How to Access Device Manager From the Command Prompt

Use Command Prompt to open Device Manager with this trick

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University
Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.
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Updated on September 22, 2022
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
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Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
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What to Know

  • The Device Manager run command is handy to know for starting the Device Manager, updating drivers, and more.
  • Enter devmgmt.msc into Command Prompt.
  • You can also open Device Manager in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Vista using a Control Panel applet.

One really easy way to start Device Manager in any version of Windows is from the Command Prompt.

Just type the devmgmt.msc command, or one of the other three we describe below, and voilà...Device Manager starts right up!

Instructions in this article apply to Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

Besides being one of the fastest ways to open it, knowing the run command for Device Manager should come in handy for other things, too. Advanced tasks like writing command-line scripts would call for the Device Manager command, as well as other programming tasks in Windows.

Person accessing device manager from the command prompt
Derek Abella / Lifewire

Are you uncomfortable working with commands? There are plenty of other ways to open Device Manager in Windows for help.

How to Access Device Manager From the Command Prompt

Time Required: Accessing Device Manager from Command Prompt, or another command-line tool in Windows, should take less than a minute, even if this your first time executing commands.

Follow these easy steps to access Device Manager from the Command Prompt:

  1. Open Command Prompt. Search for cmd in the Start menu or search bar in most versions of Windows.

    Command Prompt in Windows 10 Start Menu

    You could also do so with administrative privileges by opening an elevated Command Prompt, but you don't need to open Command Prompt with admin rights in order to get to Device Manager from the command line.

    Command Prompt is the most all-inclusive way to run commands in Windows, but the following steps could be performed via the Run tool, or even from Cortana or the search bar in newer versions of Windows.

    The primary way to open the Run dialog box is with the keyboard: Press and hold the Windows key, and then press R once. Another way is through Task Manager, which you might do if the Windows desktop has crashed and you can only open Task Manager; to do that, go to Run new task at the top (Windows 11) or File > Run new task, and then enter one of the commands below.

  2. Once either Command Prompt or the Run box is open, type either of the following, and then press Enter:

    devmgmt.msc 

    or 

    mmc devmgmt.msc 

    Device Manager should open immediately.

    devmgmt.msc command entered in Command Prompt

    MSC files, which are XML files, are used in these commands because Device Manager is a portion of the Microsoft Management Console, which is the built-in tool included with Windows that opens these kinds of files.

  3. You can now use Device Manager to update drivers, view a device's status, manage the system resources that Windows has assigned to your hardware, and more.

Two Alternative Device Manager CMD Methods

In Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Vista, Device Manager is included as an applet in Control Panel. This means that there's an associated Control Panel applet command available.

Two of them, actually:

control /name Microsoft.DeviceManager

or 

control hdwwiz.cpl

Both work equally well but must be executed from Command Prompt or the Run dialog box, not from Cortana or other universal search boxes.

No matter how you get it to open—via Control Panel, Run, a desktop shortcut, Command Prompt, a BAT file, PowerShell, etc.—Device Manager works the same, looks the same, and has the exact same features. You're just picking one of several shortcuts to open the file.

Device Manager Resources

Here are some articles with more information and tutorials regarding Device Manager:

FAQ
  • How do I run Device Manager through CMD as an Administrator?

    Open the cmd prompt by pressing the Windows key + R and typing in cmd, then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Input your administrator account credentials when prompted, then type devmgmt.msc and press Enter.

  • How do I turn off my laptop keyboard with Device Manager from CMD?

    First you'll need to uninstall the keyboard from Device Manager. From the cmd, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. Next, type in sc config i8042prt start= disabled and press Enter. Finally, close the cmd and restart your laptop.

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