How to access Device Manager in Windows : How to scan for Hardware changes in Windows

Keywords: Device Manager, How to access Device Manager in Windows , How to scan for Hardware changes in Windows

How to access Device Manager in Windows or How to scan for Hardware changes in Windows – a basic question asked many times by newbies. Many time you need to access Device Manager like:

  • Your some devices like modem, CD/DVD drive, NIC or PCI cards etc are not working properly or not being detected by your system.
  • You replaced / reconfigured some onboard hardware component and they are not getting detect by your system.
  • You want to install/uninstall some hardware driver then you’ll need to access Device Manager.
  • You want to know about connect COM ports etc.

For all the above reasons and many more (as per your requirement), you need to access Device Manager as this is the place where you can all the information about all of your hardware component configured in your system.

In my this post I am going to explain “How to access Device Manager in Windows ” or “How to scan for Hardware changes in Windows”. My this post is a little extension of Windows XP Troubleshooting.

Access Device Manager in Windows XP

  1. Right click on your “My Computer” icon and click on ‘properties’. You can also do this by clicking ‘Start’ then Right click on “My Computer”.
  1. Now from the options, click on Hardware, you will see a screen like this:
  1. Click on “Device Manager” , this will open Device Managerinterface like this:

Note : If you are looking for hardware scan, then go to Action and choose “scan for hardware changes”. See below screen shot for reference.

Access Device Manager in Windows Vista/7

  1. Right click on your “My Computer” icon and click on ‘properties’. You can also do this by clicking ‘Start’ then Right click on “My Computer”.
  1. You will see a screen like below screen shot. Click on “Device Manager”.By clicking on “Device Manager” you will get “Device Manager” page like this:

Note :If you are looking for hardware scan then Click on  “scan for hardware changes” icon. See below screen shot for reference.

This post is added on the suggestion given by Rishi Malhotra. Thanks to him for reminding me to add this little extension on my previous post Windows XP Troubleshooting.

Well, this is it. You now know How to access Device Manager in Windows or How to scan for Hardware changes in Windows.

6 Thoughts to “How to access Device Manager in Windows : How to scan for Hardware changes in Windows”

  1. Faustin

    I could not find any port COM in my computer .
    I try some drivers but the result is the same .
    What have i to do ? W7 64bits .
    Thks.

    1. Hi Faustin,

      You will see com port only when you have connected a serial cable to pc’s serial port or a usb-to-serial adapter cable to USB port.
      In case of USB-2-Serial Adapter cable, you have to install appropriate driver provided by the Cable vendor.

      Are you following the above step?

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