Launch Windows Features from WSL Shells

This blog post explains one technique that you can use in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to launch Windows features supported by the Windows Run dialog and the Windows console that WSL shells cannot launch by default.

The Windows Run dialog and the Windows console (cmd.exe) can launch Windows components that WSL shells apparently cannot. For example, you can enter the following into the Run dialog to access Mouse properties:

ms-settings:mousetouchpad

In the console and in WSL shells, you can achieve the same by prepending explorer.exe:

explorer.exe ms-settings:mousetouchpad

The Windows console also provides a start command that does not seem to be available from the Bash shell, but Microsoft seems to be replacing that start command with explorer.exe.

In both the Run dialog and the console, you can use this command without explorer.exe to access Display properties:

desk.cpl

For me, this fails on WSL with an error message such as the following:

/mnt/c/Windows/system32/desk.cpl: Invalid argument

Prepending explorer.exe opens Windows Explorer rather than Display properties.

You can address this buy prepending cmd.exe /c.

cmd.exe /c desk.cpl

The error message seems irrelevant. In a script, in case the command could generate other error messages, I would change to a directory that does not generate the error rather than redirecting standard error.

Here are the .cpl files that I could find and what I think they do:

Firewall.cpl	Windows Defender Firewall
TabletPC.cpl	N/A
appwiz.cpl	Programs and Features
bthprops.cpl	N/A
desk.cpl	Display Properties (Desktop)
hdwwiz.cpl	Device Manager
inetcpl.cpl	Internet Properties
intl.cpl	Region (Internationalization)
irprops.cpl	N/A
joy.cpl	Joystocks/Game Controllers
main.cpl	Mouse Properties
mmsys.cpl	Sound
ncpa.cpl	Network Connections
powercfg.cpl	Power Options
sysdm.cpl	System Properties
telephon.cpl	Location Information (Phone)
timedate.cpl	Date and Time
wscui.cpl	Security and Maintenance
FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl	Flash Player Settings Manager

I intend to update an existing script that I use to access windows features to incorporate these functions..

There may be better ways.