Apps or programs that safely fix unrecognized USB device

USB device Is not recognized anywhere in Windows 10 Pro, version 21H2.

Are there any programs that are safe without malware or advertisements, not necessarily free, that will fix this?

Thank you.

Dalchina

I sincerely appreciate your response, but I believe the answer given is to someone else's question.

My question is as to whether or not there any programs or apps that can be safely (without malware or advertisements) used (free or not) to cure USB devices not showing anywhere.

I've had this problem on different computers over the years with many different USB devices.

Thank you.

gwatts said:

USB device Is not recognized anywhere in Windows 10 Pro, version 21H2.

Are there any programs that are safe without malware or advertisements, not necessarily free, that will fix this?

This sounds like you may have run into a longstanding Windows enumeration bug (since Vista) whereby if you plug/unplug different USB devices into different ports each time then eventually the registry hits an enumeration limit. When this happens, the device is either not recognised at all or you get an 'unknown device' error showing in Device Manager.

You can test for this easily (and fix it temporarily... it'll probably happen again eventually) by using Nir Sofer's small, free, portable USBDeview utility. USBDeview has no ads nor malware.

1. Download and unzip USBDeview. (The download links are almost at the bottom of the page. Make sure you choose the correct 'bitness' for your system, which is most likely using a 64-bit version of Windows.)

2. Right-click on the UsbDeview.exe file and select the Run as administrator... option. (This is important as USBDeview needs elevated rights to remove entries from the USB history list that shows device name/manufacturer/serial no./capability, etc. and - more importantly for your purposes - which port the device was connected to.)

3. Click on the word Connected at the top of its column. (This isn't strictly necessary but it sorts the list and makes it less likely that you'll accidentally disconnect any USB keyboard/mouse in use.)

4. Looking at the first column, click on the first device that shows with a grey roundel (a green roundel indicates a connected device.), hold the SHIFT key down then click on the last device that shows with a grey roundel. You have now selected all USB devices that are currently disconnected.

5. Select Uninstall Selected Devices from the File menu then click on the Yes button in the prompt that appears. You will be left with a list showing any remaining USB devices that are connected.

Note: Multifunctional USB devices (like printers and iPhones/iPads) can take several minutes to re-install their USB drivers. For quickest results just uninstall devices that are not connected and which show as Mass Storage in the Device Type column.



6. Close USBDeview and restart your PC. This will let Windows repopulate the USB and USBSTOR keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum used to store enumation info.

7. Try the USB device again to see if it's now recognised.

Report back whether this has fixed the issue you have been experiencing with the USB device.

Hope this helps...

* Note 1: You can unplug any USB devices you want (except any USB keyboard/mouse)... it clears the registry better of its USB enumeration history but it just takes longer for 'semi-permanent' devices to be enumerated the first time they are connected after the first reboot.

Note 2: If you subsequently connect a USB device to a different port then enumeration takes place again and Windows writes new enumeration details, even if the USB device has been connected before.