God Mode Easter Egg

January 4th, 2010

I did not discover this, I got it from a tweet that Rob Conery put out there. Thank you, Rob!

I don’t know if this is a Windows 7 hack or if this is available in other operating systems.

  1. Create a new folder on your desktop
  2. Name the new folder:
    GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

The new folder will change into this icon.

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Clicking your shiny new icon will result in a new window that gives shortcut access to the myriad of configuration and administration utilities in Windows that I always seem to need to hunt down.

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Opening one of these nodes will provide direct access to the associated utils.

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Weird and beautiful, isn’t it?

It makes me wonder what other Easter eggs are in there.

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  • Joseph

    The end of the folder name refers to registry key:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

    You can locate this exact info by selecting Control Panel from the start menet, and then selecting All Control Panel Items.

    To understad why this works, you need to understand that the Windows system consists mostly of folders, ether real or virtual. When you place .{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} at the end of the folder name it tells Windows to give the folder that same properties of that classid.

    There have been examples of this over time, and each time it’s hailed as a ‘secret’ trick. The only new thing is finding the classid :)

    http://www.chami.com/tips/windows/103096W.html
    http://aroundcny.com/Technofile/texts/bkcpltricks197.html
    http://www.thehackerslibrary.com/?p=21

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  • unregistered

    Wes :

    Kerrick Long :
    This is also not an easter egg, but a feature.

    Features are documented, easter eggs are not. Is there a reference for the documentation on this feature?

    At least the concept is documented: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc144096(VS.85).aspx

  • Deep

    @Scott
    That happened to me, also, and I started freaking out until I did system restore (just for safety) and had my dad rename the file and delete it in Safe Mode (w/ Command Prompt), it took a while, but I was able to salvage my Desktop.

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