Windows 10 Settings menu: The Devices tab

When I first installed the Windows 10 Technical Preview, I took a look at the new Settings menu and wondered if Microsoft was trying to do away with the Control Panel. But after spending some time with the Settings menu, that seems not to be the case — take the Devices tab, for example. You’d think this would be where you’d go to fix any device issues (e.g. a USB microphone that’s not working), but it’s not. Instead, it’s just a place where you can see your connected devices and perhaps add or remove one if you feel so inclined.

To find the Devices tab, open up the new Windows 10 Settings menu by going to the Start menu, then clicking Settings under the Places category, and clicking the icon that says Devices. This icon takes you to the Devices menu, which is more robust than Windows 8.1‘s Devices section (Settings charm > PC settings > PC and devices > Devices). But it’s decidedly less robust than the Device Manager, which you can still find by typing “Device Manager” into Windows 10’s search bar.

The Devices menu combines Windows 8.1’s Devices section with a handful of settings pertaining to your mouse, touchpad and keyboard. Devices is separated into five sections: Printers & scanners, Connected devices, Mouse & touchpad, Typing and AutoPlay.

Printers & scanners is where you’ll find — you guessed it — printers and scanners that are connected to your PC. This includes anything that works like a printer or a scanner, including programs that let you “print to PDF” or write documents. At the top of the screen, you’ll see an option to Add a printer or scanner, and clicking on any existing device gives you the option to remove that device. But you can’t troubleshoot a device or change the way it acts, or even set a default printer.

To do those things, you’ll need to open up either the Devices and printers window from the Control Panel, or the Device manager. Luckily, in Build 10130, Microsoft has added both of these options as links in the Related settings section at the bottom of the screen.

The Connected devices section is similar to the Printers & scanners section, but it’s for devices that are not printers or scanners. At the top of the screen there’s an option to Add a device — while most of your devices won’t need to be manually added if they’re plugged in, if you click this your PC will initiate a Bluetooth scan (mine picked up several cellphones from around my apartment complex).

Next, you’ll see a list of connected devices under Other devices. These devices will include keyboards, mice, speakers, microphones and Bluetooth devices. Like the Printers & scanners section, all you can really do is look at these devices and click on them if you want to remove them. At the bottom of the screen, there’s a Related settings section that offers links to the Devices and printers and Device manager windows.

Mouse & touchpad lets you configure a couple of mouse and touchpad settings, such as selecting your primary mouse button and choosing whether to scroll multiple lines at a time or screen by screen. If you want to configure more advanced mouse settings, such as setting the double-click or pointer speed, you’ll have to go into the Control Panel. Under the Related settings section, there’s a link to Additional mouse options.

Typing appears to be deceptively labeled, as it doesn’t take you to keyboard — either physical or touchscreen — settings, but merely has two toggles for autocorrect and “highlighting misspelled words.” Sorry, but is this a phone or a PC I’m using?

AutoPlay lets you toggle AutoPlay on and off (AutoPlay automatically launches apps depending on what type of removable media/devices you plug in) and also lets you choose AutoPlay defaults for removable drives and memory cards. You can choose to have AutoPlay automatically play media, open a folder to view files, take no action, or prompt you to manually choose every time.

Editor’s note: This How To post was originally published on January 27, but was updated on June 2 to reflect new information from Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview Build 10130.