Windows traditionally represented disabled devices with a red X, though later Windows versions have replaced the red X with a gray downward-pointing arrow over the device's icon.There are five basic statuses displayed for devices within Device Manager: As an example, the figure above reports a problem with the Realtek PCIe CardReader device. When Windows detects a device issue, it expands the device list and marks the device with a designation corresponding to the problem type.

The Device Manager display.ĭevice Manager automatically expands the device list for problem devices administrators do not need to search for problems. For example, expanding the Network adapters list can usually reveal numerous physical and logical devices, including wireless network adapters, Bluetooth network adapters and Ethernet network adapters. To review the devices in a category, click the chevron to the left of the desired category to expand the list. The Device Manager uses a simple and straightforward display, with devices nested under an array of categories, such as audio, Bluetooth and keyboards (Figure 1). Click Start, scroll to Windows Administrative Tools, select Computer Management and pick Device Manager from the left menu. Similarly, admins can launch Device Manager by clicking Start, selecting Settings, typing 'device manager' in the search box in the Settings menu, and then selecting Device Manager from the search results.Īs a third option, admins can access the Device Manager through the Computer Management dialog. Click the entry to launch Device Manager. The applet will appear in the search results. Perhaps the easiest approach is to simply type 'device manager' in the search box along the bottom of the Taskbar. There are several ways to access Device Manager in Windows 10.

Let's take a closer look at Device Manager and its capabilities. Admins can use Device Manager in Windows 10 to survey, validate, update and troubleshoot PC devices.

Windows device manager