6 thoughts on “Show nonpresent devices to remove unneeded drivers”
Dave
Hi, I found this searching for „Show Nonpresent Devices“ as I can never quite remember it, but I had been entering it into the Environment Variables (Sys Properties, Advanced) window before launching Device Manager. Your way is not only more direct but offers an extra benefit…
Take the last two lines (i.e. ignore the cmd bit) and paste them into Notepad. Save as ShowNPDevices.bat. Now you don’t need to remember it, just click the .bat file and you’re into DevManager with the flag set.
It’s worth adding that you still need to go View Show Hidden Devices after setting the flag though.
Sorry if this is a tad oversimplified for yourself but I figure you’re one of the highest Googles for it so I thought I’d explain it for anyone.
Thanks,
– David
David Velarde
Anothing thing to mentioned when you open the terminal to type
cmd
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc
Do not close the terminal till your work is done. Once you are finishing removing unneeded devices then you can close the terminal typing „exit“ or whichever way you want.
I found myself trying to figure why it would not work for me because I would tend to close the terminal.
David.
Marcel Stürtz
How about a batchfile in your user directory?
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start /wait devmgmt.msc
I find myself using this every time I work with virtual machines and using the user directory on the network makes it accessible
The cmd window closes when you exit the device manager.
waldstein
There’s an even better way, which I discovered after weeks of misery with my usb ports. This little freeware app displays, and REMOVES with one click, all devices (present and non-present) that you wish to get rid of.
PS…Think how little effort it would have taken MS to add a small, clever, utility like this to their overbloated os.
Sorry, I should have added that this works only for non-present and duplicated USB hubs and devices. But my hunch is that USB is the most common source of problems associated with non present devices. For the obvious reason that USB are removable devices.
Hi, I found this searching for „Show Nonpresent Devices“ as I can never quite remember it, but I had been entering it into the Environment Variables (Sys Properties, Advanced) window before launching Device Manager. Your way is not only more direct but offers an extra benefit…
Take the last two lines (i.e. ignore the cmd bit) and paste them into Notepad. Save as ShowNPDevices.bat. Now you don’t need to remember it, just click the .bat file and you’re into DevManager with the flag set.
It’s worth adding that you still need to go View Show Hidden Devices after setting the flag though.
Sorry if this is a tad oversimplified for yourself but I figure you’re one of the highest Googles for it so I thought I’d explain it for anyone.
Thanks,
– David
Anothing thing to mentioned when you open the terminal to type
cmd
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc
Do not close the terminal till your work is done. Once you are finishing removing unneeded devices then you can close the terminal typing „exit“ or whichever way you want.
I found myself trying to figure why it would not work for me because I would tend to close the terminal.
David.
How about a batchfile in your user directory?
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start /wait devmgmt.msc
I find myself using this every time I work with virtual machines and using the user directory on the network makes it accessible
The cmd window closes when you exit the device manager.
There’s an even better way, which I discovered after weeks of misery with my usb ports. This little freeware app displays, and REMOVES with one click, all devices (present and non-present) that you wish to get rid of.
PS…Think how little effort it would have taken MS to add a small, clever, utility like this to their overbloated os.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html
Sorry, I should have added that this works only for non-present and duplicated USB hubs and devices. But my hunch is that USB is the most common source of problems associated with non present devices. For the obvious reason that USB are removable devices.
Other options:
1) Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum
2) Device Cleanup Tool
3) GhostBuster
Detailed info, here: http://www.sysadmit.com/2015/09/windows-eliminar-dispositivos-ocultos.html