Device+Manager+displays

Device Manager displays

This is a published answer from Microsoft

Device Manager does not display devices that are not connected to the Windows XP-based computer View products that this article applies to. SYMPTOMS Device Manager displays only non-Plug and Play devices, drivers, and printers when you click Show hidden devices on the View menu. Devices that you install that are not connected to the computer (such as a Universal Serial Bus [USB] device or "ghosted" devices) are not displayed in Device Manager, even when you click Show hidden devices.

To work around this behaviour and display devices when you click:- Show hidden devices: Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. At a command prompt, type the following command and then press ENTER: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 Type the following command a command prompt, and then press ENTER: start devmgmt.msc When you finish troubleshooting, close Device Manager.

Type exit at the command prompt.

Note that when you close the command prompt window, Window clears the:- devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 variable that you set in step 2 and prevents ghosted devices from being displayed when you click Show hidden devices. 