Device manager: Find out "Unknown device"

If the Windows device manager shows an unknown device, you can easily find out what it is and download the corresponding driver. We explain how this works in this practical tip.

Find information about an unknown device with the device manager

The device manager marks unknown devices with a yellow question mark. In the properties of the device you will find the information necessary to identify it.

1. Right-click the unknown device in Device Manager. Select "Properties" in the context menu.
2. In the dialog window, switch to the "Services" tab. Via "Hardware IDs" in the "Property" selection, you can see the necessary information about the device.
3. The areas "VEN_xxx" and "DEV_xxx" are important in the displayed string: "VEN" denotes the vendor, that is, the manufacturer ID. "DEV" stands for the device ID.
4. In the example screenshot, the vendor ID is "10EC", the device ID here would be "0269".

Identify unknown device - how it works

There are several pages on the Internet that you can use to identify a device using a vendor and device ID. In our example we use the website pcidatabase.com.

1. Go to the pcidatabase.com page in your browser.
2. Enter the determined vendor ID in the search field and click "Search". In the next window you will see the manufacturer.
3. Since the manufacturer is not sufficient to identify a device, start the search using the device ID. You will then see a device list in the next window. If you compare the vendor ID with your device in the penultimate column, you can read out the device in the second column. In our case it is "Realtek High Definition audio".
4. With this information you can now search for the right driver on the Internet.

In another practical tip, we will explain how you can display hidden devices in the Windows Device Manager.