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My driverless USB device is not recognized!

This solution is for Windows XP users that have a hardware that does not require a driver such as USB sticks, Cameras, etc, but where the device is not recognized properly or as something else. Since there is no driver, it is almost impossible to change the sytem.
Here is what you do:

Open the Windows Control Panel.
Click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System. (Or just click on System if you have the classic view of control panel).
Click the Advanced tab.
Click the Environment Variables button. The Environment Variables dialog box contains two sections: User variables and System variables. The changes made by adding a variable in the User variables section apply only to a specific user. If another user logs on to this computer, this variable will not be set for them. If you want this variable to apply to all users that log on to this computer, add it to System variables instead.
Click New under User System or System Variables, depending on your settings preference described above.
Type the following in the Variable Name box (including the underscores): DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES
Type 1 for the Variable Value.
Click OK, and then OK again in the Environment Variables dialog box to apply this change.
Open the Windows Control Panel.
Click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System. (Or just click on System if you have the classic view of control panel).
Click Device manager. Expand all devices that are in the same cateogry as your device should be and unknown Devices. Remove all the devices that are visible now but greyed out. Restart the computer and plugin the device.

Last Update: 2007-09-19 10:20:12