Manage Plug-and-Play devices from the command line
How to use a command-line utility to handle Plug-and-play devices.
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Manage Plug-and-Play devices from the command line
Serdar Yegulalp
Rather than use a Windows Scripting Host script to manage hardware through the Device Manager window, it makes more sense to use a command-line program that can let you perform all of the same functions and more -- and more elegantly.
DevCon is a command-line utility from Microsoft that is designed to do exactly that. It is available for Windows 2000 and Windows XP in both 32- and 64-bit versions (packaged together) and can be downloaded from the following URL:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000ddk/Util/1.0/NT5XP/EN-US/DevCon.exe.
You can see the complete command set for DevCon by typing devcon help at the command line, but for your convenience here is a run-through of the major commands.
devcon find *
List all the attached devices on the local machine.
devcon find pci*
List all attached PCI devices.
devcon classes
Lists all setup classes, such as USB controllers, modems, monitors, etc.
devcon listclass <classname>
Lists all devices of a specific class, or all classes if you omit <classname>.
devcon find =<classname> <ID string>
Find any devices of the following classname and with the matching ID string. The ID string can use wildcards, so if you entered *, all devices matching the class would be returned; if you used *PCI*, all devices with "PCI" in the hardware ID string would be returned. The ID string is optional.
devcon findall =<classname>
Finds all devices that match the given classname (or just all devices, period, if you omit <classname>), including devices that have been unplugged, removed, switched off or ejected.
devcon status @<ID_string>
Shows the status of all devices that match the listed ID string. The ID string can contain wildcards, so @PCI* would match anything with PCI in the ID string.
devcon resources =<class>
Lists the resources used by all devices in a given class.
devcon driverfiles =<class>
Shows the names of the driver files used by all devices with the given class.
devcon stack =<class>
Shows the driver stack for the devices with the given class.
devcon drivernodes @<ID_string>
List all compatible drivers for the matching device ID.
devcon remove @<ID_string>
Lets you remove a specific device or all devices that match a given string.
devcon rescan
Scan for new Plug and Play devices.
devcon update <infofile> <ID_string>
Updates hardware that is an exact match for the listed ID with a new .INF driver file. This only affects the exact device listed and not any child devices that may be attached to it.
devcon -r <commands>
-r before any command set will reboot the machine after the command has completed.
devcon disable <ID_string>
devcon enable <ID_string>
devcon restart =<ID_string>
Disables, restarts or enables devices that match the listed ID string.
devcon -m:\<remote_machine> <commands>
Use DevCon to examine a networked machine that allows an IPC pipe connection. You can use any set of commands with the -m option.
The complete documentation for this command can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base under article Q311272.
Serdar Yegulalp is the editor of the Windows 2000 Power Users Newsletter.