Windows 11 God Mode: All Settings in One Folder

Somewhere between the Settings app and the Control Panel, there is a setting you need — and you cannot find it. The Settings app shows you a search bar that returns two results for "display scaling" and neither is the one you wanted. The Control Panel is a maze of nested categories that has not been redesigned since 2009. God Mode is the shortcut nobody tells you about.

God Mode is a special Windows folder that surfaces every Control Panel item, every administrative setting, and most of the obscure one-off configuration pages in one flat, searchable list — over 200 entries across more than 30 categories. It has been in Windows since Vista, it works on Windows 11 in 2026, and it takes about 15 seconds to set up.

How to create the God Mode folder

The setup is three steps:

1. Right-click any empty area of the desktop (or inside any folder in File Explorer) and choose New → Folder.
2. Immediately rename the folder — before pressing Enter — to exactly this:
   GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
3. Press Enter. The folder icon changes to a Control Panel icon, confirming that Windows recognised the GUID.

The name before the dot (GodMode) is arbitrary — you can call it anything. What matters is the dot followed by the GUID in braces, typed exactly as shown, including dashes and correct capitalisation. If the icon does not change, you have a typo somewhere.

You can place this folder anywhere: on the desktop, pinned to Quick Access in File Explorer, or inside a folder widget on your desktop if you use a widget app.

What is inside

Open the folder and you will see a list sorted by category. On Windows 11 24H2, the count is typically around 210–220 items depending on which optional features are installed. The categories include:

• Action Center — Security maintenance tasks and notifications.
• Administrative Tools — Shortcuts to MMC snap-ins, Event Viewer, Task Scheduler, Component Services, and others that have no single Start menu shortcut.
• Backup and Restore (Windows 7) — Yes, this legacy backup tool still exists in Windows 11.
• Credential Manager — Manage stored passwords for websites, apps, and network shares.
• Date and Time — Time zones, additional clocks for remote locations, internet time sync.
• Device Manager — Direct launch, skipping the Settings detour.
• Display — Resolution, orientation, multiple displays, DPI scaling per monitor.
• Ease of Access Center — All accessibility settings in one place.
• Folder Options — Hidden files, file extensions, Explorer navigation settings.
• Fonts — View, install, and remove typefaces.
• Indexing Options — Control what Windows Search indexes and what it ignores.
• Internet Options — The legacy IE/Edge settings panel, still used by older enterprise apps and some VPNs.
• Mouse — Pointer speed, double-click speed, button configuration, pointer scheme.
• Network and Sharing Center — Adapter settings, VPN connections, homegroup (defunct, but the panel is still there), firewall.
• Power Options — Power plans, sleep settings, hibernate, and lid/button behaviour for laptops.
• Programs and Features — The legacy uninstaller list, which still works alongside the newer Settings → Apps page and often shows programs that the newer page misses.
• Region — Date formats, number formats, currency symbol, input locale.
• Security and Maintenance — Windows Security overview, UAC settings, maintenance status.
• Storage Spaces — Create and manage storage pools.
• System — Computer name, domain join, Remote settings, System Properties.
• Taskbar and Navigation — Taskbar behaviour, icon settings, notification area.
• Troubleshooting — All built-in troubleshooters in one list: audio, network, printer, Windows Update, and about 20 more.
• User Accounts — Change account type, manage other accounts, credential settings.
• Windows Mobility Center — On laptops only: brightness, volume, battery status, external display, and sync in one panel.

The settings you will actually use most

Not everything in God Mode is interesting to most people. Here are the entries that come up most often for everyday Windows maintenance:

Power settings

Under Power Options, the most frequently needed items are "Change when the computer sleeps", "Choose what the power buttons do", and "Create a power plan". On laptops, "Change battery settings" controls the charge limit feature (if your manufacturer supports it through Windows directly). These settings live three clicks deep in the new Settings app, but in God Mode they are a single double-click.

Folder and hidden file options

"Show hidden files and folders" is buried in File Explorer's View menu, but in God Mode you can get there instantly via Folder Options → Show hidden files and folders. The same panel controls file extension visibility — an important toggle for developers and anyone running scripts.

User Account Control

If you install a lot of software and find UAC prompts disruptive, "Change User Account Control settings" is a single item in the Security and Maintenance category. You can dial it down to "Notify only when apps try to make changes, don't dim the desktop" without having to hunt through system settings pages.

Troubleshooters

The Troubleshooting section has over 20 built-in diagnostic tools that Microsoft has never surfaced in the new Settings app's default navigation. "Fix problems with Windows Update", "Find and fix audio problems", "Use the printer", and "Connect to the Internet" are all here. They are not magic but they are worth trying before spending an hour on forums.

Credential Manager

If an app keeps asking for a password you already entered, or you need to remove an old saved credential for a shared network drive, Credential Manager is the right tool. It is impossible to find in the new Settings UI without already knowing where to look. In God Mode it is one item.

Keyboard-friendly usage

God Mode works well with keyboard-only navigation. Once you have the folder open in File Explorer, press Ctrl+F (or F3) to open the search box — this searches only within the God Mode folder contents, so typing "sleep" immediately surfaces all power-sleep-related settings. This is often faster than searching through Windows Settings, which returns both settings and web results.

You can also pin individual God Mode items to the Start menu, though the resulting shortcuts do not persist well across Windows feature updates. For settings you access frequently, you are better served by the keyboard shortcuts built into Windows — but God Mode is the right fallback when no shortcut exists.

Where to keep it

The most practical place for God Mode depends on how often you do system administration:

• Occasional use: Create the folder in your Documents directory and pin it to Quick Access in File Explorer (drag it to the Quick Access section in the sidebar). It is out of the way but one click from any File Explorer window.
• Regular use: Put it on the desktop, or — if you use a desktop widget app like Themia — add it as a shortcut in a files widget so it sits on your wallpaper alongside your project folders.
• IT or power-user contexts: Create the folder in a shared network location so the whole team has the same shortcut available on mapped drives.

Keeping your desktop usable while still having fast access to everything is exactly the problem a well-configured Windows setup solves. If you are thinking about that problem broadly, our guide to speeding up Windows 11 covers the settings inside God Mode that actually move the needle on performance, and our Windows desktop customization guide covers everything from wallpapers to widgets. You can find more practical guides on the Themia blog.

The Settings app vs God Mode vs Control Panel

In 2026, Microsoft has migrated the majority of settings to the new Settings app (the one with the gear icon, accessible via Win+I). But the migration is not complete. Many categories are present in both the new Settings app and the Control Panel, with slightly different UI and occasionally different options shown. A few items exist only in the Control Panel.

God Mode does not replace the Settings app — it is a shortcut aggregator for the Control Panel layer. When you double-click a God Mode item, it opens the corresponding Control Panel applet or dialog. If you need a setting that is exclusively in the new Settings app (like Snap Layouts configuration or Focus Sessions), you still go there directly.

Think of it this way: for anything administrative — user accounts, network adapters, power plans, indexing, troubleshooters — God Mode is faster than anything else. For personalisation, display scaling, Bluetooth, and modern Windows 11 features, the Settings app is the right place.

FAQ

Does God Mode work on Windows 11 in 2026?

Yes. God Mode works on every version of Windows 11, including 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2, on both Home and Pro editions. The folder trick has been available since Windows Vista and Microsoft has never removed it. The GUID and behaviour are unchanged in 2026.

Is enabling God Mode safe?

Completely safe. You are not changing any registry values or system files — you are creating an ordinary folder with a special name. Windows reads the GUID suffix and renders the folder as a virtual settings aggregator. Deleting the folder returns everything to normal instantly.

Can I delete a God Mode folder?

Yes. Select the folder and press Delete just like any other folder. Nothing is modified under the hood, so there is nothing to undo. The folder is a view, not a configuration change.

Why does Windows Search not surface all God Mode settings?

Windows Search indexes Control Panel items based on their keywords metadata, not all of which match the display text. God Mode lists items by their full canonical names, including several that use older phrasing that Search does not match well. If you cannot find something in Search, God Mode often has it under a category you would not expect.

What are the most useful settings inside God Mode?

Power users typically bookmark: "Change when the computer sleeps" (under Power Options), "Manage BitLocker" (Security), "Set up a connection to your workplace" (Network), "Change User Account Control settings" (Security), and the entire "Display" category when they are troubleshooting monitor scaling. The "Administrative Tools" section also surfaces several MMC snap-ins that have no shortcut elsewhere.

Can I create multiple special folders like this?

Yes. Windows exposes dozens of these CLSID shell folder GUIDs. God Mode is the best known, but you can create dedicated folders for things like the Recycle Bin (B085E65A-9...), Control Panel (21EC2020-3...), and others. Search for "Windows shell CLSID list" for a complete catalogue.