You can find ‘Devices and Printers’ in the Control Panel, but opening it will take you to the Bluetooth settings page. So, is it now possible to access the classic ‘Devices and Printers’ on Windows 11?
We have researched a few things and found that Microsoft hasn’t dropped the classic Devices and Printers; it just made it difficult to access the page. You can still access the old Devices and Printers in Windows 11, but you must go through some additional steps.
1. Open the Old Devices and Printers from the RUN dialog box
The RUN dialog box is the easiest and quickest way to open Devices and Printers on Windows 11. Here’s what you need to do.
1. Press the Windows Key + R button on your keyboard. This will open the RUN dialog box.
2. When the RUN dialog box opens, paste the following code and press Enter.
shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}
3. Executing the command through the RUN dialog box will instantly open the Devices and Printers page.
2. Open classic Devices and Printers from the Settings
The Devices and Printers page is hidden deep under the settings. You can also utilize the Settings app to open the hidden Device and Printers page. Here’s what you need to do.
1. Click on the Windows 11 Start button and select Settings.
2. When the Settings app opens, switch to the Bluetooth & devices.
3. On the right side, click on Devices.
4. Now scroll down to the Related Settings section. Next, click on the More Devices and Printer settings.
5. This will open the classic Devices and Printers screen.
3. Create a Shortcut to open classic Devices and Printers
This nifty trick will let you access the old Devices and Printers screen from your desktop. Follow the steps shared below.
1. Type in Control Panel on the Windows 11 Search. Next, open the Control Panel app from the list of best match results.
2. When the Control Panel opens, click on the View by drop-down and select Small or Large icons.
3. Next, right-click on the Devices and printers and select Create Shortcut.
4. On the desktop shortcut confirmation prompt, click Yes.
You can manually modify the registry file or add entries by downloading the file to add a shortcut to access Devices and Printers on File Explorer.
You can download the registry file to add the Devices and Printer shortcut on either the top or bottom section of the navigation pane in the File Explorer.
1. To get started, download the Registry file depending on where you want the Devices & Printers to appear.
- Top: Download Registry File
- Bottom: Download Registry File
2. After downloading the registry file, close the File Explorer.
3. Then, double click on the Registry file you’ve downloaded. A UAC prompt will appear; click on Yes.
4. The Devices and Printers shortcut will be added to the Windows 11 File Explorer.
5. If you want to remove the shortcut from the file explorer, download and run this Registry file.
This method may be useful if you feel comfortable using the old Devices and Printers page on Windows 11. Let us know if you need more help accessing it.
