General Open Quick Settings in Windows 11

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Settings_banner.png

This tutorial will show different ways on how to open Quick Settings in Windows 11.

Quick Settings (Win+A) gives you quick access from the taskbar corner to commonly used settings and apps like Volume, Brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, Rotation lock, Battery saver, Accessibility, Night light, Mobile hotspot, Nearby sharing, Cast, and Project. Directly above your Quick Settings, you will see media playback controls when playing music or videos in Microsoft Edge or streaming music in apps like Spotify.

Starting with Windows 11 build 25967 (Canary), build 26052.1100 (Dev), and build 26100.712 (RP), Microsoft is trying out a scrollable view of quick settings to some Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel as part of evaluating effectiveness of different layouts. As part of the change, rather than having to edit the list to add new quick actions, the user now has a scrollable list of quick actions that can be rearranged.

Starting with Windows 11 build 26120.3941 (Beta 24H2) and build 26200.5570 (Dev 24H2), Microsoft is improving Accessibility flyout in quick settings by grouping the assistive technologies by vision, hearing, motor and mobility for easy identification to help you find the right accessibility feature based on your needs.


Contents



EXAMPLE: Quick Settings on taskbar corner

Quick_Settings_on_desktop.jpg
Quick_Settings_on_laptop.jpg





Option One

Open Quick Settings using Keyboard Shortcut


1 Press the Win + A keys.




Option Two

Open Quick Settings from Taskbar


1 Click/tap on the Quick Settings button on the taskbar.

Quick_Settings_on_taskbar_corner.png





Option Three

Open Quick Settings using Run command


1 Open Run (Win+R).

2 Copy and paste either command below into Run, and either click/tap on OK or press Enter.

ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/true

OR

ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/&

Quick_Settings_Run_command.webp





Option Four

Open Quick Settings from Taskbar with Touch Gesture


This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 22557.


1 Swipe with your finger from the bottom right of the taskbar to open Quick Settings and swipe back down to close it.

Invoking-Quick-Settings.gif



That's it,
Shawn Brink


Related Tutorials

 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
Because the Notification Center (Win + N) and Quick Settings (Win + A) buttons are missing from the taskbar. How to activate all the buttons of the previous Win 10 example in the quick settings: the "Capture and Annotate" button ????
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro Insider Preview Dev
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    To be filled by O.E.M.
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics 3.90 GHz
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    MSI B450 GAMING PLUS MAX
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    16,0 GB
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Josoft said:
Because the Notification Center (Win + N) and Quick Settings (Win + A) buttons are missing from the taskbar. How to activate all the buttons of the previous Win 10 example in the quick settings: the "Capture and Annotate" button ????
Click to expand...
It doesn't appear that option is available for Quick Settings yet in Windows 11.

I suppose you could pin to taskbar or Start menu the "Snip & Sketch" app for now.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Thanks Brink, solved in fact I added the "Snip & Sketch" app to the taskbar but I still haven't been able to insert the contacts in the bar itself. Very useful operation to send emails quickly.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro Insider Preview Dev
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    To be filled by O.E.M.
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics 3.90 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI B450 GAMING PLUS MAX
    Memory
    16,0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 720, NVIDIA compatible
    Sound Card
    NVIDIA High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ GW2270 Color Profile.D6500
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB + CT1000BX500SSD1 + ST2000DM006-2DM164 + WDC WD5000AAKS-07TMA0 +WDC WD10EARX-00N0YB0
    PSU
    EVGA 600 W2, 80+ WHITE 600W, 3 Year Warranty, Power Supply 100-W2-0600-K2 (EU)
    Case
    RAIJINTEK Agos - mid tower - ATX
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo heatsink + Fans: 2 front+1 back+1 up
    Keyboard
    Logitech Internet 350 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Revolution
    Internet Speed
    Download 159.29 Mbps - Upload 80.14 Mbps
    Browser
    Google Crome Dev
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security
Josoft said:
Thanks Brink, solved in fact I added the "Snip & Sketch" app to the taskbar but I still haven't been able to insert the contacts in the bar itself. Very useful operation to send emails quickly.
Click to expand...

You could create a People app shortcut with ms-people: , and pin to taskbar to use for your contacts.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
When clicking the quick settings or notification buttons nothing happens. Even hitting "windows + A" or "windows + N" won't open them
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
Hi, does anyone know how to open the quick settings by a url or a command? Like you can open the notification center by running ms-actioncenter:. I use Win+A for other things. I want to use autohotkey to map the url (if there is one) to another hotkey.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop Studio
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700KF
    Motherboard
    MSI PRO Z690-A
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX 4070
    Screen Resolution
    4k
toshiki2 said:
Hi, does anyone know how to open the quick settings by a url or a command? Like you can open the notification center by running ms-actioncenter:. I use Win+A for other things. I want to use autohotkey to map the url (if there is one) to another hotkey.
Click to expand...
ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/true

that what you're looking for?

if you want the media controls menu above the quick settings:

ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/&
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
dacrone said:
ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/true>

that what you're looking for?>>

if you want the media controls menu above the quick settings:

ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/&
Click to expand...
Thank you. I found that both the commands you gave show the same quick settings without the media control, whereas ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/ shows the quick settings with media control.

One strange issue though is that the quick settings shown by the commands doesn't collapse either by clicking any area other than the wifi/volume/battery region or by running the command again. So let's say one wants to check the current volume. After running the command to let the quick settings show up, it can't be easily closed. The command for notification center, ms-actioncenter:controlcenter, doesn't have this problem.

By the way, is there a documentation of these commands somewhere? They seem to be pretty useful.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop Studio
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700KF
    Motherboard
    MSI PRO Z690-A
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX 4070
    Screen Resolution
    4k
toshiki2 said:
Thank you. I found that both the commands you gave show the same quick settings without the media control, whereas ms-actioncenter:controlcenter/ shows the quick settings with media control.

One strange issue though is that the quick settings shown by the commands doesn't collapse either by clicking any area other than the wifi/volume/battery region or by running the command again. So let's say one wants to check the current volume. After running the command to let the quick settings show up, it can't be easily closed. The command for notification center, ms-actioncenter:controlcenter, doesn't have this problem.
Click to expand...
i cannot replicate the issue you're having. no matter which command i use to launch it, clicking anywhere else hides the quick settings pane.
also - only the & command shows the media controls for me. without it, only the windows quick settings shows

/true
1734459351917.webp


/&
1734459430509.webp


toshiki2 said:
ms-actioncenter:controlcenter
Click to expand...
this only shows the notifications and calendar, not the quick settings
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
dacrone said:
i cannot replicate the issue you're having
Click to expand...
I tested this on two machines with a Windows 11 24H2 Home and a Pro. Note that the first command I wrote has a / in the end. I found additionally that actually the first time I run those commands, I can click elsewhere to collapse the quick setting, but all runs after the first will behave like I described.

I only found one mention of ms-actioncenter:controlcenter on Microsoft's website here. I'm not sure what the & and true do. And I feel strange that simply adding a slash opens a different panel (quick setting instead of notification center).
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop Studio
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700KF
    Motherboard
    MSI PRO Z690-A
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX 4070
    Screen Resolution
    4k
not sure then. i just ran each command x7 and every time i click out of the area, they close
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
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