You can block or restrict users’ access to one or more Windows Settings pages using Group Policy or the Registry. If, as an IT admin, you do not want to give access to Windows Settings, you can configure Group Policy Object or tweak the Windows Registry. We have already seen how to restrict access to the Control Panel, now let us see how you can restrict access to the Settings panel. You can hide all Windows Settings or only selected settings on the Settings page using a Group Policy Object or the Windows Registry.
How to Hide Settings in Windows 11/10
Restricting access to the Settings page is not difficult on Windows 10 v1703. Moreover, you can either hide all Settings app pages if you no longer want to use them, or show or hide a specific page only. There are two ways to do it. First, you can use the Group Policy Editor or you can use the Registry Editor.
Before you begin, do remember to create a system restore point first.
Restrict access to Windows Settings page using Registry Editor
Run regedit to open the Registry Editor and then navigate to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Here you have to create a String Value on the right-hand side. Right-click on an empty space, select New > String Value. Name it SettingsPageVisibility. Now, double-click on that string value and enter the following in the Value name field-
To show a particular page and hide all the others:
showonly:pageURL
To hide a particular page and show the rest:
hide:pageURL
For example, to hide the About page, enter the following value:
hide:about
If you want to show Bluetooth and About page, and hide all the other page, enter the following value;
showonly: bluetooth;about
In this fashion, you can show or hide any Settings page of Settings app.
Hide Windows Settings using Group Policy Editor
Using Group Policy Editor to hide Settings page in Windows 10 is even easier than using the Registry Editor.Run gpedit.msc, to open the Group Policy Editor and then navigate to the following setting:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel
On the right-hand side, you can find an option called Settings Page Visibility. By default, it should be set to Not Configured. Select Enabled and enter a value in the Settings Page Visibility box just like you did in Registry Editor.
This policy specifies the list of pages to show or hide from the System Settings app. This policy allows an administrator to block a given set of pages from the System Settings app. Blocked pages will not be visible in the app, and if all pages in a category are blocked the category will be hidden as well. Direct navigation to a blocked page via URI, context menu in Explorer or other means will result in the front page of Settings being shown instead. This policy has two modes: it can either specify a list of settings pages to show or a list of pages to hide. To specify a list of pages to show, the policy string must begin with “showonly:” (without quotes), and to specify a list of pages to hide, it must begin with “hide:”. If a page in a showonly list would normally be hidden for other reasons (such as a missing hardware device), this policy will not force that page to appear. After this, the policy string must contain a semicolon-delimited list of settings page identifiers. The identifier for any given settings page is the published URI for that page, minus the “ms-settings:” protocol part.
Technet has listed the URIs to use along with showonly or hide keyword to show or hide a particular settings page:
- about
- activation
- appsfeatures
- appsforwebsites
- backup
- batterysaver
- bluetooth
- colors
- cortana
- datausage
- dateandtime
- defaultapps
- developers
- deviceencryption
- display
- emailandaccounts
- extras
- findmydevice
- lockscreen
- maps
- network-ethernet
- network-mobilehotspot
- network-proxy
- network-vpn
- network-directaccess
- network-wifi
- notifications
- optionalfeatures
- powersleep
- printers
- privacy
- personalization
- recovery
- regionlanguage
- storagesense
- tabletmode
- taskbar
- themes
- troubleshoot
- typing
- usb
- windowsdefender
- windowsinsider
- windowsupdate
- yourinfo
In this way, you can hide all Windows Settings or only selected settings in the Settings app using Group Policy Objects or the Windows Registry.
That’s it! Hope it helped.
How do I hide settings on Windows 11?
There are mainly two ways to hide settings on Windows 11 and Windows 10 computers. First, you can use the Windows Registry Editor, and second, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor. In the Registry Editor, go here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. Then, create a Sting Value and name it SettingsPageVisibility. Following that, enter the Value data like this: showonly:pageURL or hide:pageURL.
How do I hide my Network and Internet settings?
To hide your network and internet settings in the Windows Settings panel, you can take the help of the Local Group Policy Editor. For that, open the GPEDIT and go here: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel. Double-click on the Settings Page Visibility setting and choose the Enabled option. Next, enter the network page URL in this format: hide:pageURL.
