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If you’re a windows user, you might have seen this error message quite a lot “USB device not recognized” It usually happens because of corrupted drivers or the faulty device itself. Sometimes your computer just stops recognizing the USB device. It doesn’t mean that the USB ports are broken. You only have to update the USB drivers. So today we will show you how t0 fix the related unknown USB device issue on your PC.
How to Fix USB device not recognized Error
1. Try Unplugging Your Computer
2. Update Your Drivers
If you frequently get the”unknown USB device” message on your pc. Then its time to update your drivers. The process of updating drivers windows is straightforward. Click on start and search “devmgmt.msc” or click on device manager in control panel window. After the device manager loads up, directly go to driver window and right click on the USB with an exclamation mark. Then click on properties and select update driver. Windows will do the rest for you, just make sure you’re connected to the internet.
3. Connect USB Directly With Your PC
Sometimes the USB hub/deck fails to function correctly. In that case, the USB hub will always show “USB not recognized” in the system tray. The only way to resolve this issue is to buy a new one and use the default CPU USB ports for a while until your new USB hub arrives.
4. Windows USB Troubleshooter
If you’re a Windows XP or 7 users, this method will probably solve the issue for you. It is a free tool which comes preinstalled with Windows 7, Vista and XP. After running the tool, it will automatically find possible errors and fix them, including updating the drivers if necessary.
5. Update Your Generic USB Hub
Sometimes the generic USB hub is not appropriately configured which leads to such errors. To fix this follow these steps
- Right Click on This PC/ My Computer and click on Manage.
- Then Open Device Manager.
- Now navigate to Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
- Open drop-down list of Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
- Find Generic USB Hub.
- Press Right Click and press update driver software.
- It will ask you for a manual update or automatic update, Then click on Browse my computer for driver software.
- After That, choose Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
- Now select Generic USB Hub, and click on Next button.
- After updating the drivers click on close.
- And finally, device manager will detect the unknown USB Device.
6. Uninstall USB Devices
If nothing helps, you can try uninstalling current USB devices in the device manager and be reinstalling them again. Windows is configured to detect broken USB devices and clear them automatically. But sometimes it fails and ends up with a malfunctioned USB port. To uninstall USB devices follow the steps below:
- Open device manager from startup menu
- Right click on the USB device, which is malfunctioned/not recognizable.
- Select uninstall by right-clicking on the device icon/label.
7. Uninstall Hidden Devices
Sometimes Windows Device Manager doesn’t show you the complete list of USB devices installed in the system. Such ghost USB devices conflict with connected devices and results in their malfunctions. Luckily you can easily fix this via command prompt window.
- Open command prompt (run with admin privileges)
- Copy paste the code below and press enter
set DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS=1
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc
- After that, go to device manager and check on “Show Hidden Devices” and uninstall them.
Final Words
We hope you finally have found answers to your queries on why windows show the USB device not recognized message. If you’re facing any problem with any of the methods above, feel free to below. We will be happy to assist you.