FIX: Two Control Panel Windows Open in Windows 10/11

Although Windows 10 is far more stable than it was when the Insider Program started, users are still facing some strange issues. This time, some users complained about how every time they open Control Panel, two windows show up. But this is a minor issue, and it can be resolved easily.

Why does Windows open two Control Panel screens?

Users report that when they try to open Control Panel, two windows of Explorer open instead of one, which is expected. This problem occurs when they try to open Control Panel with Cortana, but also when they access it from Win + X menu. Simply said, howsoever they open Control Panel, two windows show up, and it’s very annoying.

1. Edit folder and search options

But, there’s an explanation why this happens. Due some kind of bug in Windows 10, whenever you try to open Control Panel, it will open twice if the option “Lanuch folder windows in a separate process” in File Explorer is enabled. To fix this issue, just follow these steps:

1. Open File Explorer
2. Click the File button and choose Change folder and search options
3. Go to the View tab and untick Launch folder windows in a separate process

That would be all, you can open Control Panel again and you’ll see that only one window will open. We’re sure that Microsoft will get rid of this and other small bugs of the kind by the time the next Windows 10 version comes out, or maybe even in some of the coming builds. But until then, small workarounds like this will get the job done.

2. Update your computer

Make sure that you’re running the latest OS updates on your machine. Microsoft regularly rolls out new system updates to make the OS more stable and add various bug fixes and improvements.

Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.

If you have any comments or suggestions, write them down in the comments section below, we’d certainly like to read your thoughts.