Have you encountered a situation: when you connect a device to a PC via USB, an error appears that says: “The equipment is not recognized.” What to do? Let's look at what to do when an unknown USB device appears in Windows 7.

Why is this happening

The OS cannot detect the hardware. Reconnecting does not bring results, because the system in the installation package does not have drivers for absolutely all devices. Therefore, when connecting new equipment, drivers are not automatically found for it. These are flash drives, removable HDDs, keyboards, . Let's look at ways to solve this problem.

What to do first

Follow these steps:

  1. Connect the equipment to another available connector. Perhaps the problem is in the USB itself;
  2. Try using a different cable to connect;
  3. Disconnect non-working equipment, turn off the PC and power. Press the "Power" button and hold it for 3-4 seconds. Next, start your PC.

How to remove an unknown Windows 7 device

If the reason is that the driver is not working properly, follow these steps. Click "Start" - "Control Panel".
Further:

Usually the equipment is located in the “Controllers” section. Open it, then:

Click the " " button.
Further:

Power Options

By default, power options are enabled. Disabling it will solve the problem. Open the “Control Panel” (how to do this was discussed above). Further.

Click the "Scheme Configuration" link.

Click "Edit".

Follow these steps:

How to identify an unknown Windows 7 device

Let's look at how to install a driver for an unspecified OS device. The main thing is to define it correctly. Press “Win+R” and enter the command “devmgmt.msc”.

Further:

Open the “Details” tab. We are interested in "ID":
Let's copy this information. We looked at how to find an unknown device in Windows 7 Manager. Now we download the drivers.

Download driver unknown device Windows 7

Open the website devid.info. We enter the value (obtained above) into the search form.
The necessary information will appear.

Automatic installation

Download the driver automatically using DriverPack.

The application will detect and load the necessary drivers. I recommend using this method for inexperienced users when there are no drivers on the PC after reinstalling the OS.

On the website of this program, find the manufacturer using the values ​​of the VEN and DEV parameters.

Windows 7 coprocessor unknown device

If a picture appears like in the screenshot, there is a problem with the coprocessor driver. It is used to perform floating point operations. When you try to install it automatically, nothing will work.
How to solve such a problem? On the motherboard manufacturer's website, download drivers for . Update your drivers.

Conclusion

The problem of a device that is not detected by the OS can be solved by reinstalling the driver. Download them from official sources. Do not install drivers developed for any OS.

It is no secret that on Windows systems, some hardware and virtual devices may not only not work, but may not be detected at all. Therefore, when using the appropriate control, the user sees an unknown device in the “Device Manager” of Windows 7. Other systems are also not immune to such problems. But let’s consider issues related to establishing the functionality of a component based specifically on the seventh version of the OS.

Why does an unknown device appear in Device Manager in Windows 7?

As for the reasons that the system does not accept the hardware and the virtual component, the most important thing is that Windows simply cannot gain control due to the lack of an appropriate driver.

In some cases, she can install what she thinks is the most suitable driver, but this has no effect. This is why an unknown device appears in the “Device Manager” of Windows 7, and even in the system tray after trying to install the driver, a notification pops up that it was not possible to install the control driver for the detected (okay, if so!) device, which is why it will not work.

Why this happens is not difficult to understand. The driver is simply not in the database. And the assumption that Windows system developers could include drivers for absolutely all devices known today in the distribution kit (even the most complete one) looks very doubtful. In addition, some specific devices such as removable USB drives, memory cards, or even sound cards are not supported by Microsoft services at all. Even during an online search, the first call is made to the servers of the corporation that developed the system, and not to the resources of equipment manufacturers.

How to open Device Manager in Windows 7?

Now a few words about the control section itself. The question of how to open Device Manager in Windows 7 has several solutions.

The classic method is to call it from the “Control Panel”, in which, when displaying sections, you need to set large or small icons to simplify the search.

You can also easily access this toolkit from the management (administration) section, which is called up through the RMB menu on the computer icon.

Finally, you can use the Run console (Win + R), in which you enter the command devmgmt.msc. In principle, all methods are quite simple, and the method of calling the control tools can rather be attributed solely to a matter of preference.

How to identify an unknown or faulty device?

An unknown device in the “Device Manager” of Windows 7 or any other modification of the operating system can even be identified visually. Such a component is marked with a yellow marker.

However, it may not be on the list, so you will have to use additional tools to view it.

Additionally, you can use the system information section (msinfo32), where you can select the display of devices with problems. But usually such actions are not required and are only suitable in cases where the device is not displayed in the “Dispatcher” at all (although it may not be there either).

How to show hidden devices

Hidden devices in the Windows 7 Device Manager can be seen by accessing the corresponding view menu in the main panel at the top.

When you open it, the line for displaying such objects is simply activated, after which the list will increase significantly (for example, a section for portable devices will appear).

Several examples of codes indicating device malfunction

Now let's look at some of the most common descriptions of errors in the operation of hardware or virtual components.

First, you should pay attention to the unknown device in the “Device Manager” of Windows 7 (code 28), the description of which can be viewed in the properties section. It indicates that drivers are simply not installed for the device, or the system has not found previously saved control programs.

If you look at the unknown device in the Windows 7 Device Manager (code 43), the problem of recognizing it mainly applies to USB drives or external HDDs. The presence of this particular code indicates connection problems when the motherboard cannot access the device through the corresponding port if the descriptor fails.

Method of searching and installing drivers

When describing options for correcting the situation, we will start with devices that have a description in the form of code 43.

Without even talking about installing or updating drivers, the most effective method is to disable the USB root hub to save power. With a low-power consumption scheme installed, this will give an immediate effect.

But in most cases you will have to reinstall or update the drivers. If there is an installation disk with drivers, which, as a rule, is supplied when purchasing a computer device or some equipment, when re-installing the system, you need to specify not an automatic search, but installation from a specified location (optical media, flash drive or folder on the computer, if the driver saved on your hard drive). As a last resort, you can use automatic driver search on the hard drive.

An equally simple method is the use of automated utilities that allow you to easily identify a device of any type, download a driver from the Internet, specifically from the equipment manufacturer’s resource, and then integrate it into the system (Driver Pack Solution, Driver Booster, etc.). This method seems to be the most preferable.

But if you don’t have such programs at hand, you can download the installer from the Internet yourself. But first, you should go to the properties menu of the problematic component and on the details tab, set the display of equipment ID, then select from the list the longest code containing the VEN and DEV parameters, and set a search on the Internet using these values. To do this, you can use either special sites, or the manufacturer’s resource (if it is known), or a regular search using some service (Google, Yandex, etc.).

After this, all that remains is to download the installer to your computer and install the driver yourself. This can be an executable file in EXE format, or an object with the INF extension, on which you need to use the RMB menu (but for some files such actions are not provided).

conclusions

As you can see from the above, the problem of non-working or faulty devices in any Windows system is not really a problem. The main solution to correcting the situation in most cases comes down to finding and installing the appropriate driver. How to do this? Here, as mentioned above, it is best to use special third-party programs rather than using Microsoft databases. As for specific (non-standard) devices, it is very possible that such automated utilities will not be able to help. Therefore, the best solution would be to search for the control driver using special identifiers.

If the user knows for sure that the device is connected, but is not detected at all, first you should check its activation in the BIOS settings. If it is not there either, you will have to look for the causes of failures in the component itself (perhaps it does not work initially, is damaged or has manufacturing defects). However, situations can be completely different. Just look at the problems with power supply to the “iron” component, if this is provided for its correct functioning.

A driver is a software environment that helps a system communicate with physical hardware. Without it, neither a mouse, nor a video card, nor any other equipment can work. Drivers are very important and it is because of them that errors often appear. If the device stops working or functions incorrectly, most likely the reason is “firewood”. Below we have tried to describe all the problems that arise with drivers and provided instructions for eliminating them.

A driver is a special program whose role is to connect computer hardware and the system. Only with such software will any physical device be able to function properly. Drivers are needed for absolutely all devices, even those located inside the system unit of a computer or laptop.

Most of them support silent installation on Windows. Often, drivers are built into the equipment. For this reason, the newly connected device immediately becomes available for use (for example, a mouse). However, the drivers in their memory are not updated, so they become outdated. Even a new device has outdated software installed that was current at the production date.

To ensure maximum performance and stability of the device, you should always install new drivers from the manufacturer's website.

Install the necessary drivers using special programs

Driver updates are released regularly: every week or month, and sometimes more often. Manually installing and updating all drivers is long and tedious. The simplest solution is to use specialized programs. Their main task is to collect information about the computer, check the relevance of installed drivers and download new versions of software.

The most popular application in this category is. Among analogues - Driver Scanner, Driver Hub, Carambis Driver Updater«.

They all work on a similar principle:

  1. download the application to the system and launch it;
  2. after a short analysis of the OS and search for drivers, a list of software to be installed or updated will be displayed;
  3. give permission to the program to install all drivers.

After the installation process (which may take up to 20 minutes), the system will have to reboot. Usually, this is enough to eliminate most problems with firewood.

Important! Installing all drivers through special programs is the fastest, but not the best way. Sometimes software installed in this way comes into conflict, which leads to lags, bugs, freezes and even blue screens of death.

Is it possible to download drivers by hardware ID?

The most reliable installation method is to manually download the correct versions of programs. The question arises, how to find suitable drivers if the exact hardware model is not known? There is an effective way - using codes VEN And DEV, which are identifiers of any equipment.

Step-by-step installation instructions:

  1. right click on "Start" and choose "Device Manager". You can get to the same section through RMB by "My computer", choose "Properties". The required item is in the menu on the left;
  2. open a tab with an unidentified device and double-click on it;
  3. go to page "Intelligence";
  4. in the dropdown list below "Property" choose "Equipment ID". A number of identifiers will appear here, you need to copy one of them;
  5. go to the Devid.info website and enter the device ID in the search bar.
  6. the page will display a list with suitable drivers for equipment with the specified identifier. By clicking on the floppy disk icon on the right, you can download the software;
  7. If you received a driver with automatic installation, just run it.

If there is already a downloaded driver, all that remains is to install it.

How install driver:

  1. In the “Device Manager” you need to right click on the unidentified hardware and select “Update drivers”.
  2. Click on the option “Search for drivers on this computer.”
  3. Specify the path to the downloaded driver and start the installation procedure. Important! If it is in rar format, the file must be unzipped in advance.

After successful installation, the unknown device will disappear. It will move to another section and begin to appear as an identified device.

1. How to access device manager:

Windows XP: on the desktop or in the start menu, click on My Computer with the right mouse button => control => device manager

Start => Settings => Control Panel => System Properties => Hardware => Device Manager

Windows 7: In Start or on the desktop, right-click on Computer => Manage

device Manager

Start => enter Device Manager in the search bar and open it

Windows 8:

Press Windows keys + C => settings => device manager

search => device manager

IN Windows 8.1 Click on start in the lower left corner with the right mouse button => device manager.

2. Installing devices if you have a driver disk:

Very often, a person who does not know how to install drivers for devices takes all the disks that he has and starts installing everything from them indiscriminately... After which a lot of unnecessary things appear on the computer, a bad start for a new operating system... The driver disk is often comes with the purchase of a computer (laptop), and it says what operating systems it supports. Therefore, if it says that it supports Windows XP, and you are trying to install Windows 7, then skip this step and download new drivers from the Internet..

These programs almost always help if you don’t have a driver disk and if you don’t know the models of your device. You can download an online version that will scan the system and download the necessary drivers, but often network devices are not installed and there is no Internet. Therefore, we download the full version of these programs, write it to a disk, USB drive, or external hard drive and run it on the computer.

Using SamDrivers, you can save drivers, install drivers, and a certain set of standard programs is included in the assembly. To install drivers, click Driver Installation: Driver Pack Solution Plus. The list will offer to update and install drivers for devices

At the top there are driver and program tabs; you can select which devices to install and update, as well as which programs to install. Or click “Install and Update” and let it install everything. In the next window, select whether to install only drivers, or whether you also need to install programs.

We wait for some time, watch the pictures, and if everything is fine, then there will be no unknown devices left in the device manager, and there will be no yellow icons.

4. Installing drivers by device model:

With laptops it’s a little easier than with a computer, and if you know the laptop model (often written on the bottom or under the battery), then you can go to the manufacturer’s website and download drivers for all devices of this laptop. We go to the manufacturer’s website, enter the model, drivers and version of the operating system (the version of the operating system can be viewed by clicking on Computer (my computer) with the right mouse button => properties => system properties will open):

I will not list all manufacturers; if your model is not on the list, use the search and find the official website of your device. Of course, you can download it on other sites, but as practice shows, malicious software is loaded there.

For PC users: you need to know the model of your motherboard, video card and other connected devices. The model name can be found in the papers that you were given when purchasing a PC, or you can look at the inscription on the devices themselves. To see the inscriptions you need to remove the side cover

for example, judging by the inscription the name of the motherboard Asus KBV-X SE

The video card can be built-in (integrated) or a separate board (discrete). If the video card is integrated, then by installing all the drivers according to the name of your motherboard, the drivers will be installed on the video, if it is discrete, then you need to look at its name, and then download the drivers from the Internet. In the picture the name of the video card: GeForce FX5500

There is another way to find out the device model and not look at the names of the models under the hood - download the program Aida or Everest and see the device names

after you find out the name of your device, go to the manufacturer’s official website and download drivers for your operating system, or look for drivers in a search engine by name.

5.Installation of devices by equipment code:

Each equipment has an identification code, just like people :). Therefore, if there are not many unknown devices, if there is no disk with drivers, and if you do not know the model, then let's look for the equipment ID:

  • go to the Information tab and select the equipment ID in the list

  • The value field contains a unique equipment ID

  • open the search engine and enter this ID there (you can copy it from the previous window by right-clicking - copy)

  • the list will not necessarily contain a link to the drivers, perhaps there will simply be a hint with the name of the device, and then by the name you go and download the necessary drivers from the official website.

6. Installing drivers manually:

It’s rare, but it happens that we have a folder with drivers on our computer or on a flash drive, and we need to specify the path to this folder when installing the device. To do this, go to the device manager, right-click on the desired device => update the driver

In the window that appears, select "Search for drivers on this computer" (or in Windows XP - Install from a specified location)

Click Browse and specify the path to the folder with the drivers, then click OK and wait until the device is installed

Windows also allows drivers to be installed automatically with Windows updates, but unfortunately updates do not contain drivers for every device. But still, to check whether automatic driver installation with Windows Update is selected or not:

  • We go to Start, in the search bar we enter Change installation parameters => select what we found


I hope you have found your way to install drivers, in any case, remember - drivers are needed not only for the devices in the PC (laptop) itself, but also for the devices that you connect. That is, if you connected a Samsung SCX 4200 printer to this laptop, go to the official Samsung website and download drivers for it. If something is not clear, or you have suggestions, write comments :). Good luck to you!

In my practice, situations often occur when, after reinstalling the system, it is discovered that there are no disks with device drivers. As a rule, many people have no idea about the importance of these very disks for the full operation of the computer and simply lose them. How then can one find drivers for unknown devices? There are several options to solve this problem.

Firstly, we can remove the cover of the system unit, pull out and carefully examine the necessary components (be it a video card, network card, motherboard, or something else). Then we find its name on the device, go to a computer with a working Internet and look for the necessary driver on the global network (preferably on the manufacturer’s official website).

Secondly, you can install a program on your machine that provides information about your computer's hardware. For example, (formerly Everest). This software will allow you to determine what devices are on your computer. It also contains links to download drivers from the manufacturer's website.

Whichever of the described methods we use, it still wastes a significant amount of precious time. Moreover, in the first case, you will need to open the system unit, and in the second, install additional software.

In Windows there is another, more convenient way find the right driverby device code. So, first, let's determine the code of the unknown device. Right-click on “My Computer” - then “Manage”. Select “Device Manager” in the left panel. On the right we will see the device for which we need to install the driver (it will be marked with a yellow exclamation mark), right-click on it and select “Properties”.

In the window that opens, go to the “Details” tab and select “Device Instance ID” in the drop-down menu (in Windows 7 you need to select “Hardware ID”).
In the same window we will see the device code. Click on it with the mouse and copy it using the keyboard (Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert).
What remains for us next is find driver by code and download it. To do this, go to the wonderful website devid.info and there we paste the device code we copied into the search bar.
Click “Search” and after a moment we see a whole list of found drivers. We select a more or less recent one that is suitable for our version of the operating system, and then download it.

1. How to access device manager:

Windows XP: on the desktop or in the start menu, click on My Computer with the right mouse button => control => device manager

Start => Settings => Control Panel => System Properties => Hardware => Device Manager

Windows 7: In Start or on the desktop, right-click on Computer => Manage


device Manager


Start => enter Device Manager in the search bar and open it

Windows 8:

Press Windows keys + C => settings => device manager

search => device manager

IN Windows 8.1 Click on start in the lower left corner with the right mouse button => device manager.

2. Installing devices if you have a driver disk:

Very often, a person who does not know how to install drivers for devices takes all the disks that he has and starts installing everything from them indiscriminately... After which a lot of unnecessary things appear on the computer, a bad start for a new operating system... The driver disk is often comes with the purchase of a computer (laptop), and it says what operating systems it supports. Therefore, if it says that it supports Windows XP, and you are trying to install Windows 7, then skip this step and download new drivers from the Internet..

These programs almost always help if you don’t have a driver disk and if you don’t know the models of your device. You can download an online version that will scan the system and download the necessary drivers, but often network devices are not installed and there is no Internet. Therefore, we download the full version of these programs, write it to a disk, USB drive, or external hard drive and run it on the computer.


Using SamDrivers, you can save drivers, install drivers, and a certain set of standard programs is included in the assembly. To install drivers, click Driver Installation: Driver Pack Solution Plus. The list will offer to update and install drivers for devices


At the top there are driver and program tabs; you can select which devices to install and update, as well as which programs to install. Or click “Install and Update” and let it install everything. In the next window, select whether to install only drivers, or whether you also need to install programs.


We wait for some time, watch the pictures, and if everything is fine, then there will be no unknown devices left in the device manager, and there will be no yellow icons.

4. Installing drivers by device model:

With laptops it’s a little easier than with a computer, and if you know the laptop model (often written on the bottom or under the battery), then you can go to the manufacturer’s website and download drivers for all devices of this laptop. We go to the manufacturer’s website, enter the model, drivers and version of the operating system (the version of the operating system can be viewed by clicking on Computer (my computer) with the right mouse button => properties => system properties will open):

I will not list all manufacturers; if your model is not on the list, use the search and find the official website of your device. Of course, you can download it on other sites, but as practice shows, malicious software is loaded there.

For PC users: you need to know the model of your motherboard, video card and other connected devices. The model name can be found in the papers that you were given when purchasing a PC, or you can look at the inscription on the devices themselves. To see the inscriptions you need to remove the side cover



for example, judging by the inscription the name of the motherboard Asus KBV-X SE

The video card can be built-in (integrated) or a separate board (discrete). If the video card is integrated, then by installing all the drivers according to the name of your motherboard, the drivers will be installed on the video, if it is discrete, then you need to look at its name, and then download the drivers from the Internet. In the picture the name of the video card: GeForce FX5500


There is another way to find out the device model and not look at the names of the models under the hood - download the program Aida or Everest and see the device names


after you find out the name of your device, go to the manufacturer’s official website and download drivers for your operating system, or look for drivers in a search engine by name.

5.Installation of devices by equipment code:

Each equipment has an identification code, just like people :). Therefore, if there are not many unknown devices, if there is no disk with drivers, and if you do not know the model, then let's look for the equipment ID:


  • go to the Information tab and select the equipment ID in the list

  • The value field contains a unique equipment ID


  • open the search engine and enter this ID there (you can copy it from the previous window by right-clicking - copy)


  • the list will not necessarily contain a link to the drivers, perhaps there will simply be a hint with the name of the device, and then by the name you go and download the necessary drivers from the official website.

6. Installing drivers manually:

It’s rare, but it happens that we have a folder with drivers on our computer or on a flash drive, and we need to specify the path to this folder when installing the device. To do this, go to the device manager, right-click on the desired device => update the driver


In the window that appears, select "Search for drivers on this computer" (or in Windows XP - Install from a specified location)


Click Browse and specify the path to the folder with the drivers, then click OK and wait until the device is installed


Windows also allows drivers to be installed automatically with Windows updates, but unfortunately updates do not contain drivers for every device. But still, to check whether automatic driver installation with Windows Update is selected or not:

  • We go to Start, in the search bar we enter Change installation parameters => select what we found

I hope you have found your way to install drivers, in any case, remember - drivers are needed not only for the devices in the PC (laptop) itself, but also for the devices that you connect. That is, if you connected a Samsung SCX 4200 printer to this laptop, go to the official Samsung website and download drivers for it. If something is not clear, or you have suggestions, write comments :). Good luck to you!

Following the installation of a new operating system or adding a new device to the computer configuration, there is always a need to search and install