Manage Plug-and-Play devices from the command line

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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.