For those who are used to adjusting sound properties within the original sound settings window found within the Control Panel in earlier versions of Windows, you might find it a bit annoying getting back to that screen in Windows 11. Microsoft decided to bury this since the company wants users to move away from the old Control Panel and toward the newer modern settings window/section.
In Windows 10, all you had to do was right-click on the speaker icon within your system tray to find a direct path to this window. However, it is now hidden within the modern settings screen, where you have to navigate to sound settings and then scroll down to “More sound settings”. But did you know you can add a shortcut to your desktop or anywhere else to make this process faster?
The process is quite easy. First, right-click on your desktop (or anywhere else you’d like to add the shortcut. Head to “new” and “Shortcut”.
Your right-click menu may look a little different from mine since I’ve modded mine to go back to the original context menu (Windows 10 style). But you will still have a “new” and “Shortcut” path.
In the window that pops up, you will want to enter “mmsys.cpl sounds” (minus the quotes), as seen in the above image. Then hit “next”, give the shortcut a name (ex: Sound Control Panel) and click on “finish” to close the window.
You will now have a shortcut on your desktop (or wherever you inserted it). When you double-click this shortcut, it will bring you directly to the original Sound settings from Control Panel. This trick will work for as long as Microsoft keeps the original Control Panel settings buried within Windows.
Since the company has been trying to force users to the newer modern screen, you may find that Control Panel will eventually go away. For those of us who like to get a little more deeper into Windows settings vs a pretty interface, this will be an unfortunate day unless the company redesigns an optional advanced settings interface for users. Until then, take advantage of this trick to quickly get into this older settings panel.
