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Category: device manager

  • Wireless Network Profile – Backup


    How to Backup and Restore Wireless Network Profiles in Windows
    Information
    This will show you how to backup a wireless network with all of it’s settings in Windows 7 to then be able to restore (import) and use on any one or more XP, Vista, and Windows 7 computer as well.

    This makes it easy to have a wireless network and it’s settings automatically added and setup from one computer to another.
    You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do this tutorial.
    Warning
    You will be required to use a USB flash drive to be able to backup a wireless network profile.
    OPTION ONE
    To Backup a Wireless Network Profile in Windows 7
    1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Network and Sharing Center icon.
    2. In the left blue pane, click on the Manage wireless networks link.
    3. Double click on the wireless network that you want to backup.  
    4. Click on the Copy this network profile to a USB flash drive link.  
    5. Connect a USB flash drive to your computer, and click on Next.  
    Warning
    This will replace any other wireless network profile backup that you have previously backed up on the USB flash drive using this method. If you wish to keep more than one wireless network profile backup, then you would need to:
    Create a New Folder on the USB flash drive or some other location, and move (cut and paste) all 3 of the backup files below   from the root of the USB flash drive into the new folder before doing step 5.
    NOTE: I would recommend to name the new folder the same name you had for the wireless network to make it easier to know what it was for.
    6. When it’s finished, click on Close.  
    7. When you are finished, click on OK.
    8. Close the Manage Wireless Networks window.
    OPTION TWO
    To Restore or Import the Wireless Network Profile
    Warning
    If you used a New Folder as in the warning under step 5 in OPTION ONE above to keep mutliple wireless network profiles backed up, then you will need to do this first before doing step 1 below.
    In the USB flash drive, do the warning in step 5 in OPTION ONE above if the wireless network profile backup files in the root of the USB flash drive is not the backup that you wanted to restore (import).
    Afterwards, copy the all of the backup files from within a new folder that contains the wireless network profile that you do want to restore (import) to the root of the USB flash drive.
    1. On the XP, Vista, or Windows 7 computer (ex: laptop or netbook) that you want to restore or import the wireless network to, plug in the USB flash drive that contains the wireless network profile backup files from OPTION ONE above.
    NOTE: This must be done from a USB flash drive, or it will not work.
    2. In AutoPlay, click on the Connect to a wireless network option.  
    A) Go to step 4.
    OR
    3. Open the USB flash drive and run the setupSNK.exe in the root of the USB flash drive.
    4. Verify that this is the name (ex: Brink-Router) of the wireless network that you want to restore or import, and click on Yes if so.  
    NOTE:
    If it isn’t, then do what is in the Warning box right under OPTION TWO to have the correct wirless network profile backup files in the root of the USB flash drive.
    5. Click on OK.  
    6. The wireless network has now been restored (imported). You can repeat steps 1 and 2 in OPTION ONE above to verify.

  • Device Manager – Finding Unknown Devices

    Finding Unrecognized Devices through Device Manager
    Information
    This guide will show you how to locate the unidentified hardware in your device manager by using Hardware Identification. The goal of this tutorial is to help identify an unidentified device.

    Note
    Prerequisite knowledge includes opening windows device manager, surfing the internet, data entry and basic windows navigation skills
    Warning
    Installing the wrong driver can crash your system, this technique revolves around the use of a 3rd party online hardware ID database.
    Some devices (such as legacy devices) may not have hardware ID’s. See the “But what if there’s no Hardware ID in the drop down box?” for tips on finding out what these devices are.
    Here’s how
    1. Open Device Manager and find the device. It most likely has a yellow exclamation mark on it like the one in this screenshot below.
    Tip
    You can open Device Manager quickly by typing devmgmt.msc into RUN or SEARCH and pressing ENTER.
    2. Now that you’ve found your device, right click on it and select properties.
    3. Click on the Details Tab.
    4. Drop the ‘Property’ box until you find ‘Hardware Id’s”.
    This picture shows a webcam, but unknown devices have hardware ID’s too
    5. You’ll find some number-letter combinations, here’s what they mean:
    HID = Hardware ID
    PID = Product ID
    VID = Vendor ID
    6. In my screen print I’ve looked up my Webcam again. My PID=0804, My VID = 046D.
    7. We need to reference these, so open your browser of choice and navigate to the www.pcidatabase.com website.
    8. There are other websites, but I think that the PCIdatabase.com team has put together a great site with a lot of information should you need to know more about devices and drivers.
    9. Type your PID where it says Device Search and press SEARCH (e.g. for my example I type in 0804 and click on the Search button to the right of the Device Search box).
    10. All Devices with that PID show. This is usually enough; but sometimes multiple devices will show.
    11. If you have multiple Devices, then you need your VID, so look back to your details column under Hardware ID’s and reference it against the Vendor ID column with your VID. Mine was 046D and you can see 0x46d in the Vendor column. That’s a match.
    12. You’ve now identified your device and can now search for the correct drivers for it.
    But what if there’s no Hardware ID in the drop down box?
    With older legacy devices, some virtual devices, non-plug and play devices, and some viruses there may not be a hardware ID, however there there are other things you can do to find your unrecognized device.
    Have a look at these entries in the drop down, there are others, but these are the most common that you will find when the Hardware ID is missing.
    DevNode status – This will tell us the current status of the device and differentiate between a driver existing and a driver loading. If the driver exists you can look at it’s *.inf file (the inf file name is in the Inf Name drop down)
    Device Instance path – Often contains Vendor and hardware information, if not than it may contain an ACPI linking it to a processor group.
    Class Long Name – It’s group name (e.g. Processors)
    Class Short Name – It’s short (actual) name (e.g. Processor)
    Class icon path – The path to a dll that houses this devices icons. Although this is likely to be windows generic, it’s worthwhile taking a look at the icons in the *.dll, the easiest way to do this is to change an icon on any shortcut or folder and navigate to that *.dll to browse the icons.
    siblings – Any related siblings
    parent – any related parents
    If you are trying to find a Legacy item, it will likely be at this registry address
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\. It should begin with the LEGACY_ (e.g. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_CPUZ132)
    The Windows Registry Editor can be opened by typing REGEDIT into RUN or SEARCH.
    Some other locations that you may find this information (with thanks to WindowsStar)are:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\Root\
    Warning
    Edit the registry can crash your machine, use this as a research tool only, unless you know what you are doing