
and "Add a printer" buttons, or use the File menu to add devices or
printers. Maybe they changed the UI for the dialog in Windows 11. When
you navigate Control Panel (control.exe) to "Devices and Printers", you
see a "New" button?

Different routes(to Devices and Printers in Win11) provide different
results.
- Note: below I'm abbreviating 'Devices and Printers' term in the
comments about the linked picture as DevPrt
-

See linked pic.
<https://i.postimg.cc/90CqZw3R/Dev-Prt-Both.jpg>

- The left side pic is the result when accessing DevPrt via two routes in Win11's. both routes(1 and 2) yield the same dialog box.
1. Settings\Bluetooth and Devices\Devices\More devices and printer
2. Control Panel shortcut\Bluetooth and Devices\Devices\More devices
and printers
- The right side pic is the result when accessing DevPrt in Win11 via the earlier mentioned 'explorer shell' route.

- The left side pic via (1 or 2) does not have the 'greyed out new' icon
but does have the usual options(Add device, Add printer)
- The right side pic via command.com (as admin) route has the 'New'
icon(which is inactive/greyed out).

You'll also notices some other differences
- the left side pic shows a square icon(More Options for sizing the respective icons).
- the right side pic shows more greyed-out icons, plus Sort, View(same
icon sizing items), and an ellipsis(3 dots) for a few File Explorer-type features.

You can make your own guesses on why the differences.
- shell command vs. settings?
- old code vs. newer code?
- never intended to be the same via command vs Settings
- more Win10/11 migration to Settings GUI
- Hoodoo magic

--
...w­¤?ñ?¤

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

T wrote on 1/24/2026 10:28 PM:

On 1/22/26 11:01 PM, ...w­¤?ñ?¤ wrote:

VanguardLH wrote on 1/22/2026 1:41 PM:

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

Anyone know how I can run

ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "control panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers" >>>>>>
from the command line?

maybe
explorer "shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}"

That is missing the tool bar at the top with add new etc.

In Windows 10, when I run control.exe, click on "Devices and Printers",
that dialog does not show a "New" button.ÿ It does have "Add a device"
and "Add a printer" buttons, or use the File menu to add devices or
printers.ÿ Maybe they changed the UI for the dialog in Windows 11.ÿ When >>> you navigate Control Panel (control.exe) to "Devices and Printers", you
see a "New" button?

Different routes(to Devices and Printers in Win11) provide different
results.
ÿÿ- Note: below I'm abbreviating 'Devices and Printers' term in the
comments about the linked picture as DevPrt
ÿÿ-

See linked pic.
<https://i.postimg.cc/90CqZw3R/Dev-Prt-Both.jpg>

- The left side pic is the result when accessing DevPrt via two routes
in Win11's. both routes(1 and 2) yield the same dialog box.
ÿÿ1. Settings\Bluetooth and Devices\Devices\More devices and printer
ÿÿ2. Control Panel shortcut\Bluetooth and Devices\Devices\More devices
and printers
- The right side pic is the result when accessing DevPrt in Win11 via
the earlier mentioned 'explorer shell' route.

- The left side pic via (1 or 2) does not have the 'greyed out new'
icon but does have the usual options(Add device, Add printer)
- The right side pic via command.com (as admin) route has the 'New'
icon(which is inactive/greyed out).

You'll also notices some other differences
ÿÿ- the left side pic shows a square icon(More Options for sizing the
respective icons).
ÿÿ- the right side pic shows more greyed-out icons, plus Sort,
View(same icon sizing items), and an ellipsis(3 dots) for a few File
Explorer-type features.

You can make your own guesses on why the differences.
ÿÿ- shell command vs. settings?
ÿÿ- old code vs. newer code?
ÿÿ- never intended to be the same via command vs Settings
ÿÿ- more Win10/11 migration to Settings GUI
ÿÿ- Hoodoo magic

OpenShell's "Devices and Printers" gets me the one I want.

If that works then fine(glad it gets you what you want)...but that wasn't related to the differences in the two approaches I provided.
-i.e. those two methods with different results is just 'wiz-ee-wig'

Even Windows 7 old GUI did not have a 'New' option for Devices and Printers(only Add Device, Add Printer) just like the optional control panel-like GUI accessible in W10/W11.
- the 'New' button/icon that you see/saw is not a device 'add' option,
it's an Explorer option(and only present because Explorer was called via
a shell command in a command.com or powershell window) - only giving you
what it could give.

--
...w­¤?ñ?¤

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

I am after how to do it from the command line.

Slightly puzzled why you want to use the command line to invoke the
printer GUI?

For most people adding a new printer is something done once every few
years, not several times a day!

You are forgetting that I have a lot of
customers. Installing printers is a
common task. W11 and printers is a match
made in ...

You'd need to carry a USB drive to have the command readily available to copy/paste the command line. Insert the USB drive, open File Explorer,
open a .txt file, copy the command string, open a command shell, paste
the command string, hit Enter. Or, press the Start button, enter
"control", pick Control Panel, click on "Devices and Printers". Doesn't
seem the command route is easier or faster. Also, either way you get
there to show the dialog window, you still have to manually add, delete,
or modify a printer setup. You could use AutoIt or AutoHotkey to
automate a known and fixed routine to modify the printers, but you'd
have to record the routine, it would have to be the same across all the
hosts you maintain, and you'd need to install AutoIt or AutoHotkey on
all those hosts, so, again, nothing saved, and instead a lot more work.

These companies that you support don't have their employees share the
same printer? I would think it would be cheaper to have a shared or
networked printer than buy a printer to pair up with every workstation.
Less setup, more efficient use, and less maintenance, too.

I have a list of run commands that I use, instead of
screwing around going through w7/w10/w11 ever changing
GUI's. Getting to Printers and Devices is still eluding me.

For now, the command line is consistent across Windows 7 to 11; however,
the wizard's dialog window has apparently changed, so where you land
doesn't necessarily look the same. In addition, the view mode may be different, like the user changed from details list, to large or small
icons, or grouping (category), etc.

Paul's suggestion is close. But I'd like the whole potato
that OpenShell gives me.

Paul expounded on my suggestion of using shell:printerfolder by noting
there is and Add Printer function. I only tested that on Windows 10.
You'd have to test on the Windows XP, 7, 8, Vista, and 11 hosts.

All the hosts at all your employers have OpenShell installed?
Considering all the reports of problems with it, you shouldn't be
destabilizing your users' hosts. Plus, they get to rely on a particular
GUI, but won't know how to use another workstation with the standard
GUI. To me, alternate shells are for individual personalization, not
something for company-wide deployment. I use Start11, but wouldn't if
my workstation was a company asset.

With all the replies, you should have what you asked for to get to the
"Devices and Printers" dialog using a command line.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)