What are these special names, and how do they work?

Question

On Windows 10, if I create a folder called whatever.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} it opens a folder with every Control Panel command.

If I enter the location shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} in the Windows Explorer address bar, I enter the same place. What exactly is this? Are there any other "shortcuts" like this?

I have also found out {4234d49b-0245-4df3-B780-3893943456e1} opens an "Applications" folder.

Note: I don't mean to create a custom Control Panel, I just want further information about these type of shell "links".

Answer 1

Canonical Names of Control Panel Items

As of Windows Vista, Control Panel items included with Windows are given a canonical name that can be used in an API call or a command-line instruction to programmatically launch that item.

The page contains a list of Control Panel Canonical Names. Examples:

Administrative Tools
Canonical name: Microsoft.AdministrativeTools
GUID: {D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524153}
Supported OS: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
Module name: @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-22982

AutoPlay
Canonical name: Microsoft.AutoPlay
GUID: {9C60DE1E-E5FC-40f4-A487-460851A8D915}
Supported OS: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
Module name: @%SystemRoot%\System32\autoplay.dll,-1

The page KNOWNFOLDERID contains a list of many "Known Folders" (with GUID's).