On Windows 11/10 computers, you have commands called URIs. URIs are short for Unique Resource Identifiers and help to make it easy for us to use and access Microsoft Store applications on Windows 10. In this article, we have compiled a list of the most commonly used URIs to open UWP apps on Windows 11/10.
In this article, we will be touching base on and discussing several topics. Here, we have listed all that we talk about in this article so that you can easily navigate to the parts you are the most interested in:
- What are URI commands and what can they do
- A list of the URI commands for the most frequently used apps on Windows 10
- How to execute URI commands via the Command Prompt
- How to execute URI commands via PowerShell
- How to execute URI commands via the Run Dialog Box
What are URIs?
For those unfamiliar, let us begin by introducing what these Unique Resource Identifiers are and help you understand what they do in a little more detail. Making the Microsoft Store an app for Windows opened the opportunity for every individual app, that can be downloaded via the Store, to register a special, unique identifier for itself that can be used to open and access it. This is exactly what these URIs do. Not only do these URIs exist for applications, but also Settings pages and their sub-sections. They help you open Windows apps more directly. You can think of these URI commands as the .exe files for the traditional Win32 apps back in the day.
If you know what commands are to be executed, you can do a lot more with these Unique Resource Identifiers than simply opening up applications. You can modify the ms-settings URI command and make several kinds of changes to your apps. Each URI command is individual in nature, coming from its respective developer. No two apps’ URIs, thus, have a direct correlation.
URI Commands to open Microsoft Store apps
Now that you have sufficient insight about what URI commands are and the function they serve, let’s share with you some of the most important and frequently-used ones.
App Name URI Command
| 3D Builder | com.Microsoft.builder3d: |
| Action Center | ms-actioncenter: |
| Alarms & Clock | ms-clock: |
| Calculator | calculator: |
| Calendar | outlookcal: |
| Camera | microsoft.windows.camera: |
| Connect | ms-projection: |
| Cortana | ms-cortana: |
| Microsoft Whiteboard | ms-whiteboard-cmd: |
| Device Discovery | ms-settings-connectabledevices:devicediscovery |
| Feedback Hub | feedback-hub: |
| Get Help | ms-contact-support: |
| Groove Music | mswindowsmusic: |
| outlookmail: | |
| Maps | bingmaps: |
| Microsoft Edge | microsoft-edge: |
| Microsoft Store | ms-windows-store: |
| Microsoft Store – Movies & TV section | microsoftvideo: |
| Mixed Reality Camera | ms-holocamera: |
| Mixed Reality Portal | ms-holographicfirstrun: |
| Movies & TV (Films & TV) | mswindowsvideo: |
| Networks | ms-availablenetworks: |
| News | bingnews: |
| OneNote | onenote: |
| Paint 3D | ms-paint: |
| People | ms-people: |
| Photos | ms-photos: |
| Project Display | ms-settings-displays-topology:projection |
| Settings | ms-settings: |
| Tips | ms-get-started: |
| View 3D Preview | com.microsoft.3dviewer: |
| Voice Recorder | ms-callrecording: |
| Weather | bingweather: |
| Windows Defender Security Center | windowsdefender: |
| Windows Mixed Reality Environments | ms-environment-builder: |
| Windows Parental Controls | ms-wpc: |
| Xbox | xbox: |
| Xbox – Friends list | xbox-friendfinder: |
| Xbox – Profile page | xbox-profile: |
| Xbox – Network settings | xbox-network: |
| Xbox – Settings | xbox-settings: |
| Xbox One SmartGlass | smartglass: |
On Windows 10 computers there are several third-party apps pre-installed; games like Candy Crush Saga and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. These, too, can be accessed using their URIs. Below are the URI commands for them.
App Name URI Command
| Candy Crush Soda Saga | candycrushsodasaga: |
| Drawboard | PDFdrawboardpdf: |
| fb: | |
| Microsoft Solitaire Collection | xboxliveapp-1297287741: |
| Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition | minecraft: |
| twitter: |
How to use URI commands to open apps on Windows 11/10
The big question, after knowing what the URI commands are, is how to execute them. There are three ways in which you could do that; the Command Prompt, the PowerShell, and the Run dialog box, and the steps required to be taken in each one of them are pretty much the same. So here goes, one by one.
Using Command Prompt
- Open the Start menu.
- Open the Command Prompt by searching for it and run it as administrator.
- Execute “start <appURICommand>:” command. Replace <appURICommand> with the actual app URI command.
- For example, if you want to open the Microsoft Paint 3D app, execute the following command:
start ms-paint:
Using PowerShell
You can follow the same steps as mentioned above to open an app using its URI command via PowerShell too. Open PowerShell and execute the command as it is. We will also be showing you how to run an app’s URI command using the Run dialog box.
Using Run dialog box
- Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows and ‘R’ key combination.
- In the empty command line space, type the app’s URI command. For example, for the Paint 3D app, it will be ‘ms-paint:’.
- Click on the ‘Ok’ button and the app of your choice will open up.
We hope that we were able to satisfactorily explain what URI commands are and what they are used for, along with their execution process.
Related: How to Prevent launching apps associated with file or URI scheme.
