Device Manager is part a allows you to check what hardware you have install on you system the status of that hardware. It also lets you eliminate hardware plans and update drivers.

If having a difficulty with a device such as a not work you should check Device Manager first. It may help to give an idea as to why it’s not work. If you don’t see it in the list of hardware then that means window does not identify it. You may also have a difficulty with a driver or conflict with another device. If that’s the case you may see a yellow query mark or scream point next to the device.

To get to Device Manager, right connect my pc and select Properties. From there you will connect on the Hardware tab and then the Device Manager button. In older versions of window such as window 98 there will be a Device Manager tab itself.

Here you can observe the hardware install on this pc. Notice that Network Adapters section is expanded to explain the model of network adapter in this system. If there was a difficulty with the device it most the yellow question mark or exclamation point on the icon.

Here you have option such as device, reinstalling the driver, rolling back the driver before version and remove device. You can also check resource settings such as what IRQ and memory address is being used. There will be other pattern options available depending on the device. Just twice click the device to get to its properties.


You can also connect on View and then choose options to explain hidden plans or show resources by type.

Device supervisor will not solve all problems but it’s a great place to start to see if window is even considering your hardware to start with. If you can’t get it to explain up here you may want to take one more look at the hardware itself.