Find and Identify Unknown Devices through Device Manager
Information
This guide will show you how to locate the unidentified hardware in your device manager by using Hardware Identification. The goal of this tutorial is to help identify an unidentified device.
Note
Prerequisite knowledge includes opening windows device manager, surfing the internet, data entry and basic windows navigation skills
Warning
Installing the wrong driver can crash your system, this technique revolves around the use of a 3rd party online hardware ID database.
Some devices (such as legacy devices) may not have hardware ID's. See the "But what if there's no Hardware ID in the drop down box?" for tips on finding out what these devices are.
Here's how
Open Device Manager and find the device. It most likely has a yellow exclamation mark on it like the one in this screenshot below.
Tip
You can open Device Manager quickly by typing devmgmt.msc into RUN or SEARCH and pressing ENTER.
Now that you've found your device, right click on it and select properties.
Click on the Details Tab.
Drop the 'Property' box until you find 'Hardware Id's".
This picture shows my webcam, but unknown devices have hardware ID's too
You'll find some number-letter combinations, here's what they mean: HID = Hardware ID PID = Product ID VID = Vendor ID
Note
The Vendor ID may also be called VEN, so look out for this too. If you're having trouble locating these then please take a look at this great Hardware Identification tutorial by Dwarf
Tip
If you need a driver for this unknown device, then you could do this below by Kari:
Copy the Hardware IDs value.
Go directly to a driver database site, for instance Drivers Lookup and search there with the hardware id.
In my screen print I've looked up my Webcam again. My PID=0804, My VID = 046D.
We need to reference these, so open your browser of choice and navigate to the www.pcidatabase.com website.
There are other websites, but I think that the PCIdatabase.com team has put together a great site with a lot of information should you need to know more about devices and drivers.
Type your PID where it says Device Search and press SEARCH (e.g. for my example I type in 0804 and click on the Search button to the right of the Device Search box).
All Devices with that PID show. This is usually enough; but sometimes multiple devices will show.
If you have multiple Devices, then you need your VID, so look back to your details column under Hardware ID's and reference it against the Vendor ID column with your VID. Mine was 046D and you can see 0x46d in the Vendor column. That's a match.
You've now identified your device and can now search for the correct drivers for it.
But what if there's no Hardware ID in the drop down box?
With older legacy devices, some virtual devices, non-plug and play devices, and some viruses there may not be a hardware ID, however there there are other things you can do to find your unrecognized device.
Have a look at these entries in the drop down, there are others, but these are the most common that you will find when the Hardware ID is missing.
DevNode status - This will tell us the current status of the device and differentiate between a driver existing and a driver loading. If the driver exists you can look at it's *.inf file (the inf file name is in the Inf Name drop down)
Device Instance path - Often contains Vendor and hardware information, if not than it may contain an ACPI linking it to a processor group.
Class Long Name - It's group name (e.g. Processors)
Class Short Name - It's short (actual) name (e.g. Processor)
Class icon path - The path to a dll that houses this devices icons. Although this is likely to be windows generic, it;s worthwhile taking a look at the icons in the *.dll, the easiest way to do this is to change an icon on any shortcut or folder and navigate to that *.dll to browse the icons.
siblings - Any related siblings
parent - any related parents
If you are trying to find a Legacy item, it will likely be at this registry address HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\. It should begin with the LEGACY_ (e.g. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_CPUZ132)
The Windows Registry Editor can be opened by typing REGEDIT into RUN or SEARCH.
Some other locations that you may find this information (with thanks to WindowsStar)are: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\Root\
Warning
Edit the registry can crash your machine, use this as a research tool only, unless you know what you are doing
Enjoy!
TimStitt
REFERENCES
These References have been added after additional information was provided. The added dates refer to when this tutorial was updated with the additional information.
Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 CPU Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz) Motherboard ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M Memory 4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB) Graphics Card 2 x AMD Radeon HD7770 1GB CrossFired (OC 1100MHz/1250MHz) Sound Card Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898) Monitor(s) Displays ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen (VGA) Screen Resolution 1440x900
Keyboard Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB) Mouse Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB) PSU XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular Case Gigabyte IF233 Cooling 1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust Hard Drives OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0 Internet Speed NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2) Antivirus Avast! 8.0.1483 Browser IE 9 Other Info Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
CTF-430 Tablet & Pen
WEI Score: 7.7/7.9/7.4/7.4/7.9
Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
To find this information, please see my post on this topic (link at bottom of above Tutorial).
Hi Dwarf,
I feel like I've tried to reinvented the wheel and didn't know that you'd already written one of these. I searched but didn't find.
I like your use on RED and BLUE to show the VENDER and DEVICE ID's and it points out that Vender ID's can be called VEN as well. I'll make a few edits in regards to the later and link to yours in regards to colors.
Good Post mate.
-Timo
EDIT: Updated with some new info that you provided and referenced.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom Hack job OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit CPU Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz Motherboard GigaByte EP45-UD3 Memory 8 GB Kingston Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600GT Sound Card Soundblaster Audigy Monitor(s) Displays AOC x2 22"
Keyboard Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 1000 Mouse Microsoft Wireless Optical 2000 PSU Thermaltake QFan 750W Case CM Scout Gaming Cooling Coolermaster V10 Hard Drives 2 x Samsung 500GB (RAID)
2 x Samsung 2TB
1 x WD Green 2TB
1 x Seagate 1TB
1 x Samsung 500GB Internet Speed 320 Other Info Winfast PVR2000CP
LG DVD-RAM DVD/RW/DL Super Multi
Linksys WMP300Nx2 Wireless Adapter
thank you but I don't understand how can I get VID and PID ?
Hi Dew1,
I've updated the tutorial today with a little new info from Dwarf, if after looking at this and his tutorial you're still lost, then please let me know at which step you lose you way and please post a screen shot of what your looking at. I'm quite happy to help.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom Hack job OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit CPU Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz Motherboard GigaByte EP45-UD3 Memory 8 GB Kingston Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600GT Sound Card Soundblaster Audigy Monitor(s) Displays AOC x2 22"
Keyboard Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 1000 Mouse Microsoft Wireless Optical 2000 PSU Thermaltake QFan 750W Case CM Scout Gaming Cooling Coolermaster V10 Hard Drives 2 x Samsung 500GB (RAID)
2 x Samsung 2TB
1 x WD Green 2TB
1 x Seagate 1TB
1 x Samsung 500GB Internet Speed 320 Other Info Winfast PVR2000CP
LG DVD-RAM DVD/RW/DL Super Multi
Linksys WMP300Nx2 Wireless Adapter
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Win7 HP (x64)/Win7 Ultimate (x64) CPU Core i7 920 Motherboard Intel X58 Memory 6 x 2GB Corsair XMS3 Graphics Card CF HD4890 Sound Card Asus Xonar Monitor(s) Displays Dell 2408WFP Screen Resolution 1920 x 1200
Keyboard Razer Lycosa/N52te Mouse Razer Lachesis PSU Corsair HX1000W Case Antec 1200 Hard Drives 2 x 150GB WDC Velociraptors (Raid 0)
1 x 1TB Seagate
1 x 1.5TB Seagate
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom Hack job OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit CPU Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz Motherboard GigaByte EP45-UD3 Memory 8 GB Kingston Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600GT Sound Card Soundblaster Audigy Monitor(s) Displays AOC x2 22"
Keyboard Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 1000 Mouse Microsoft Wireless Optical 2000 PSU Thermaltake QFan 750W Case CM Scout Gaming Cooling Coolermaster V10 Hard Drives 2 x Samsung 500GB (RAID)
2 x Samsung 2TB
1 x WD Green 2TB
1 x Seagate 1TB
1 x Samsung 500GB Internet Speed 320 Other Info Winfast PVR2000CP
LG DVD-RAM DVD/RW/DL Super Multi
Linksys WMP300Nx2 Wireless Adapter
Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number [May-Dec-2012] - New Mid-tower - (is done!) OS Windows 7 Professional SP1 - x64 CPU Ivy Bridge Core i5 K Motherboard Asus H77 Chipset (ATX) Memory G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 (16Gb) Graphics Card Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X Oc Sound Card SBXi-Fi Xtreme Audio (w/5.1 sound system) Monitor(s) Displays Asus Led 21,5" Screen Resolution 16/9
Keyboard Razer + Razer gamepad Mouse Razer PSU 700w 80+ Gold (ErP 6 ready) Case Cooler Master Silencio 550-v2 (modded) Cooling Gelid Solutions (PWM Push/pull Fans) Hard Drives Internal:
500Go Sata 6Gb/s (x2)
500Go Sata 3Gb/s (x2)
SSD 60Go Sata 6Gb/s Antivirus MSE 4.2 Browser IE10 Rtm
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom Hack job OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit CPU Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz Motherboard GigaByte EP45-UD3 Memory 8 GB Kingston Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600GT Sound Card Soundblaster Audigy Monitor(s) Displays AOC x2 22"
Keyboard Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 1000 Mouse Microsoft Wireless Optical 2000 PSU Thermaltake QFan 750W Case CM Scout Gaming Cooling Coolermaster V10 Hard Drives 2 x Samsung 500GB (RAID)
2 x Samsung 2TB
1 x WD Green 2TB
1 x Seagate 1TB
1 x Samsung 500GB Internet Speed 320 Other Info Winfast PVR2000CP
LG DVD-RAM DVD/RW/DL Super Multi
Linksys WMP300Nx2 Wireless Adapter
Information
Note
Warning
Tip
Quote: Originally Posted by Dwarf 
I searched but didn't find.
