Device Manager : Hidden Devices

How to Show and Access Hidden and Ghost Devices and Drivers in Device Manager​

This will show you the devices and drivers from programs you no longer use, it will free up some disk space, not to mention help resolve potential conflicts between drivers that are no longer needed.​

   Warning

You do not want delete any Generic Volume Shadow Copy Drivers or Non-Plug and Play Devices before you make sure of their functions as you could disable the PC entirely or at the least some programs / apps will fail to function.

Let's get started!​

1) In the Windows 7 start menu right click computer and select properties, in the "System" window that opens in the upper left pane select Advanced System Settings.

​

2) In the system properties window that opens under the advanced tab select the Environment Variables button, in the Environment Variables window select new, then in the New User Variable window type "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices" (without the quotes) and give it a value of " 1 " then click ok to add the entry, then ok again to finish.


3) Again in the Windows start menu right click computer and this time select manage, in the window that opens in the left pane select Device Manager, at the top click view and select Show Hidden Devices.


4) You can now see hidden / ghost drivers and devices by expanding the entry, they will be faded compared to the others.

Enjoy!

Related Tutorials

---

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/15856-device-manager-access-during-windows-7-installation.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/53667-device-manager-shortcut-create.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2803-device-installation-settings.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2791-devices-printers-device-stage.html
• How to Enable or Disable the Device Manager MMC Snap-in
• How to Uninstall a Device in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello, please look at this image, got directly from 'Show Hidden Devices' in the Device Manager View Menu. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (french).
The red underlined items are the hidden devices and ghosts

Hello Johnatan, welcome to Seven Forums!

If I read French I may have an idea but, do you have a question?

Thanks for the work done and your time Ted

Regards

Hello Lomai, I'm glad it was a help.

 

[nonpasaran]

hi Ted
thank you for tuttorial but i want to know someting;
allready when i open the device menager i can select "Show Hidden Devices" option and i can see the hidden / ghost drivers and whwn i do step 1-2 nothing changing
So why we are doing step 1 and 2 ?
Why it necessary?

 

[TimStitt]

Hi Ted,

I just linked to your excellent tutorial on one that I wrote yesterday, due to the positive feedback on that Unknown Device thread (thanks for the rep too ).

I see that you mentioned the Computer Management Console in your tutorial and I've been trying to get a answer on something without installing an earlier version of windows; perhaps you can help. Do you know if the compmgmt.msc (right click on computer and choose manage) is available on home basic and Home premium. Someone mentioned in another thread that it wasn't and I've kept it out of all posts since; but I've never got around to verifying this. Any ideas?

Thanks and great thread, I didn't know you could show Ghost devices (unfortunately I'm unable to tip the scales on it.... perhaps it's too old?)

-Timo

 

[Lomai]

Hi Tim

Can confirm that it is available on HP x-64
Not able to check Basic though

Regards

 

[Brink]

I'm installin Basic on a VM now. I'll report back when it's done.

UPDATE:
Confirmed. All editions of Windows 7 have compmgmt.msc.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thank you all for your assistance, nice tutorial Tim.

 

[TimStitt]

Thanks Lomai! Thanks Brink! and thanks Ted!

I've been meaning to get off my backside and find that out and I thought since Ted put it in his Tutorial that he already had the answer........ as always the team network here is extremely fast, I don't often see Ted beaten to an answer .

Now to try to find the thread again that I read where it said it wasn't available......hmmm.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks Lomai! Thanks Brink! and thanks Ted!

I've been meaning to get off my backside and find that out and I thought since Ted put it in his Tutorial that he already had the answer........ as always the team network here is extremely fast, I don't often see Ted beaten to an answer .

Now to try to find the thread again that I read where it said it wasn't available......hmmm.

Yeah, Brink is an alien machine.

 

[TimStitt]

Thanks Lomai! Thanks Brink! and thanks Ted!

I've been meaning to get off my backside and find that out and I thought since Ted put it in his Tutorial that he already had the answer........ as always the team network here is extremely fast, I don't often see Ted beaten to an answer .

Now to try to find the thread again that I read where it said it wasn't available......hmmm.

Yeah, Brink is an alien machine.

Sshhhh he's listening

 

[TimStitt]

I'm installin Basic on a VM now. I'll report back when it's done.

UPDATE:
Confirmed. All editions of Windows 7 have compmgmt.msc.

View attachment 84317View attachment 84316

I finally found that post.... and guess what? I must have had another late one on sevenforums that night.

I owe everyone an apology for wasted time . It turns out that the poster never said that the compmgmt.msc was missing, just that the functionality changes. I've just remembered it wrong and now feel like silly idiot.... the beginnings of old age... dementia... memory in need of de-fragmentation?.... or too many tasty beverages while I'm helping out... I don't know.

Apologies all, it's been a day of red faces for me.

-Timo

 

[Lomai]

I'm installin Basic on a VM now. I'll report back when it's done.

UPDATE:
Confirmed. All editions of Windows 7 have compmgmt.msc.

View attachment 84317View attachment 84316

I finally found that post.... and guess what? I must have had another late one on sevenforums that night.

I owe everyone an apology for wasted time . It turns out that the poster never said that the compmgmt.msc was missing, just that the functionality changes. I've just remembered it wrong and now feel like silly idiot.... the beginnings of old age... dementia... memory in need of de-fragmentation?.... or too many tasty beverages while I'm helping out... I don't know.

Apologies all, it's been a day of red faces for me.

-Timo

Bula Tim



Been busy watching the soccer world cup matches - almost like a zombie now given the different timezones

Regards

 

[nonpasaran]

hi Ted
thank you for tuttorial but i want to know someting;
allready when i open the device menager i can select "Show Hidden Devices" option and i can see the hidden / ghost drivers and when i do step 1-2 nothing changing
So why we are doing step 1 and 2 ?
Why it necessary?

I guess nobody seen my post

 

[TLC]

Hey, for you registry editing folks, create a raw (no word wrap) text file with the following lines:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment]
"DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS"="1"
"DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES"="1"


Save it as SomeFileName.reg and double-click to merge into the registry.

Or you can use the attached reg file to double-click it and merge it into your registry.

Note: You will still have to click View -> Show Hidden Devices when in Device Mangler.

 

[mistymount123]

HI,
I just replaced the contents of the PATH in the environment variables, can you please gv info abt resetting it to its prev value???Please help me ...

 

[TLC]

HI,
I just replaced the contents of the PATH in the environment variables, can you please gv info abt resetting it to its prev value???Please help me ...

One could set the default values as when the system was installed, but there may be other program installations that had modified if further, so you may run into issues with that.

Anyone: would a system restore fix this?

 

[Brink]

Yes, a system restore using a restore point dated before he deleted the contents should be able to restore them.

 

[mistymount123]

will there be any modifications to my data including deletion ?????? after restoring..............

 

[Brink]

Hello Misty,

Any installed programs, changes made to system files, and changes made to the registry will be restored back to how they were at the date the restore point was created. User files and data will not be affected.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

 

[TLC]

Hello Misty,

Any installed programs, changes made to system files, and changes made to the registry will be restored back to how they were at the date the restore point was created. User files and data will not be affected.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

Of course, you should have a backup plan in place for at least your data files!

 

[Brink]

Agreed. Always best to be safe and backup anything that you do not want to lose first.