Control Panel Empty on Windows Server 2008 R2 DataCenter

windows-server-2008windows-server-2008-r2

I am a local admin on a Windows Server 2008 R2 DataCenter machine, but when I remote into the server and open the Control Panel, almost all of the items are gone or missing.

Could there be a security setting somewhere that is preventing these from displaying?

Empty Control Panel

If I click on Control Panel Home, here's a screenshot of my only options: Date and Time, Fonts, Keyboard, and Mouse.

Best Answer

As GregAskew pointed out, I was able to survey the Group Policy Settings by going to the command prompt and using gpresult:

gpresult /h gpresult.html

This helped identify the fact that a group policy was in effect to "Show only specified Control Panel items":

gp result

If you have permissions, you can locally override this by enabling this setting on the Local Group Policy Editor

First, run gpedit.msc from the command prompt, then navigate to:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel

Group Policy Editor

Now you can add in Control Panel Items you want to see.

You can generate a list of Control Panel Items by going to C:\Windows\System32 and searching for "*.cpl"

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