How to Add Classic Desktop Background and Colors Applets to Windows 10 Control Panel?

Windows 10 has a new user interface (i.e. the Settings page) for changing the desktop background and setting colors. The classic Desktop Background and Colors and Appearance options are replaced, but they still exist in Windows 10. Recently we saw how to access the old or classic style Desktop Background and Colors page using canonical names or command-line in the article Personalize Shows Only 24 Choices for Background Color.

To access the classic Desktop Background page, run this command:

shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageWallpaper

Color and Appearance can be launched using this command:

shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageColorization

The following REG files add these two applets to the Control Panel in Windows 10. Download w10_cpl_background_color.zip. Unzip and run the files pagewallpaper.reg and pagecolorization.reg. To reverse the changes, run the undo.reg file.

Here are the contents of the registry files.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;This adds the Desktop Background (Classic UI) to Control Panel
;Ramesh Srinivasan

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230c}]
@="Desktop Background"
"LocalizedString"="Desktop Background"
"InfoTip"="Desktop Background (Classic UI)"
"System.ControlPanel.Category"="0,1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230c}\DefaultIcon]
@="shell32.dll,321"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230c}\Shell\Open\Command]
@="explorer.exe shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\\pageWallpaper"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230c}]
@="Desktop Background Page (Classic)"

The following REG file adds Colors and Appearance to the Control Panel

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;This adds the Colors and Appearance (Classic UI) to Control Panel
;Ramesh Srinivasan

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230d}]
@="Color and Appearance"
"LocalizedString"="Color and Appearance"
"InfoTip"="Color and Appearance (Classic UI)"
"System.ControlPanel.Category"="0,1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230d}\DefaultIcon]
@="imageres.dll,186"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230d}\Shell\Open\Command]
@="explorer.exe shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\\pageColorization"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{86810618-6c85-4636-9a39-61202550230d}]
@="Colors and Appearance (Classic)"

After running the REG files, the icons Desktop Background and Color and Appearance would appear in the All Control Panel Items icons view, as well as in the Category view under Personalization.

I haven’t found a way to add these two items immediately under Personalization as links. Hope you still find it useful.