Outside of device driver programming, knowing the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) for a hardware device class is useful when tracking down driver information in the Windows Registry.
For example, the solution to several Device Manager error codes includes removing specific registry values from registry keys named after a device's GUID.
Complete List of Device Manager Error Codes
Note: This is not a complete list of device class GUIDs. Several less common system defined device classes exist. Also, devices can generate unique classes based on various variables making it impossible to list them all.
Popular Device Class GUIDs
| Class | GUID | Device Description |
|---|---|---|
| CDROM | 4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives |
| DiskDrive | 4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Hard drives |
| Display | 4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Video adapters |
| FDC | 4D36E969-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Floppy controllers |
| FloppyDisk | 4D36E980-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Floppy drives |
| HDC | 4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Hard drive controllers |
| HIDClass | 745A17A0-74D3-11D0-B6FE-00A0C90F57DA | Some USB devices |
| 1394 | 6BDD1FC1-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F | IEEE 1394 host controller |
| Image | 6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F | Cameras and scanners |
| Keyboard | 4D36E96B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Keyboards |
| Modem | 4D36E96D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Modems |
| Mouse | 4D36E96F-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Mice and pointing devices |
| Media | 4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Audio and video devices |
| Net | 4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Network adapters |
| Ports | 4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | Serial and parallel ports |
| SCSIAdapter | 4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | SCSI and RAID controllers |
| System | 4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 | System buses, bridges, etc. |
| USB | 36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000 | USB host controllers and hubs |
