DevicesTasks

Devices Tasks

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The following tasks for managing devices use the various tools covered in the previous section.

Add New Hardware

How you add a new hardware device depends on how fully your system and the device support the Plug and Play (PnP) standard:

PnP devices

When a PnP device is connected to a PnP system, WS2003 automatically detects a newly installed device and assigns it appropriate hardware resource settings (IRQ, I/O, memory, and DMA).

Legacy (non-PnP) devices

Use Control Panel Add Hardware to install legacy devices or to install PnP devices into systems that aren't fully PnP-compliant. If the wizard can't detect the device, you must specify its settings manually.

Configure Device Driver Signing

To specify the action Windows should take when it encounters a device driver that has not been digitally signed, do this:

Control Panel System Hardware Driver Signing

Conserve Energy for Devices

To configure your system to enter standby mode automatically, do this:

Control Panel Power Options Power Schemes select a default scheme

To manually enter standby mode, do this:

Start Shutdown Standby

You can also configure your system so that when the power button is pressed, the system enters standby mode instead of powering off completely:

Control Panel Power Options Advanced Power buttons select Standby

To configure your system to enable hibernation mode, do this:

Control Panel Power Options Hibernation Enable hibernate support

Note that to support hibernation you must have free disk space greater than or equal to the amount of physical memory (RAM).

To manually enter hibernation mode do this:

Start Shutdown Hibernate

Note that standby and hibernation mode are supported only on systems that are fully ACPI-compliant. You can password-protect your computer during standby by:

Control Panel Power Options Advanced Prompt for password when computer goes off standby

Note that the same password is used for both standby and hibernation modes.

To bring your system out of standby or hibernation, press the power button. You can also configure your keyboard or mouse to bring your system out of standby by doing the following:

Device Manager Keyboards or Mice right-click on keyboard or mouse Properties Power Management Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby

Some network cards that support Wake On LAN, such as 3C905-TX can be configured to automatically shut themselves off to save power. You may also be able to configure them to bring the computer out of standby when incoming traffic is detected or when a network management station tries to contact it. Some USB hubs can also be configured to turn themselves off to save power and bring the system out of standby mode.

Create and Manage Hardware Profiles

Use the System utility in Control Panel to create and manage hardware profiles, and use Device Manager to specify whether a particular device should be included in or excluded from the currently loaded hardware profile. To create a new hardware profile, do this:

Control Panel System Hardware Hardware Profiles select an existing profile Copy provide a descriptive name for the profile (e.g., Mobile User)

To specify which devices are enabled or disabled in your new hardware profile, do this:

Reboot select the new hardware profile when prompted during startup log on Device Manager right-click on a device Properties

Then, under Device Usage, you can either enable or disable the device for the currently loaded hardware profile or disable it for all hardware profiles.

To specify which hardware profile is the default, do the following:

Control Panel System Hardware Hardware Profiles use arrow buttons to move the desired profile to the top of the list

If a hardware profile doesn't appear in the menu during startup, you can force it to appear by:

Control Panel System Hardware Hardware Profiles select profile Properties Always include this profile

If your machine is an older laptop and WS2003 can't detect that it is a laptop, do this:

Control Panel System Hardware Hardware Profiles select profile Properties This is a portable computer specify current docking state

To select a hardware profile when booting the machine:

Boot your computer select the new hardware profile when prompted during startup

Note that the Hardware Profile/Recovery Menu is not displayed if there is only one hardware profile configured on the system.

Disable a Device

Device Manager right-click on a device Disable

This action prevents the device drivers from loading during startupthe device is still present but doesn't function.

Enable a Device

Device Manager right-click on a device Enable

Manage Device Drivers

To view the drivers used for a device, do this:

Device Manager right-click on a device Properties Driver Driver Details

To install a new or updated device driver for the device, do this:

Device Manager right-click on a device Properties Driver Update Driver

Note that Microsoft may provide updated drivers for devices using its Windows Update site, and you can use the Automatic Updates feature of WS2003 to automatically download and install these updates.

If you install a new driver and the device stops working, try returning to the previous driver like this:

Device Manager right-click on a device Properties Driver Rollback Driver

To manually uninstall the driver for the device, do this:

Device Manager right-click on a device Properties Driver Uninstall Driver

Reinstall a Device

If a device is behaving strangely, you may want to try uninstalling it and then reinstalling it. To reinstall a PnP device, first make sure the device is connected and turned on. Then, if the device has not been properly uninstalled and the drivers for the device are still present on the system, do this:

Device Manager right-click on computer Scan for hardware changes

If the device has been properly uninstalled and the drivers for the device have been completely removed from the system, reboot your machine to autodetect the device.

For legacy devices or for systems that aren't fully PnP-compliant, use Control Panel Add Hardware to reinstall the device.

Scan for Hardware Changes

Device Manager right-click on computer node Scan for hardware changes

This forces WS2003 to scan your system for new PnP devices that were not properly detected when you installed the hardware. You can also use it to scan your system when you have manually changed hardware settings on a device and want these changes recognized by the operating system. Normally, when you reboot, this hardware scan is performed automatically, but if you have installed hardware that doesn't require a reboot and the system did not detect it, forcing a scan could cause it to be detected properly. If hardware is detected, the Found New Hardware Wizard appears, leading you through a series of prompts. If this wizard doesn't appear, you can force its appearance using Control Panel Add Hardware. Note that this method doesn't check for legacy devices.

Uninstall a Device

Device Manager right-click on device Uninstall accept prompts shut down physically remove the device from your system restart

Uninstalling a device removes the drivers for the device. You uninstall PnP devices simply by disconnecting them from the system (you may need to restart the system to free up resources).

Update Drivers for a Device

Device Manager right-click on device Properties Drivers Update Drivers

This starts the Update Device Driver Wizard, which steps you through the process of loading new drivers for the device.

View or Modify Resource Settings for a Device

Device Manager right-click on device Properties Resources deselect option for using automated settings Change Setting specify new resource settings

You generally can't modify the resource settings of PnP devices.

View System Information

Start Programs Accessories System Tools System Information

Start Run msinfo32

This displays the system information for the local machine. To connect to a remote computer, do this:

View Remote Computer

You can save your system information to a text file or print it out for documentation purposes by:

File Export or Print

To view information about network- related hardware and software, do this:

Tools Net Diagnostics

To check the integrity of system files, do this:

Tools File Signature Verification Utility

Troubleshoot Device Problems

First, view the icon for the device node in Device Manager, which may tell you something about the problem (see Table 4-6). Then try these steps:

Device Manager right-click on problem device Properties General read Device Status message Resources read Conflicting Device List

If this fails, try:

Device Manager right-click on problem device Properties General Troubleshoot

Table 4-6. Using device icons in Device Manager to troubleshoot devices

Device icon	Status of device
Normal	Working properly
Stop sign	Disabled due to resource conflicts
Exclamation point	Drivers missing or incorrect device configuration