Getting a problem with your USB device while plugging it in? Seeing an error “USB device not recognized” whenever you plug in a USB mouse, keyboard, camera, or any other method? Nobody can live without USB ports and also not connect keyboard, mouse, camera, phone, and printer all at it once. Today we will teach you how to fix the USB device not recognized error in Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows 7.
Those of you, who have more USB gadgets, might connect a USB hub to one of the USB ports so that more devices can be connected. Many times this might work for you, but quite often your computer might not recognize USB devices.
Now, let’s see how the problem can be fixed, continue reading the guide to find out more solutions to it.
How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized Error in Windows 10 & 11
There are different methods to solve the USB issue that everyone faces these are as followed:
Unplug Computer from Power
So, now how you are going to fix the problem, you are facing. Let’s start with a simple method.
First of all, unplug your computer from the power supply. And that is all!! Note it down that it does not mean just turning the equipment off using the power button because most of modern computers do not turn off completely and the motherboard gets the power. If you want to wake up your computer remotely, this is useful at times.
The motherboard is where all the hardware of the computer is connected to, which includes the USB ports as well. You need to reboot the motherboard as well as things can go wrong at times that are some USB ports suddenly stop working. The motherboard has a small microprocessor that will reload the drivers, and USB ports will be able to recognize devices again.
So to solve the problem turn off your computer using the shutdown option in Windows or press the power button and then unplug the computer from the wall outlet. Let it be like this for several minutes, and then you can plug in back.
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Restart your PC and Disconnect all the USB Devices
Another solution to the problem that you are facing is merely disconnecting the USB devices and restarting your machine. Now try connecting the USB device that was causing the problem. If the particular port is not recognizing it try connecting USB in another port. A hardware problem might be there with any one of the USB ports. There is probably something else if no USB port recognizes the device.
Update the Device Drivers
If windows are not recognizing your device then you can also check in the device manager and see that the device is being shown as an “unknown device.” Get into the device manager by:
- Click on the start button
- Type on devmgmt.msc
- You can also go to the control panel and click on the device manager.
- If this happens, right-click on the unknown device
- Then click on properties
- Later on the driver tab
- Finally, click on the Update driver
You can download the driver for your device from the manufacturer’s website if this does not work for you. It is not a driver issue if the USB device is just a flash device. Moreover, if you are installing a USB drawing pad, printer, etc. Then you can download the driver for the specific device.
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Try a USB Hub? Maybe your ports are damaged or dirty
I faced a similar issue, and the cause was simply in the USB hub. I had only 3 USB ports on my computer. So what I did was buy a center where I can connect additional USB devices.
This proved good for my computer, and it just started sporadically not recognizing various devices. When I removed the hub and connected the device directly to the PC, it worked fine for me.
There has been no other solution for this other than reducing the number of items connected to the hub. In reality, no other solution worked, but it meant that you have to buy a new USB hub with more power.
If this problem is being faced with Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, then it’s your luck as Microsoft has released a fix for windows eight not detecting the USB devices correctly. If you are running Windows 8, make sure to install this hotfix.
The USB Root Hub Issue
Another way to solve the underlying issue is by following the steps:
- In the first step, open the Device Manager
- Expand the USB serial bus controllers.
- Right-click on the USB root hub
- Click on properties
- Now, click on the power management tab
- Uncheck the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” box.
Repeat these steps all over again if you have more than one USB root hub.
- Click on the OK button
- Then restart your computer
Now reconnect the USB device and see whether it is recognized or not. If not, then go back to the power management tab for each one and recheck the box. If the device is known, then leave it unchecked.
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Update your Generic USB Hub
If you get an Unknown device error in the Device Manager, you can try the following method:
- Open the Device Manager in the first step.
- Expand the universal serial bus controllers.
See the item called Generic USB Hub, on some computers there might be two, three or even more.
- Now, right-click on the first one and choose the Update Driver Software.
- Click on browse my computer for driver software, when the update dialogue pops up.
- Click on the let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, present at the bottom.
- Select Generic USB Hub from the list. (usually, there won’t be any other option rather than this)
- Click on the Next button
- Finally, click close once it finished installing it.
The device manager screen will refresh and either it will be recognized, or the unknown device will be there at this point. If it is still not known, repeat the process for each Generic USB Hub listed.
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The USB Trouble Shooter Fix Tool
You can download the Trouble Shooter fix tool if nothing till now has worked so far. It is a tool that works with Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10, and Windows Vista.
In this, either the troubleshooter fix tool can solve problems for you, or you can select fixes yourself. What I would recommend you is to let them fix it for you since the choices can sometimes be confusing and technical for the user.
Uninstall the USB Drivers and Instal them again
Another solution to the query is simple to uninstall all the USB devices from the system and then restart it over again. It is worthy of mentioning here that windows are supposed to recognize the USB controllers, hubs, and devices automatically, it sometimes fails, and you end up with no USB port working.
I had a computer with 6 USB ports with only one port not working successfully. What I did was uninstall everything under the USB Serial Bus Controllers in the Device manager restarted. Well, instead of re-detecting everything I was left with no USB port working. So you have to be careful while using this method
What you have to do it go to the Device Manager and uninstall each item under USN serial bus controllers. Before starting with anything that is working, uninstall items that are listed as unknown devices.
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Uninstall all the Hidden Devices in Device Manager
The device manager does not show all the devices that are listed to the system by default. It shows up the ones that are connected currently. However, if you have earlier installed a USB printer and now no longer use it, it will be installed but will not be seen in the Device Manager.
These hidden UBD devices can cause conflicts with the current devices and cause this error. You can view these devices in the device manager by typing the following command in the command prompt:
- Set DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS=1
- Set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
- Start devmgmt.msc
Click on the “show hidden devices,” once the device manager loads.
Now you have to expand the imaging devices, universal serial bus controllers, and unknown devices. If you see anything that says unknown device, right-click on it and choose to uninstall. By doing this, the newer methods will work properly.
SEE ALSO: Windows 10 & 11 Hacking Commands for Command Prompt.
Did you Fix the Issue?
This is a well-known issue in Windows. There are several fixes available for it, which we shared with you. I hope it has now fixed ‘The USB Device Not Recognized error in Windows 10/11 for you. This how-to tutorial is for anyone who was experiencing this problem and wanted a solution for the error. Many people also believed that it was due to their Windows 10 installation not being activated.