Find Driver For Unknown Device Windows 10

Contents:

Unknown Device Issue Overview:

After an upgrade from Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 to Windows 10 is completed, the HP 3D DriveGuard driver is displayed as an unknown device. Device Manager displays an exclamation mark (yellow bang) indicating there is a problem with the driver. Impossible to find missing driver for Unknown Device in SVF1532E4E Hello, can anyone advise on how to find driver (Windows 10), for an unknown device in Sony Vaio laptop SVF1532E4E (or SVF153B1YM). I've tried Windows updates, Sony's website, programs like Driver Booster or Driver Update, searching it by the hardware's ID - no luck.

As long as there is a device not working on Windows 10, not recognized or incompatible, you may notice this device displays as unknown device with a yellow exclamation in Windows 10 Device Manager.

For instance, after you plugged in the USB device, your USB mouse or keyboard doesn’t work at all and when you check it in Device Manager, there are one or more unknown devices showing under Other devices branch in Device Manager.

In short, this unknown device Windows 10 issue comes up due to mainly two aspects, the one is that Windows 10 can’t detect the hardware, not to mention to find the driver for the device, and the other one lies in that the device driver is incompatible with Windows 10.

What is Unknown Device?

Unknown device means a device cannot be recognized by Windows 10, show it renamed as an unknown device in device manager. Many devices can be called as an unknown device if Windows 10 cannot recognize it and cannot install a driver for the device, such as a graphic card, audio card, touchpad, mouse, keyboard, Bluetooth devices, USB devices etc. This often happened after you upgrade your system from Windows 7, 8 to Windows 10 or you plug a new external device on Windows 10.

How Do I find a Driver for an Unknown Device?

As Windows 10 cannot identify the hardware, it cannot install a right driver for the device, Windows 10 unknown device in Device Manager error code 28 or any other device manager error codes pop up. You can find what your error code is from Driver Properties.

Whatever your error is, USB unknown device or any other device unfound, you can make full use of the ways below to find a driver for your device and enable Windows 10 to recognize the device. At the very beginning, you are supposed to find a driver for an Unknown Device. If no driver is found for the unknown device in Device Manager, perhaps you need to troubleshoot more problems on Windows 10, such as system file, hardware error, etc.

Solutions:

Solution 1: Using Hardware ID to Find Drivers for Unknown Devices

In the first place, you can use the hard id to find the driver for Windows 10 unknown device. In some conditions, maybe you can’t find the device name, so you are unable to find the unknown device driver from the official site or from the Internet. But every device has a hardware id, so if you know the hardware id of a device, you can use the hardware id to fix the unknown device driver issue. Here is the solution you need: how to use hardware Id to find a driver.

Solution 2: Update Unknown Device Driver

Possibly, besides hardware ID, you can get the right driver for Unknown device by updating it in Device Manager. The process of updating a driver is to find the device driver for Other devices.

Update Unknown Device Driver Via Device Manager:

1. Open device manager.

2. Expand Other devices and choose the Unknown devices.

3. Right-click it and select Update Driver Software.

This action will let Windows search the driver in the local disk and online to find a driver for the unknown device.

Using the device manager can to some degree install the right driver for the unknown device. So if this way can help solve unknown device problem, it will be good.

If this cannot help, try to install a compatible device driver from other methods.

4. Choose another option of Browse my computer for driver software.

5. Choose Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer. This will show compatible devices drivers and all drivers in the same category as the device.

Device

6. In the compatible hardware list, check Show compatible hardware and you can choose the model to install this driver to replace it for your unknown device.

After it is installed, the unknown device error may disappear and the real device may be listed in device manager. If required, you would better restart Windows 10 to take effect.

Update Unknown Device Driver Automatically:

If the device manager cannot solve find a driver for the unknown device, you can try to a professional and safe driver updating tool – Driver Booster. You can use Driver Booster to identify the unknown device and then download or update the driver. Furthermore, Driver Booster is capable of fixing various error code in Device Manager, now that unknown device doesn’t have a driver, you can manage to fix the error code by Driver Booster.

1. Download Driver Booster at first.

2. After installing and running it on Windows 10, hit Scan to find out which drivers are missing, which drivers are incongruent, which drivers are faulty on your PC.

3. Then locate the driver for the unknown device to Update.

4. Here if you are not sure what device driver is causing the unknown device on Windows 10, it is feasible to Update Now to update all the device drivers for Windows 10.

Tips: How to Use Driver Booster to Fix Device Error Codes?

Here if you are encountering device error code 1 or 10 or whatever, you are able to fix the driver error code by Driver Booster.

After Driver Booster scanned for the problematic device drivers, on the left side, click Tools button and then hit Fix device error to let Driver Booster find out what causes unknown device appears in Device Manager.

When the drivers are installed, you can enter the device manager see there is still unknown device under Other devices. In some cases, it is likely that unknown device disappears from Windows 7, 8, 10 Device Manager as Driver Booster has found the driver for the undetected device.

Solution 3: Find Driver by Windows 10 Updates

In order to install the right driver for the unknown device so as to remove the device error, there is another way open to you, namely, finding a driver by checking Windows 10 updates.

1. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security.

2. Under Windows Update, on the right side, choose to Check for updates.

For some unknown devices, after Windows 10 update, Windows 10 not recognizing the device can be fixed successfully.

Solution 4: Disable Driver Signature

When the unknown device appears in Device Manager, it implies that the device drivers are not recognized or not working on Windows 10. And as you all know, there is a driver signature for every certified driver. But sometimes, you failed to find the driver for the device as Windows 10 can’t allow your PC to install the driver due to the factor of driver signature.

Hence, on the basis of the driver safety, it is worth a shot to disable driver signature enforcement to install the driver for unknown device. May it will fix Windows 10 unknown device error.

Solution 5: Run SFC

After upgrading the Windows 10, more than an unknown device pops up under Other devices. In some sense, other devices unknown device results from the corrupted system files on Windows 10. Therefore, you would better try to run the System File Checker to see if an unknown device will perish from other devices.

1. Type in Command Prompt in the search box and then right click it to Run as administrator.

2. In Command Prompt, input sfc/scannow and then press Enter to activate SFC.

Then SFC will begin file checking and correct the problematic files if possible. You can head to Device Manager to check whether or not the unknown device still shows under Other devices.

In a word, you can follow the methods above to fix the unknown device driver error issue on Windows 10.

Related Articles:

Every windows user has to face this problem at times- a device driver related issue, driver update issue, and sometimes ‘Not driver Found’ issue. You need to update drivers when installing new hardware that is not working or updating a new Windows version. This article will discuss all aspects of Windows drivers update to ensure that it won’t drive you crazy anymore.

What is a device driver, and what is its purpose?

A device driver is a software that controls your operating system when you attach a hardware device (a mouse, video card, or an external storage device) to your computer. For example, if you want to play a song on your PC using an application like VLC media player. When you click on the play button, it sends a request to the OS, which communicates to the video or audio card to play using specific drivers.

If these drivers do not match between OS and hardware device, it results in poor driver performance. So, it is crucial to have the right for driver updates.

What happens when you connect hardware to your PC?

Hardware can be of two types; plug and play (PnP) and non-plug and play (non-PnP). Nowadays, mostly hardware devices come with PnP type. Windows tries to identify a driver for that device in the Device Store when you connect such a hardware device to your computer. If It finds a required driver, it starts and operates the hardware. But if it does not find an installed driver, it searches in the other folders or looks for windows update for a matching driver. If it finds multiple options, it opts for a driver suitable for hardware ID and installs it. After installation, your connected hardware devices become operational.

Which driver should you install?

Often you get confused about what driver you should install? The manufacturer’s driver or the Microsoft one? Windows gives the manufacturer’s device driver preference to install as they provided the best-suited drivers for your device.

Some manufacturers made generic drivers that are of a third category. Such kinds of drivers do not offer custom drivers and do not fall in the expected standard.

Things you need to know before updating your device drivers

Windows 10 has inbuilt driver updates along with the OS updates. Whenever you update your window, all the applicable drivers will automatically update with the latest version. But if your PC has some internal issue and you need to update drivers visit the manufacturer’s website.

Please avoid using any third-party driver update websites in windows 10 as it can download virus or malware which is harmful to your computer. Before updating your device driver, make sure that you have a backup plan for crucial data with you. It will help you to restore your essential data. You can also create a restore system.

Manage device drivers and Find missing drivers

In Windows 10, You get a warning of ‘Unknown Device’ when your Windows doesn’t identify the device. It may happen due to some missing driver during installation or disability of automatic driver download. You can fix it by checking in the Device Manager. There is a yellow warning sign that indicates the unknown device.

How to fix an unknown device problem?

  • Press Windows key + X to go, Device Manager
  • Right-click on the unknown devices and click on properties
  • On the error ‘The drivers for this device are not installed.’
  • In the Detail tab, go to properties and select Hardware Ids.
  • Ids that are visible in the value box note down them.
  • Google search device drivers for these unknown devices throws ids.
  • After downloading, right-click on the unknown device and then go for Update driver software.

Install and update device drivers

You can also install drivers by yourself. But be careful. Otherwise, you can affect the smooth running of your system. Before installing a driver, check its compatibility with your computer; otherwise, it will cause issues. Visit the manufacturer’s website and download the drivers. In the case of an executable file, it will be downloaded quickly, but if the drivers are in zip form, unzip it first and then update it through the Device Manager procedure.

Update through Windows 10

As we have discussed above that Windows 10 has the facility to update all its software automatically. You do not need to update your drivers individually.

  • Go to settings
  • Click on Update & Security, and Check for Updates.

If there is an update required, download and install; moreover, the Windows update will update device drivers. If you want to update it manually, go to the manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers.

  • Go to the Device Manager. Locate the desired drivers right click and choose Update driver.
  • Then select Browse my computer for drivers.
  • Enter the path in the text box for downloaded device drivers.
  • Follow the wizard for the latest version.

You can update your device drivers using both methods. For Windows 8, right-click on the hardware’s icon and click Update Driver Software. For Windows 7 and Vista, right-click on the hardware’s name.

  • Then on to properties.
  • Then click on the driver tab and click on the Update Drive button.

Unidentified Device Driver

For Windows XP only do the same process as for Vista. Then choose No, not this time from the hardware update wizard. Then proceed with clicking Next >.

Enable or disable drivers:

Find Driver For Unknown Device Windows 10 64-bit

Windows enables all devices automatically, but for some reason, if it fails to do this, a black arrow next to that driver shows up. You can allow it by yourself from the device manager. Click on the Disabled Drivers, then click on the Enable device by clicking on it in the context menu.

Take the Backup of your drivers:

We take backups for critical data, then why not for drivers? If a manufacturer stops offering the device driver, then in such cases, Backup for a driver can rescue the hardware. Use DSIM utility to take the driver’s Backup. You can also block automatic driver updates. Type gpedit, click Edit group policy, then navigate the folder path and double click on Do not include drivers with Windows updates. Enable the option and apply it, followed by OK.

Find Driver For Unknown Device Windows 10 Free

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