Key findings
- Microsoft is slowly replacing the Control Panel with the Settings app, but the transition will take time.
- Important elements such as Device Manager and Power Options still need to be fully integrated into Settings.
- For a seamless user experience, features like BitLocker, System Restore, and recovery methods need to be added to the Settings app.
Microsoft has been moving more and more features from the old Control Panel to the new Settings app since Windows 8 debuted, but over 10 years later, Windows 11 still has both apps. The company recently announced that it would phase out the Control Panel over time, but retracted that statement just days later.
Regardless, the end of the Control Panel seems certain, as Microsoft clearly prefers that users use the Settings app instead. But before a full switchover can happen, Microsoft needs to make sure the Settings app is up to date, and there are still a few things that absolutely need to be switched over before we're done, so let's take a look at some of them.
Device Manager, Disk Management and more
These could just be links
We'll start with a general grouping of many old Windows features because, to be honest, they're not really Control Panel features. Features like Device Manager, Disk Management, and Advanced Search Indexing Options are separate dialogs from the Control Panel itself. However, the easiest way to access them right now is through the Control Panel, and most of them don't have easily accessible links in the Settings app.
Ideally, all of these elements would be updated and integrated directly into the Settings app with a new UI, but that would take a lot of time and Microsoft isn't exactly known for putting in the effort. All the company really needs to do is add links to the existing dialogs in visible areas of the Settings app so that users can easily reach them even without the Control Panel. An interesting example of this is the User Account Control dialog, which is accessible from the Settings app, but apparently only from the search bar in the app.
Advanced power options
Or just get rid of it altogether
One of the possible options that needs to be moved to the Settings app (and significantly restructured) is Advanced Power Management. This whole situation is very confusing right now because power plans are located in the Control Panel, which may include custom plans created by a PC manufacturer. In the meantime, you can choose a power plan in the Settings app. modewhich is kind of different. If your PC has a high performance power plan in Control Panel, this will actually disable the Power Saving menu in the Settings app. It's so weird.
Users can also create their own power plans in Control Panel, optimizing settings such as CPU performance or the amount of time before hard drives turn off when idle. These options are also missing from the Settings app and should be added before Microsoft kills off Control Panel.
The ideal approach is to remove most of the power plan interface as it is and add the ability to create custom power plans and change advanced settings via the Settings app. This would also make things a lot less confusing.
BitLocker Drive Encryption
The Settings app is still too limited
BitLocker is a pretty useful feature for protecting your data in case your computer is stolen. Device encryption is already available in the Settings app, but the way it works is far more limited. You can either turn it on or off for your entire PC, but if you want to manage BitLocker settings for individual drives on Windows 11 Pro or later, you'll still need the Control Panel.
This seems like a no-brainer, especially considering how sparse the Device Encryption page in the Settings app is. All of the options in the Control Panel, like encrypting individual drives or backing up recovery keys, should simply be moved to this page to create a more seamless user experience. As it is, it feels disjointed, and the main purpose of the Settings page is just to direct users to the Control Panel.
System Restore
And other recovery methods
Finally, we have a few more recovery methods that Microsoft hasn't migrated to the Settings app yet. There are actually quite a few of them, but the most notable in my opinion is System Restore. This feature lets you roll back your system to an earlier point in time and delete any apps you may have installed since then. It's a great and easy way to get back to a working state if you've been experimenting and accidentally messed something up. All of the recovery options in the Settings app are either basic troubleshooting or require a clean install of Windows. System Restore is a simple feature that you can restore.
Likewise, creating a recovery drive is a feature that is still only available in the Control Panel. Of course, in many cases you can simply reinstall Windows, but using the Recovery Drive feature is still recommended by Microsoft itself to restore its Surface devices to factory settings. This should be integrated into the Settings app. Other features like File History are also still not included in the Settings app.
To be fair, these are all dialogs that are also separate from the Control Panel itself, so they would fit in the first section here. However, it seems that they can be transferred to the Settings app much more easily without losing functionality, so it would be ideal if these settings were built into the app itself. Plus, these are all important features that help users keep their files and work safe, so I'd say these are the settings that need to be transferred the most.
Will the Settings app replace the Control Panel?
There are still large portions of Windows settings that are stored in, or more easily accessible through, the Control Panel, and sometimes it feels like Microsoft isn't all that keen on moving those settings to the Settings app. It's taken many years to get to where we are now, and there's clearly still a lot of work to be done. Hopefully Microsoft gets around to it sooner rather than later.