Show All Registered Devices

By default, the Device Manager only displays Plug-and-Play devices that are currently installed and working in the computer.

There is also a way that you can force Device Manager to display the devices that are installed, but not currently present in the system. This is particularly useful with laptops, where it is not uncommon to have devices
pulled out from time to time.


There is an environment variable called devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices that governs whether or not these devices appear in Device manager. Set this variable to 1 to display them, or to 0 to hide them again.

You can set this variable at a command prompt by typing "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" without the quotes. You can also set it permanently as a variable by right-clicking My Computer and choosing Properties. Click the Advanced tab, and the "Settings" (XP) or Environmental Variables (older Windows) button.

Click the New button, and enter the devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices for the name, and 1 for the value.

Note: You must also employ the tip mentioned above to display all devices in addition to setting the environment variable.