No Mail Icon In Control Panel

Changed view between category and classic large icon layout, no Mail icon. Typed in Mail in COntrol Panel search box, Mail option does not come up, only has the suggestion to download Windows Live Mail. They have 2 Windows 7 machines, both installed the same way, the main PC has NO mail icon, but the other PC does and it works fine. Issue Mail (32-bit) icon in control panel lost its bitmap and is not active (clicking on the icon doesn't do anything).

Panel

The Control Panel is one of the most important parts of your Microsoft Windows system. If you'd like to customize which icons appear in your Control Panel, continue reading for suggested methods.

Note

If you're running Windows ME, XP or later, we recommend that you do not customize your Control Panel icons. Instead, we suggest that Control Panel be configured to show icons in Classic View, see: Unable to find icons in Windows Control Panel.

TweakUI

No Mail Icon In Control Panel

Microsoft Windows XP and later revisions of Windows users can enable and remove Control Panel icons with the TweakUI program.

After TweakUI has been installed, check and uncheck the icons you want or do not want to display in the Windows Control Panel under the Control Panel section.

Adding Control Panel icons

Users can add a Windows Control Panel icon by installing the software program or hardware device related to the icon. If doing this does not install an icon into the Windows Control Panel that is either listed in the below chart or has been present in the past, follow the steps below.

  1. Reinstall the software program or hardware device associated with the program. During reinstallation, the necessary .CPL file is copied back onto the computer.
  2. Manually copy, expand, and extract the .cpl file back into the Windows System or System 32 directory.
Note

Unless your software program or hardware device has a .cpl file associated with it, the program will not create an icon in your Control Panel.

Manually running a Windows Control Panel .cpl file

If you are unfamiliar with what each .CPL file does, try one of the following suggestions.

  1. Manually execute many of the .CPL files by typing control <name of .cpl file>.cpl. See the control command page for additional information and help with this command.
  2. Users can also use the rundll32 file to open the Control Panel icons. Below is an example of how a user would open the Date/Time Properties window using the rundll32 file. If you want to run an alternate .cpl file, replace the TimeDate.cpl with a different .cpl file.

Hiding Control Panel icons

If you want to hide an icon from being displayed in the Control Panel, you can delete or move the icon as explained in the steps below or hide the icon by editing the control.ini file.

Removing Control Panel icons

Mail

Using the Microsoft find utility, users can locate all .cpl files on their computer.

Once all the .cpl files have been found, locate the file associated with your icon and delete the file or move it to an alternate location.

Files associated with Control Panel icons

Below is a small chart of the available files and their associated Control Panel icons. Note that not all of the files or icons below are available in all versions of Microsoft Windows. They may be missing because the associated hardware device, software program, or other setting is not installed. Icons that have an asterisk in the availability section indicate that third-party software must be installed before the icon is displayed.

Control Panel IconAssociated file95/98/MENT2000/XPVista/7/8
AC3 Filterac3filter.cpl*

Accessibility Options

access.cpl

YesYesYes
Add/Remove Hardwarehdwwiz.cplYesYesYesYes

Add/Remove Programs

appwiz.cpl

YesYesYesYes
adobe gamma.cpl***
Automatic Updateswuaucpl.cplYes

MS-DOS Console

console.cpl

Yes

Date/Time

timedate.cpl

YesYesYesYes
DirectXdirectx.cpl*

Display

desk.cpl

YesYesYesYes
Faxfax.cplYesYes

findfast.cpl

YesYes
Firewallfirewall.cplYesYes

Fonts / Mouse / Keyboard / Printers Properties

main.cpl

YesYesYesYes

GSNW

nwc.cpl

Yes

Intel Pro Set

proset.cpl

Yes

Internet properties

intelcpl.cpl

YesYesYes
Infrared Settings propertiesirprops.cplYes
Java Control Paneljpicpl32.cpl*
Javaplug-in x.x.x - This icon and its associated file changes by version.plugincplx_x.cpl****
Joystick Properties or Game Controllers.joy.cplYesYesYesYes

Licensing

liccpa.cpl

Yes

Macfile

sfmmgr.cpl

Yes

Mail and Fax

mlcfg32.cpl

Yes
Microsoft Mail Post Officewgpocpl.cplYes

modem.cpl

YesYes
Multimedia / Soundsmmsys.cplYesYesYesYes
Network Connections propertiesncpa.cplYesYesYes
Network Propertiesnetcpl.cplYes
Nview Desktop Managernvtuicpl.cpl*
ODBC32odbc32.cplYesYesYes
Passwordspassword.cplYesYesYes
PCCarddevapps.cplYes
Portsports.cplYes
Power Options propertiespowercfg.cplYesYes
QuickTimequicktime.cpl***
Regional Settingsintl.cplYesYesYesYes
Scanners and Camerassticpl.cplYes
Security Centerwscui.cplYesYes
Services and Devicessrvmgr.cplYes
SCSI Adaptersdevapps.cplYes
Serversrvmgr.cplYes
Speech Propertiessapi.cplYes
System Propertiessysdm.cplYesYesYes
Tape Devicesdevapps.cplYes
Telephony or Phone and Modem Options Properties.telephon.cplYesYesYes
TweakUItweakui.cpl***
UPSups.cplYes
User Accounts propertiesnusrmgr.cplYes
VirusScanavsmcpa.cpl****

Microsoft Windows Control Panel Mail

Mail

Microsoft Windows stores information about each of the icons that are shown in the Control Panel in files with the .CPL extension. If these files are present and not corrupted, Microsoft Windows displays these icons, otherwise, these icons will not be visible. The Control Panel files can be in the C:WindowsSystem, C:WindowsSystem32, or C:Winntsystem32 folders once new hardware or software is installed.

Additional information

No Mail Icon In Control Panel

  • See our Control Panel definition for further information and related links.