How to change registry keys to increase USB power to 500mA?

I ran into this problem while on Win7 & found a fix (YouTube - ‪Apple Keyboard Hack - Fully-powered USB ports on a PC!‬‏) . Unfortunately, the YouTube video has been removed.

I use an Apple keyboard that has 2-USB ports, one on each side of the keyboard. The power limits for these USBs was 100mA on Win7 so using a mouse is OK. But, if I plug in a USB drive or better yet my Wacom Tablet I get an error stating the power is too low to support. I believe the ports need to be 500mA.

I don't recall exactly how the YouTube author changed the registry key value but he did & I used these 2 USBs without problems for 4 years. I'm having trouble finding the USB location using run / regedit.

Below are two screen grabs I used in my post 4 years ago. Windows 10 looks a lot different. Anyway, the USB I need is port 3 hub 7. Any suggestions how to navigate the registry key to that location & edit from 100mA to 500mA.

Port properties after registry editing.

I found it best to discontinue any attempt to edit registry as it is far simpler to lengthen USB cables.

GARoss said:

I found it best to discontinue any attempt to edit registry as it is far simpler to lengthen USB cables.

Since when is typing a few keys harder than going and buying a longer cord, finding an empty USB port (since my tablet only has one port this would be very difficult), plugging in and finding that it was no use anyway?

The location for a USB device path is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\usbstor

I've got the same keyboard and power issue, and I've tried looking for that video too but, alas, couldn't find it. Knowing where the key is hasn't yet helped me give the keyboard hub extra power. Would love to know if you found a solution though.

spapakons said:

Hello!

I have the same problem with an old Supermicro PDSG4 motherboard. It has 6 USB ports at the back plus 2 I have connected to the front USBs of the case. No matter which USB port I try, the power is never enough and it hardly detects any device. To make it see my USB hard disk I go to Device Manager, find the corresponding USB root hub device, right-click select Properties, go at the Advanced tab and click Reset hub. Then it may or may not detect it. I have to do it several times to detect it and of course this way I risk damaging my disk! So if there is any Registry hack to boost USB power, please do tell!

Here follow the computer's specs in case that they help:

Computer: Custom-build server system
Motherboard: Supermicro PDSG4 (Intel socket 775)
Chipset: Intel Glenwood 955X (supports up to Pentium D dual-core CPU socket 775, not newer models)
CPU: Intel Pentium D 945 3.40GHz dual-core socket 775
RAM: 2GB DDR2 667MHz (2x 1GB modules in dual channel mode)
Graphics: XFX GeForce 7300GS
SATA Controller: Intel ICH7R with RAID support
SCSI Controllers: Adaptec 7901 Single channel Ultra 320 SCSI & Adaptec SCSI RAID 20105/Supermicro AOC-LPZCR supported
LAN: Intel 82573V PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Audio: Realtek AC'97 audio high quality 6-channel sound (solved BSOD by installing XP drivers!)
OS: Windows 10 Pro 32-bit

PS: I have already tried to install different chipset drivers without success.

I wish I could help but I haven't come up with a solution. My keyboard is the issue, not the motherboard. I liked the Apple wired keyboard used on an iMac & decided to use it on a new PC I built. The keyboard has USB ports on each side. When I plugged in my USB card reader I got the insufficient power error. Apparently, Apple doesn't support PC drivers for their gear.

I found a fix back when the PC was Windows 7 but when I did a clean install of Windows 10 & the fix was wiped clean. The "how to" video I used for Windows 7 no longer exists & I've been unable to find other support. Mac computers see this as a power hub, PCs do not. I believe the solution was to increase the USBs allotted amperage in the registry to a powered USB hub level of 500mA. I wasn't confident I could do this without more experienced help to do so. Sorry.

That's interesting. My USB issue is different in the that the keyboard plugs into the motherboard using a USB connector so the PC "sees" the two keyboard USBs as a non-powered hub & supplies less power to the USBs.

Hope your solution continues to work for you.

As I said before, I replaced all Intel-specific USB drivers with standard drivers in Device Manager. I can confirm that after several attempts my USB hard disk is detected every time! I hope it stays that way.

EDIT: Several days later and many attempts to connect a USB Flash drive or a USB hard disk, no problem! All successful! Once I uninstalled something that seemed to affect the USBs, but I kept the standard USB devices and deleted all USB root hubs from Device Manager. Then I restarted the computer, it found the devices again and it worked without any problem. So anybody else having problems with Intel or other specific drivers, just try to replace them all with the standard drivers.