How do I resolve the error message "USB Device Not Recognized"?
I solved a similar problem. My USB system had become very ill: although existing drivers would work fine, as soon as I moved any USB device to another port or installed a new device or tried, horror, to reinstall a device, Windows would refuse with "USB device not recognized". Within a couple of hours, my system was reachable by Remote Desktop only -- no USB at all worked.
The solution in my case was:
- To observe that
C:\Windows\inf\
(= %SYSTEMROOT%\INF) did not containusb.inf
- To head over to the thread http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/usb-device-not-recognized-in-windows-7/8106a712-a13e-4ca5-b82e-c3961cc254b1 to find out how to reinstall the missing files (most posts in this thread are of marginal interest)
- I used the variation: peruse
C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log
or its historical versions to figure out whichC:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository
contains the originalusb.inf
:
In that previous version of the log, I looked for the string "usb.inf". This allowed me to figure out that it was originally copied into C:\Windows\inf from:
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usb.inf_amd64_neutral_153b489118ee37b8
This is of course system dependent. I copied both usb.inf and usb.pnf from there to C:\Windows\inf.
That's all it took in my case.
These are the options listed at Microsoft for the issue of USB ports made non-responsive by removing or connecting USB devices:
1: Use Device Manager to scan for hardware changes
2: Restart the computer
3: Disable and re-enable the USB controller.
Since rebooting every time you want to connect or disconnect a USB device seems like a lame solution, I'd probably try reinstalling the USB controllers:
First, disconnect all USB devices, even your USB mouse. Then:
- Press "Ctrl + Esc" to open the Start Menu.
- Type Device Manager in the Search bar and press "Enter". Click Continue if necessary.
- In Device Manger, press Tab and use "Up" and "Down" to move the highlight to "Universal Serial Bus Controllers".
- Press "Right" and expand it.
- Press "Down" to move to the first item and press "Delete" to remove it.
- Repeat the step 5 and uninstall all items under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers".
- Reboot.