Viewing Hidden Devices

Summary of Issue

By default,  Device Manager does not display all devices.  Some devices, like non-Plug and Play devices and devices that are not currently connected to the computer (phantom devices), are hidden.

Methods to resolve the problem

To view any hidden non-Plug and Play devices, on Device Manager View menu, click Show Hidden Devices.

To view phantom devices, follow these steps:

1. Click Start and then click run. In the Open text box, type cmd and click OK.
2. At the command prompt, type

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

3. Press Enter.
4. Start Device Manager.
5. At the command prompt, type start devmgmt.msc.

Notes

To set Device Manager to always show phantom devices, add the following system environment variable:

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1