Using ms-settings URIs in Helpdesk and Scripts
Deep-link users straight to the exact Windows Settings page — from chat, scripts, shortcuts, or your RMM — instead of narrating “click Start, then Settings, then…”.
Every page in Windows Settings has a URI, like ms-settings:windowsupdate. Anything that can open a link can jump a user straight there — which turns “walk the user through six clicks” into “click this.” Our ms-settings Quick Access tool is the searchable directory; this guide is what to do with the URIs.
The helpdesk move: send the link
Paste the URI into Teams/chat or an email. When the user clicks it (or pastes it into the Run dialog / browser address bar), Windows asks to open Settings and lands on the exact page:
ms-settings:windowsupdate— Windows Updatems-settings:display— Displayms-settings:network-status— Network statusms-settings:printers— Printers & scannersms-settings:appsfeatures— Installed apps
Windows shows an “open Settings?” confirmation — that’s normal browser-security behavior, tell users to expect it.
From PowerShell, scripts, and your RMM
Opening a Settings page programmatically is one line — useful at the end of a remediation script (“now showing the user the page to confirm”) or as an RMM quick action:
# Open a settings page for the logged-on userStart-Process "ms-settings:windowsupdate"# From cmd / a batch filestart ms-settings:display
Desktop shortcuts for repeat offenders
For the settings a user visits weekly (printers, displays, Bluetooth), drop a shortcut on their desktop:
$ws = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell$sc = $ws.CreateShortcut("$env:Public\Desktop\Printers.lnk")$sc.TargetPath = "ms-settings:printers"$sc.Save()
Limits worth knowing
URIs open a page — they can’t change a setting or pass parameters (with rare exceptions). They also only work locally: sending one through a remote-control session opens Settings on the *technician’s* machine unless you run it inside the remote session.
Find any URI fast
The ms-settings Quick Access tool has 76 URIs across 10 categories with search, one-click open, and copy — bookmark it as the team’s lookup table.