Device Manager lists every piece of hardware Windows knows about and the driver it uses. When a device stops working — no network, no sound, a disk not showing — it’s the first place to look.

Open it with Win + X → Device Manager, or devmgmt.msc.

Read the warning signs

  • Yellow triangle — the device has a problem (driver missing, failed to start, conflict).
  • Down arrow — the device is disabled.
  • Unknown device / Other devices — no driver installed.

Double-click a device → General tab shows the device status and an error code.

Common error codes

Code Meaning Typical fix
10 Device cannot start Update or reinstall the driver
22 Device is disabled Right-click → Enable device
28 Drivers not installed Install the correct driver
31 Device not working properly Reinstall the driver
39 Driver corrupted or missing Uninstall, then rescan/reinstall
43 Windows stopped the device because it reported problems Driver or hardware fault; update driver, check hardware
45 Device not connected Reconnect it; remove stale entry if gone
52 Driver not digitally signed Get a signed driver from the vendor

Update, roll back or reinstall a driver

Right-click the device:

  • Update driver → Search automatically (uses Windows Update) or Browse my computer to point at a downloaded driver folder.
  • Properties → Driver → Roll Back Driver — return to the previous version if an update caused problems.
  • Uninstall device (optionally Attempt to remove the driver) → then Action → Scan for hardware changes to reinstall.

For graphics, chipset and network drivers on physical PCs, the hardware manufacturer’s website usually has newer drivers than Windows Update.

Show hidden and disconnected devices

View → Show hidden devices reveals devices no longer connected (old USB drives, removed network adapters). Greyed-out entries can be uninstalled to clean up — useful when an old network adapter “keeps” an IP configuration.

Command-line tools

List problem devices with PowerShell:

Get-PnpDevice | Where-Object Status -ne 'OK' | Select-Object Status, Class, FriendlyName, InstanceId

Manage driver packages with pnputil:

pnputil /enum-drivers                       :: installed third-party driver packages
pnputil /add-driver C:\Drivers\*.inf /subdirs /install
pnputil /delete-driver oem12.inf /uninstall
pnputil /scan-devices

Device Manager on a Windows VPS

On a KVM virtual server, Windows sees virtual hardware, typically using VirtIO drivers for best performance:

  • Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter — network
  • Red Hat VirtIO SCSI controller / VirtIO block device — disks
  • VirtIO Balloon — memory management
  • QEMU devices for the guest agent and other functions

If a VirtIO device shows a yellow triangle after a Windows update or OS reinstall, install or update the virtio-win drivers (the signed driver package from the Fedora/Red Hat virtio-win project) with Device Manager or pnputil.

Be careful with network drivers on a remote server: uninstalling or updating the network adapter drops your Remote Desktop session. Do it from the provider’s VNC console, which works without network drivers.

Troubleshooting checklist

  1. Check the error code on the device’s General tab.
  2. Try Roll Back Driver if the problem started after an update.
  3. Uninstall the device, then scan for hardware changes.
  4. Install the vendor’s latest signed driver.
  5. Check Event Viewer → System for driver errors at the time of failure.
  6. For boot problems after a driver change, use Safe Mode — see msconfig or BCD.

More Windows administration: Resource Monitor and Windows event logging. Our Windows VPS plans run on KVM with a VNC console in the control panel.

  • Windows
  • Drivers
  • Troubleshooting