Description of Device Manager in Windows 2000 and Windows XP

This article provides a description of the Device Manager tool in Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Device Manager provides you with a graphical view of the hardware that is installed in your computer. You can use it to change the way your hardware is configured, and the way your hardware interacts with your computer's microprocessor. You can use Device Manager to:

• Determine whether the hardware on your computer is working properly.
• Change hardware configuration settings.
• Identify the device drivers that are loaded for each device and obtain information about each device driver.
• Change advanced settings and properties for devices.
• Install updated device drivers.
• Disable, enable, and uninstall devices.
• Identify device conflicts and manually configure resource settings.
• Print a summary of the devices that are installed in your computer.

Most of the time, you use Device Manager to check the status of your hardware and update device drivers on your computer. Advanced users that have a thorough understanding of computer hardware may also use Device Manager's diagnostic features to resolve device conflicts and change resource settings.

WARNING: Changing resource settings improperly can disable your hardware and cause your computer to malfunction or be inoperable. Resource settings should be changed only by users who have expert knowledge of computer hardware and hardware configurations.

NOTE: You must be logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group to complete procedures by using Device Manager. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing the procedures.

Ordinarily, you will not need to use Device Manager to change resource settings because resources are allocated automatically by Windows 2000 and Windows XP during hardware setup.

You can use Device Manager to manage devices only on a local computer. Device Manager only works in read-only mode when you are viewing a remote computer's devices.

For more detailed information about Device Manager tasks, please see the following Microsoft Web sites.

Configuring Devices

Uninstalling Devices

Hardware Profiles Overview