How to Configure and Troubleshoot Devices Using Device Manager

Device Manager provides you with a graphical view of the hardware installed on your computer and helps you manage and troubleshoot hardware devices. You can use Device Manager to configure, disable, and uninstall devices as well as to update device drivers. Device Manager also helps you determine whether the hardware on your computer is working properly.

  Windows 10 also provides the Hardware Troubleshooter to troubleshoot hardware probIems. It should appear automatically if you have problems. 

When you change device configurations manually, Device Manager can help you avoid problems by allowing you to identify free resources, assign devices to those resources, disable devices to free resources, and reallocate resources used by devices to free a required resource. You must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group to change resource settings. Even if you are logged on as Administrator, if your computer is connected to a network, policy settings on the network might prevent you from changing resources.
Improperly changing resource settings on devices can disable your hardware and cause your computer to stop working.

Windows 10 automatically identifies Plug and Play devices and arbitrates their resource requests. However, the resource allocation among Plug and Play devices is not permanent. If another Plug and Play device requests a resource that has already been allocated, Windows 10  again arbitrates the requests to satisfy all the devices.

You should not change resource settings for a Plug and Play device manually because Windows 10 is then unable to arbitrate the assigned resources if requested by another Plug and Play device. In Device Manager, Plug and Play devices have a Resources tab in their Properties dialog box. To free the resource settings you manually assigned and to allow Windows 10 to again arbitrate the resources, select the Use Automatic Settings check box in the Resources tab.

You can use the following procedure to configure or troubleshoot a device using Device Manager:
 
Press Windows+R to display Run, input devmgmt.msc and tap OK.
or Open Control Panel. and  enter device in the top-right search box and click Device Manager in the results.

In Device manager expand the device category, for example network adapters and then double click the device you ant to configure to view the properties for the device.

 
Advanced or Advanced Properties tab -.The properties listed vary depending on the device selected.

General -.Displays the device type, manufacturer, and location. It also displays the device status and provides a troubleshooter to help you troubleshoot any problems you are having with the device. The troubleshooter steps you through a series of questions to determine the problem and provide a solution.
Device Properties The properties listed vary depending on the device selected.

Driver Displays the driver provider, driver date, driver version, and digital signer. This tab also provides the following three additional buttons: Driver Details, Uninstall, and Driver Update. These buttons allow you to get additional information on the driver, uninstall the driver, or update the driver with a newer version, respectively.
Port Settings In a communications port(COM1) Properties dialog box, displays and allows you to configure settings for bits per second, data bits, parity, stop bits, and flow control.
Properties Determines the way Windows uses the device. For example, on the CD-ROM, the properties could include volume and a feature named Digital CD Playback, which allows you to to enable digital instead of analog playback. These settings determine how Windows uses the CDROM for playing CD music.
Resources Displays the resource type and setting, Whether there are any resource conflicts, and whether or not you can change the resource settings.

Viewing Hidden Devlces

By default, Device Manager does not display all devices. Some devices are hid den, such as non-Plug and Play devices and devices that are not currently 00m nected to the computer (phantom devices). To view any hidden nonnl’lug and Play devices, on the Device Manager View menu, click Show Hidden Devices.

To view phantom devices, follow these steps:

1. Click Windows logo button + R In the Open text box, type cmd and click OK,

2. At the command prompt, type set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_ DEVICES=1.

3. Press ENTER.

4. Start Device Manager by windows logo button + R and type devmgmt.msc and pressing ENTER.

To set Device Manager to always show phantom devices, add the following system environment variable: set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1.