How to Edit Device "Friendly Name"

[Apesbrain]

I recently replaced an internal PCI wireless card that had gone bad. In Device Manager, I'd now like to rename "Realtek 8185 Extensible Wireless Device #2" to "Realtek 8185 Extensible Wireless Device". Is there any way to do this? Or to remove the old registry keys for the original device?

I tried editing the registry but those keys have locked permissions.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Apesbrain]

Ok, I figured out how to display all current and past, active and inactive, installed devices in Device Manager and I uninstalled ALL versions of this device. I rebooted and thought it would re-install without the "#2" but no luck.

After uninstalling all the device versions, is there something I need to edit in the registry?

Thanks.

 

[V3xar]

Hi Apesbrain.

I had a look around and came up with this:

What you need to do is enable hidden devices in Device Manager and
remove all the old devices with the old numbers (ie, #1, #2, #3). See
here for instructions

'| Windows Vista Guide |: How to Remove Unused Drivers and Devices'
(http://windowsaddict.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-remove-unused-driver...)

Then to reset the numbering for new devices. Load regedit and go here

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Network\{big long hex
number}\Descriptions

There will be a few hex numbers after \Network\ but it'll be the one
with the "Descriptions" branch. Under this branch you'll see all the
numbering strings. Juts delete the ones you want to reset.

Then go back to Device Manger and select "Scan for Hardware Changes"

I know it's for Vista but apparently works for Windows 7 as well.

Have a look at cannot rename network adapter in Device Manager - microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing | Google Groups

Hope this helps.


.

 

[Apesbrain]

Thanks V3xar, I missed the step involving "reset the numbering" the first time I tried to fix this. Will try again and let you know how it turns out.

Later: This worked fine, thanks again.