Below are the steps, the alternatives, a display quirk on Windows 11 that can confuse people, and what the folder does and doesn't do.
What "God Mode" actually is
The name oversells it. Nothing gets unlocked, you don't get extra permissions, and no hidden part of the operating system opens up. Microsoft's own label for this view is "All Tasks," and "God Mode" is a nickname that caught on. On the Microsoft Q&A forums, an accepted answer from the Windows 7 days calls it a command that "gives you a list of 'All Tasks' shortcuts." Another reply calls it simply a list of Control Panel items.
Here's how it works. Windows Explorer shows more than files on disk. Microsoft's Shell namespace documentation says the shell also manages "virtual objects" such as network printers, the Recycle Bin and Control Panel applications. Each of these is identified by a CLSID. Microsoft's COM documentation defines a CLSID as a globally unique, 128-bit identifier written in hex inside curly braces.
If you add a period and the right CLSID to the end of a folder name, Explorer stops treating the folder as a container for files. It opens the shell view tied to that identifier instead. For the All Tasks list, the identifier is {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.
Section summary: It's a shortcut into a shell view that already exists in Windows. It is not a secret mode.
How to create the God Mode folder in Windows 11
The simplest method is to rename a folder:
- Right-click an empty area of the desktop and choose New > Folder.
- Rename the folder to exactly this:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
- Press Enter.
What success looks like: the folder's icon changes to the Control Panel icon. Double-clicking it opens the All Tasks list.
Only the part after the period matters to Windows. The "GodMode" text is just a label. Winaero's guide uses All Tasks.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}, and after hitting Enter, the folder will change its icon automatically. On the Eleven Forum, a user pointed out that you can name it JMedlock.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} ...if you want.
The Windows 11 quirk: the folder name disappears
This catches people out. Windows 11 may not show the label you typed. Tom's Hardware's Windows 11 walkthrough warns that the name will disappear once you finish renaming.
A Microsoft Q&A thread from a Windows 11 Enterprise 22H2 user (build 22621.2283) describes the result. The folder ends up with no visible name and the same icon as Control Panel. The user kept opening the wrong one by mistake. An independent advisor in that thread confirmed that the name disappears and said there's no built-in way to change it.
Volunteer moderator Les Ferch suggested a fix in the same thread: make a regular shortcut that points to the folder.
- Create the GodMode folder somewhere out of the way, not on the desktop.
- Right-click the desktop and choose New > Shortcut.
- Enter the full path to the folder, ending in
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. - Give the shortcut a name, such as GodMode.
- Optionally, right-click the shortcut, choose Properties, then Change Icon to give it a different icon from Control Panel.
Skip the folder: the shortcut and Run-box methods
You don't need a desktop folder at all. Raj pins God Mode to Start on both of his machines using a standard shortcut, and other sources describe the same method:
- Right-click the desktop and select New > Shortcut.
- In the location box, paste:
explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
- Click Next, name it "God Mode," and click Finish.
How-To Geek's version is nearly the same: right-click an empty space, select "New," then "Shortcut," type explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} in the location field, click "Next," name it God Mode, and click "Finish." Raj says that once you have the shortcut, you can drag it to the taskbar, pin it to Start, or pin it in File Explorer. Pinning options can vary a little between Windows builds.
If you only need the list now and then, you don't have to create anything. Winaero's method is to right-click the Start button and select Run from the menu, then type the shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} command. The same string has been around since the Vista and Windows 7 era. A Dutch-language Microsoft Q&A answer from 2013 gave the Win+R method and listed it as working on Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Winaero also suggests assigning a keyboard shortcut once you've made a shortcut file, which will allow you to quickly open from any running app, at any moment.
Section summary: Use the folder if you like the classic trick. Use the shortcut if you want a visible name and an easy way to pin it. Use the Run box if you only need it once in a while.
What you get inside, and why it helps
The list is long and sorted into categories. Tom's Hardware's Windows 10/11 guide counts more than 200 entries. That's an outside estimate, not a number Microsoft guarantees. The contents depend on your Windows version, installed components and configuration.
Raj says the real advantage is that you can search the list. You recognize the setting you want instead of having to remember where it lives. He points to Jakob Nielsen's 1994 usability heuristic "recognition rather than recall." He also says the Settings app "completely ignores" that principle, which is his opinion rather than a measured finding. His examples:
- Searching "power" brings up Change what the power buttons do.
- Searching "printer" brings up View devices and printers.
- Before CPU or GPU benchmark runs, he uses it to change processor power state limits, PCIe Link State Power Management and USB selective suspend. These settings live deep inside advanced power plan options that most people never open.
Tom's Hardware gives another good example: environment variables. Normally you get there through Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings and then a button. In God Mode, it's one entry.
Safety, limits and what deleting it does
A few honest caveats:
- No special powers. Each entry opens the same tool you'd reach the normal way, with the same permission checks. Anything that needs administrator rights still needs them.
- It's an index, not a settings store. Raj says deleting the folder changes nothing else on your system, and settings you changed through it stay changed. That fits how a shortcut works, although Microsoft hasn't formally documented it for this CLSID.
- The tools are still real tools. The accepted Microsoft Q&A answer warns that the shortcut list can have "funky" results if the programs are used incorrectly or unwisely. Know what a power, device or security setting does before you change it.
- It doesn't replace Settings. Many entries open legacy Control Panel dialogs. Plenty of newer Windows 11 features live only in the Settings app and aren't in this list.
- Microsoft doesn't promise to keep it. Les Ferch noted in the Q&A thread that Microsoft is slowly moving away from Control Panel. Treat God Mode as a convenience that could change in a future release.
For IT admins, God Mode is harmless. It's a launcher that respects existing permissions, so your Group Policy, Intune and account controls still decide who can actually change what. Technicians may also find the Run-box version handy on machines they don't own, because it doesn't leave a folder behind.
The verdict
Is it worth ten seconds of your time? If you regularly jump between legacy dialogs, power plans and device settings, yes. A search box over a flat list really is quicker than clicking through Settings, getting sent to Control Panel, and coming back again. Raj's claim that it "beats" Settings comes from his own benchmarking workflow, not independent testing. Most people will do better using it alongside Settings rather than instead of it.
The practical approach: open the master list, find the handful of tasks you actually use, and drag those entries out as individual shortcuts. You'll still get the result in a couple of clicks, without scrolling through 200-odd entries.