Even if you’re a longtime Windows user, it is all too easy to get lost in its menus. After all, Windows has changed so much over the years that many of its tools now live in different places than they used to. And even when you know exactly what you want to change, you might still end up clicking menu after menu or wrestling with the search menu and hoping the right option appears.
God Mode is a built-in Windows feature that can help solve all of that. Now that I’ve pinned it to my taskbar, every important setting is now only a couple of clicks away.
What’s so special about God Mode
One list to rule every setting
God Mode sounds dramatic, but it’s really just a simple folder that brings every single Windows setting in one place. It lays out more than 200 options in a clean, alphabetical list. You can simply scroll through the list like a well-organized directory, go straight to the section you need, and click the exact setting you want to change.
Windows 11 spreads its controls across more than a dozen categories, many of which overlap. Instead of guessing whether a setting lives under System, Devices, Personalization, Network, or one of the other categories, God Mode lists every item as a direct link. It’s way faster than searching for a menu or clicking through nested pages.
Another reason it’s useful is because Windows maintains two parallel environments for managing settings. There is the new Settings app with its modern layout and the older Control Panel that still holds a surprising number of useful options. The split can be confusing. Microsoft has been planning to retire the Control Panel for years, and it still hasn’t happened. And until it does, the back-and-forth between these two worlds remains a pain. God Mode essentially gives you a no-nonsense way to get to your settings.
Pinning God Mode to the taskbar is easy
It takes less than a minute
Creating the God Mode folder doesn’t require any fancy commands or registry edits. All you really need to do is create a folder. To get started, right-click anywhere on your desktop and select New > Folder. Then, give the folder the following name.
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
That’s it. As soon as you press Enter, the new folder will change to the familiar Control Panel icon with no name. There is a small catch, though. Windows 11 does not allow pinning folders directly to the taskbar. If you want to pin the God Mode folder to the taskbar, you need to create its shortcut. Right-click on the desktop, and select New > Shortcut, and enter the following path in the location field.
C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Now, click Next and name it anything you like. By default, it uses a File Explorer icon, which can be confusing, so make sure to change the icon to something more distinct. Once your shortcut is ready, you can drag it onto the taskbar to pin it.
How to Add a God Mode Option to Windows 11’s Context Menu
Quickly access God Mode in Windows 11 with a context menu entry.
God Mode makes system tweaks a lot easier
Get to your settings faster than ever before
Once you’ve pinned God Mode to the taskbar, the real fun begins. The folder becomes your launchpad for everyday tasks that normally require too many clicks.
Take something as simple as adding a new printer. Normally, you’d have to open the Settings app, go to Bluetooth & devices, then Printers & scanners, and finally click the Add device button. With God Mode, you can click the taskbar icon, scroll to the Devices and Printers section, and double-click Advanced printer setup to get started. You reach the same destination in seconds and that’s the whole point of God Mode.
Another good example is changing what the power button does on your laptop. For this, you’d have to open the Control Panel, then Hardware and Sound, then Power Options, and finally click Change what the power buttons do. And this is all assuming you know where that setting lives. With God Mode, you can simply scroll to the Power Options and select Change what the power buttons do.
It gets even better when you create shortcuts
Turn your most used settings into one-click actions
God Mode also lets you create desktop shortcuts for specific settings. Let’s say there is a particular option that you need to change every so often, like allowing or disallowing apps through Windows Firewall. You can find it in the God Mode window, right-click it, and select Create shortcut. That’s it. You can now get to the Allowed Apps window directly from the desktop.
God Mode essentially solves two major problems. First, it frees you from hopping between the Settings app and the Control Panel. Second, it removes the need to remember where each setting is buried. The more you use it, the more you realize how much time it can save.
Windows is full of useful hidden features, but few are as satisfying as God Mode. Of course, it’s not something every user will need, but if you need to dive into the Windows settings often, God Mode is a huge timesaver.