How to View Hidden Devices in Device Manager on Windows 10 (2024)

This post will show you how to view hidden devices in Device Manager on Windows 10. By default, Device Manager shows the devices that are installed in the computer. However, certain devices are not visible in the list.

Device Manager is a special tool in Windows that allows managing drivers and parameters for the installed hardware. It shows detailed information about each installed device.

Device Manager provides detailed information in the Propertiesdialog for each device. Right-click the name of the device, and then clickProperties. TheGeneral,Driver,Details, andEventstabs contain information that can be useful when youdebug errorsor installing a new device.

Hidden Devices

Device manager can show hidden devices. The following devices are hidden by default:

• Devices that have the device node (devnode) status bit DN_NO_SHOW_IN_DM set.
• There is a devnode for each device on a machine and the devnodes are organized into a hierarchical Device Tree. The PnP manager creates a devnode for a device when the device is configured.
• A devnode contains the device stack (the device objects for the device's drivers) and information about the device such as whether the device has been started and which drivers have registered for notification on the device.
• Devices that are part of a setup class that is marked as a NoDisplayClass in the registry. This is applicable to printers and non-PnP drivers.
• Non-present devices - devices that were physically removed from the computer but whose registry entries were not deleted.

View Hidden Devices in Device Manager on Windows 10

1. Open the Device Manager app. You can quickly open it pressing Win + X and selecting Device Manager from the menu.
2. Click the View item on the menu bar.
3. Click on Show hidden devices to add a check mark and make the hidden devices visible.
4. By click on the same item once again you will remove the check mark and toggle visibility of hidden devices.

You are done.

Bonus tip: You can toggle hidden device visibility using the keyboard only. Press the following key sequence: Win + X > M > Alt + V > w. By doing this you will open the Win+X menu, then open Device Manager, and in the Device Manager you will open the View menu and toggle the Show hidden devices entry.

That's it.