Device Manager is a Control Panel applet in Microsoft Windows operating systems. It allows users to view and control the hardware attached to the computer. When a piece of hardware is not working, the offending hardware is highlighted for the user to deal with. The list of hardware can be sorted by various criteria.[1]
For each device, users can:
- Supply device drivers in accordance with the Windows Driver Model
- Enable or disable devices
- Tell Windows to ignore malfunctioning devices
- View other technical properties
Device Manager was introduced with Windows 95 and later added to Windows 2000. In NT-based versions, it is included as a Microsoft Management Console snap-in.
Types of icons[]
Disabled device[]
A disabled device has either been manually disabled by a user or by some way of error. In Windows 95 through XP, this is denoted by a red X. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, this was replaced by a grey downward pointing arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the device's icon.
Hardware not working properly[]
There are many reasons why hardware may not work properly. If Windows recognizes a problem with a device, it is denoted by a black exclamation point (!) on a yellow triangle in the lower right-hand corner of the device's icon.
Hardware not recognized[]
Hardware may not be recognized if it is not installed properly or not compatible with the system. This is denoted by a yellow question mark in place of the device's icon.
Device manually selected[]
A blue "i" on a white field in the lower right-hand corner of a Device's icon indicates that the Use automatic settings feature is not selected for the device and that the resource was manually selected. Note that this does not indicate a problem or disabled state.
Error codes[]
Device Manager error codes are numerical codes, each accompanied by an error message, which help users determine what kind of issue Windows is having with a piece of hardware.[2][3]
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | This device has not been configured correctly. |
| 3 | The driver for this device may be corrupted, or the system may be running low on memory. |
| 10 | This device cannot start. |
| 12 | Not enough resources for the device. |
| 14 | The computer must be restarted for the device to work properly. |
| 16 | Windows can't identify all the resources this device requires. |
| 18 | Drivers for this device must be reinstalled. |
| 19 | Configuration information in Windows registry is damaged or corrupted for this device. |
| 21 | Windows is removing this device. |
| 22 | This device is disabled. |
| 24 | This device is not present, does not have all its drivers installed, or is not working properly. |
| 28 | The drivers for this device are not installed. |
| 29 | The firmware of the device did not give it the required resources. |
| 31 | Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. |
| 32 | A driver for this device has been disabled. |
| 33 | Windows cannot determine which resources are required for this device. |
| 34 | Windows cannot determine the settings for this device. |
| 35 | The computer's firmware does not include enough information to properly configure and use this device. |
| 36 | This device is requesting a PCI interrupt but is configured for an ISA interrupt (or vice versa). |
| 37 | Windows failed to initialize the device driver for this hardware. |
| 38 | Windows cannot run the driver for this device because a previous instance of the driver exists. |
| 39 | Windows cannot load the driver for this device. The driver may be corrupted or missing. |
| 40 | Windows cannot access this hardware because its service key information in the registry is missing or corrupted. |
| 41 | Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device. |
| 42 | Windows cannot run the driver for this device because there is a duplicate device already running in the system. |
| 43 | Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. |
| 44 | An application or service has shut down this hardware device. |
| 45 | This hardware device is not connected to the computer. |
| 46 | Windows cannot gain access to this hardware device because the operating system is in the process of shutting down. |
| 47 | Windows cannot use this device because it has been prepared for safe removal, but it has not been removed from the computer. |
| 48 | The driver for this device has been blocked from starting because it is known to have problems with Windows. |
| 49 | Windows cannot start new hardware devices because the system hive is too large and exceeds the Registry Size Limit. |
| 52 | Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged. |
Driverquery command[]
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Command |
| License | Proprietary commercial software |
The driverquery[4] command-line program generates lists of installed devices and drivers, similar to the Device Manager's output, which the user may view on-screen or redirect to a file. This is useful for note-taking and for reporting problems to remote third parties such as technical support personnel. The program has switches to control the output detail and format, including an /fo switch with csv parameter to generate output in comma-separated values format, suitable for importing into a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.[5]