Device Manager is an extension of the Microsoft Management Console that provides a central and organized view of all the Microsoft Windows recognized hardware installed in a computer.
Device Manager is used to manage the hardware devices installed in a computer like hard disk drives, keyboards, sound cards, USB devices, and more.
Device Manager can be used for changing hardware configuration options, managing drivers, disabling and enabling hardware, identifying conflicts between hardware devices, and much more.
Think of Device Manager as the master list of hardware that Windows understands. All the hardware on your computer can be configured from this centralized utility.
Device Manager can be accessed several different ways including from the Control Panel, the Command Prompt, and more:
Each device listing in Device Manager contains detailed driver, system resource, and other configuration information and settings. Changing these settings for a piece of hardware changes the way Windows works with that hardware.
Here are instructions for some common Device Manager tasks:
Device Manger is available in nearly every Microsoft Windows version including Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 95, and more.
Note: Even though Device Manager is available in almost every Windows operating system version, some small differences do exist from one Windows version to the next.
