Microsoft is currently in the process of delivering its second big feature update of the year to the more than 1 billion devices running Windows 10. The October 2020 (20H2) update is headlined by a new Start Menu design, refind Alt+Tab experience and deeper integration of the Edge browser.
However, particularly attentive users will have noticed that Microsoft has removed the “System” area of the Control Panel. Now, selecting that option will open the corresponding area within the regular Settings menu.
How to get “System” back in Control Panel
You can always go back to a previous version of Windows, but there’s a much easier way to retain access to system settings in the Control Panel:
- Open Control Panel, the easiest way being to search for it in the taskbar
- Double click the address bar at the top of the page and enter the following:
Control PanelSystem and SecuritySystem
- Hit enter
Plenty of important hardware information is displayed under ‘System’ in the Control Panel, including the name of your device, version of Windows 10 and computer name and workgroup can all be found in this window. These can also now be found under ‘System’ and ‘Info’ within the regular Settings menu, probably the main reason why Microsoft is continuing to phase out the Control Panel.
A version of this article was originally published in German on our sister site, PC-Welt. Translation by Anyron Copeman.