How to enable God Mode in

Windows
By Robert Irvine • 7 days ago

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

You don't have to be power crazy to want to

know how to enable God Mode in Windows. This
secret feature brings together more than 200
administrative tools and settings in one handy
folder, to save you having to search for them
individually.

God Mode was introduced in Windows Vista and

most of the options it includes are located in the
various sections of the Control Panel. Although
Microsoft has now moved much of the Control
Panel's configuration functionality to the
Settings app in Windows, it still offers lots of
useful options.

These cover such everyday tasks as adding and

removing programs and user accounts, creating
and formatting disk partitions, creating System
Restore points, tweaking your power settings,
customizing Windows' appearance, fixing
common PC problems, and much more.

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Indeed, despite Microsoft's longstanding threat

to remove the Control Panel from Windows, it's
still available in the latest Windows 11 beta build.
This means that God Mode still works in
Windows 11 too, in the same way as in previous
versions of Windows.

In our guide below, we'll explain how to activate

God Mode in Windows 10 and 11, and how to
use it once enabled. There's no risk to turning
on this hidden feature, other than also making it
easier for other people to tweak your settings.
So, if you've ever wanted to play god on your
PC, here's how to go about it.

How to enable God Mode in

Windows: Activate God Mode

1. Right-click a blank area of your Windows

desktop and move your mouse pointer down to
New in the context menu. Choose Folder in the
side menu that opens.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

2. Select the new folder on your desktop and

either press the F2 key on your keyboard or
right-click the folder and choose Rename. Give
the folder the following name by copying and
pasting the text below:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-
99712043E01C}

(Image credit: Microsoft)

3. Press Enter on your keyboard or click away

from the folder to confirm its new name. The
folder’s icon will change to a Control Panel icon,
as shown below. Double-click this to enter
God Mode.

Alternatively, right-click the icon and choose

Open. This will also let you pin God Mode to
the “Quick access” menu in File Explorer.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

How to enable God Mode in

Windows: Using God Mode

1. When the God Mode folder opens, you’ll be

presented with a list of more than 200
Windows tools and settings, organized into
categories and sorted alphabetically within
them.

Double-click an entry to access that tool or

setting, or right-click it and choose Open.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

2. For even easier access to a specific Windows

tool or setting, right-click its entry and choose
“Create shortcut.”

Windows will warn you that you can’t create a

shortcut in the God Mode folder, so choose Yes
to place the shortcut on your desktop
instead.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

3. If you find God Mode’s category structure

difficult to navigate, you can display all its
options in one alphabetical list instead. Right-
click a blank area of the folder and choose
“Group by,” then Name.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

4. Similarly, you can display God Mode’s

settings as easily clickable icons rather than text
entries in a long list. Right-click a blank area and
choose View, then select either “Medium
icons” or “Large icons.”

(Image credit: Microsoft)

5. If you decide that you don’t want God Mode

anymore, in case other people use it to tweak
Windows settings without your permission,
simply right-click the folder on your desktop
and choose Delete.

You’ll still be able to access God Mode's various

options individually through the Control Panel in
Windows.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

More: How to keep your PC awake without

touching it
How to hide desktop icons in Windows 10
How to use System Restore in Windows 10
How to batch rename multiple files in
Windows 10

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Robert Irvine is How-To Editor at Tom's Guide.

He has been writing tutorials about software,
hardware, websites and other tech topics since
the days of dial-up modems, and was previously
the editor of Web User magazine. Robert enjoys
cooking, and makes a mean sausage casserole,
but is definitely not the celebrity chef of the
same name.