Windows 11 Settings: A Practical Tour of Every Section

Almost everything you change on a modern PC now happens in the Windows 11 Settings app. It replaced most of the old Control Panel, it is reorganised into a clear left-hand list of sections, and it has a search box that understands plain words like “mouse speed” or “dark mode”. This guide walks through each section of Windows 11 Settings in the order you see them, explains what is inside, and points you to our detailed guides for the changes people make most often.

Everything here applies to Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2. Version 25H2 was delivered as a small enablement package on top of 24H2, so the menus are the same on both. To check which version you have, open Settings > System > About and look under Windows specifications.

Opening Settings and finding things fast

There are several ways in, and it is worth learning at least the shortcut:

• Win+I opens Settings from anywhere.
• Right-click Start (or press Win+X) and choose Settings.
• Open Start and select the gear icon in your pinned apps, or type “settings”.
• Many system tray icons lead to the matching page. Right-clicking the taskbar and choosing Taskbar settings, or right-clicking the desktop and choosing Display settings or Personalize, jumps straight to the right page.

Once Settings is open, use the Find a setting box at the top of the left pane. Type a word or two and results appear as you type. Search is usually quicker than browsing because some options live in places you would not guess; for example, the option to show file extensions is in File Explorer, not Settings, while mouse pointer speed is under Bluetooth & devices.

Settings also opens on a Home page on most PCs. Home shows cards for recently used settings, your Microsoft account, cloud storage and Bluetooth devices. The cards change over time, so treat Home as a shortcut page rather than a fixed menu.

System

Settings > System is the largest section. It covers Display (resolution, scaling, refresh rate, night light, HDR), Sound, Notifications, Focus, Power & battery, Storage, Nearby sharing, Multitasking (Snap windows, virtual desktops), Activation, Troubleshoot, Recovery, Projecting to this PC, Remote Desktop, Clipboard, Optional features and About.

The pages most people need are display settings, storage settings for clearing space and Storage Sense, and Recovery, which holds Reset this PC and advanced startup. Notifications also hides a handful of tips and suggestion toggles that we cover in how to disable Windows 11 ads and suggestions. On laptops, Power & battery is also where you set up Windows 11 energy saver, the replacement for battery saver.

Bluetooth & devices and Network & internet

Bluetooth & devices handles pairing headphones, mice, keyboards, printers, phones and cameras. It also contains the Mouse, Touchpad, Pen and AutoPlay pages. If a device refuses to pair, see our Bluetooth settings guide.

Network & internet shows your connection status and holds Wi-Fi, Ethernet, VPN, Mobile hotspot, Airplane mode, Proxy and Advanced network settings. The Advanced page includes Network reset, a last-resort option that reinstalls network adapters and returns networking components to their defaults. Our Wi-Fi settings guide covers saved networks and metered connections. To open shared folders on a NAS or another PC by drive letter, see how to map a network drive in Windows 11.

Personalization

Settings > Personalization controls how Windows looks: Background, Colors (light or dark mode, accent colour, transparency), Themes, Dynamic Lighting on supported hardware, Lock screen, Text input, Start, Taskbar, Fonts and Device usage.

Two pages here are the most changed in the whole app. Start lets you choose a layout and turn off the recommendations for tips and new apps. Taskbar lets you hide Search, Task view and Widgets, and under Taskbar behaviors you can move the Windows 11 taskbar icons to the left. For colours, wallpapers and dark mode, see the personalization guide.

Apps

Settings > Apps is where you uninstall programs (Installed apps), choose default apps, manage optional features, set which apps start with Windows, configure offline maps, video playback and apps for websites.

Two guides cover the pages that matter most:

• Windows 11 default apps explains how to set your browser, PDF reader or media player as the default, including by file type and link type.
• Windows 11 startup apps shows how to stop programs launching at sign-in using both Settings and Task Manager.

Accounts and Time & language

Settings > Accounts shows your Microsoft account, Your info, Email & accounts, Sign-in options, Family, Windows backup, Other users and Access work or school. Sign-in options is where you set up a PIN, face or fingerprint sign-in and dynamic lock; our Windows Hello guide walks through each. To rename or remove an account, see change user name in Windows 11 and delete a user account in Windows 11.

Settings > Time & language handles Date & time (including automatic time zone and Sync now), Language & region, Typing and Speech. If the clock is wrong, turn Set time automatically off and on, then select Sync now. For more, see time and language settings.

Gaming and Accessibility

Settings > Gaming contains Game Bar, Captures and Game Mode. Game Mode is on by default on most PCs and is meant to reduce background activity, such as Windows Update installing drivers or showing restart notifications, while you play. Graphics settings for individual apps are in Settings > System > Display > Graphics, not in the Gaming section.

Settings > Accessibility is organised by need: Vision (text size, visual effects, mouse pointer, contrast themes, Narrator, Magnifier, colour filters), Hearing (mono audio, captions) and Interaction (speech, keyboard, mouse). It also holds Visual effects, where you can turn off transparency and animation effects. That is a safe tweak if Windows feels sluggish on older hardware.

Privacy & security

Settings > Privacy & security has three groups. Security contains Windows Security (a link to the Windows Security app), Find my device, Device encryption on supported PCs and For developers. Windows permissions contains General, Speech, Inking & typing personalization, Diagnostics & feedback, Activity history, Search permissions and Searching Windows. App permissions lists Location, Camera, Microphone, Notifications, Contacts, Documents, Pictures and more, each with per-app switches.

Our Windows 11 privacy settings guide goes through each page and says which toggles are worth changing. Security features themselves, such as Microsoft Defender, firewall and Smart App Control, are covered in the Windows 11 security hub.

Windows Update

Settings > Windows Update is the last item in the list. It shows pending updates and has Pause updates, Update history, Advanced options (active hours, optional updates, delivery optimization, recovery) and the Windows Insider Program. There is also a toggle called Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available; Microsoft says it puts your PC near the front of the line for non-security updates and features, while security updates arrive as usual either way.

If an update will not install, start with our Windows Update settings guide and the troubleshooting steps in Windows 11 update stuck.

What still lives in Control Panel

Control Panel is still part of Windows 11. Type “Control Panel” in Start to open it. A few things are still easier, or only possible, there:

Task	Where to find it
Create a restore point or run System Restore	Search “Create a restore point” (opens System Properties)
Manage BitLocker on Pro editions	Control Panel > System and Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption
Keyboard repeat delay and rate	Control Panel > Keyboard
Classic sound devices dialog	Settings > System > Sound > More sound settings
Device Manager	Right-click Start > Device Manager
Older mouse options such as Enhance pointer precision	Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse > Additional mouse settings

Microsoft keeps moving pages from Control Panel into Settings, so some of these links may simply open a Settings page on your build. That is expected.

When Settings itself misbehaves

If Settings will not open, closes immediately or shows blank pages, try these in order:

1. Restart the PC. It sounds obvious, but a pending update often causes this.
2. Search for Settings in Start, right-click it and choose App settings, then select Repair, and if needed Reset.
3. Run the System File Checker from an administrator terminal, followed by DISM if SFC reports files it cannot fix.
4. If a section shows “Some of these settings are managed by your organization” on a personal PC, a policy is in force, often left behind by a tweaking tool. Our Windows 11 tweaks hub explains why we avoid those tools.

For more pages in this section, see notifications settings, power settings, multitasking settings, taskbar settings, Start menu settings and recovery settings.

To switch the whole interface to dark colours, see dark mode in Windows 11; to change how fast the display turns off, see change screen timeout in Windows 11.

For drives and storage, see how to format a USB drive and partition a hard drive in Windows 11; command-line users can enable sudo in Windows 11 from the Advanced settings page.

Two more everyday tasks: schedule a shutdown in Windows 11 with a timer or a nightly task, and manage typefaces in Windows 11 fonts settings.