Showing hidden devices in Windows XP

Useful little thing to know if you want to show all the hidden hardware on a Windows machine:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909774&m=1400925745
Basically at a cmd prompt:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

Then in device manager “show hidden devices” under the view option.

Edit for 2006: this is also useful for finding hidden devices.


One Response to “Showing hidden devices in Windows XP”

  1. timc3 Says:

    I needed to get some Nforce 2 Audio codec drivers out from a Windows XP SP2 machine, and so this is a good first step.

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