What To Do When USB Devices Stop Responding

[ar]

One common gripe I hear about Windows is how sometimes a USB device will no longer be recognized by the system when you plug it in.

This is generally due to a problem with the hardware manifest or the "device tree" in Windows, and there's a fairly simple solution.



1. Unplug all the USB devices that don't absolutely have to be there (i.e., your mouse and keyboard can stay).

2. Boot Windows in Safe Mode.

3. Open the Device Manager and look for everything in the USB Devices or Universal Serial Bus Controllers category.

4. Delete everything in that category.

5. Shut down and reboot the system normally. Windows will then re-install the USB controllers.

6. Re-add your USB devices. They should be recognized properly, although you may need to provide drivers for them if Windows can't find them in its own driver repository.