What's the shortcut to Device Manager?

What is the shortest route to Device Manager?

Ivo Flipse

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 24 054

Answers

Click on the Start menu and type (or type the same in a command-line window, CMD.EXE):

devmgmt.msc

Or you can just type Device Manager and it should come up.

Sandeep Bansal

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 6 168

Does this work on Windows 8? – Tim – 2014-11-23T12:24:55.537

@Tim yes it'll work the same, you just need to access the start screen or use Win + S on Win 8.1 to search globally. – Sandeep Bansal – 2014-11-24T16:29:08.760

Windows-R brings up the Run prompt as far back as I remember. devmgmt.msc works there. After you've used it once you just have to type a couple of letters. diskmgmt.msc is disk manager, compmgmt.msc is computer management, in which you can find both of the above. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2017-05-30T12:30:28.557

1Running "devmgmt.msc" is usually pretty straightforward (as is running things like appwiz.cpl, inetcpl.cpl, etc.). – Isxek – 2010-08-16T18:01:00.227

Instead of the full name, you can also type "dev man" and the Device Manager should be your first result. – codinguser – 2010-08-18T11:16:07.883

1And once you have the name, you can even create a shortcut for it, if you need it frequently. – gbarry – 2011-03-02T23:14:19.547

My typical route to get to the Device Manager window is Windows Key + Pause/Break. This will get you to the System Properties window. Device Manager is just two clicks away:

Screenshot of the System Properties window, with tab Hardware highlighted (where the button for starting Device Manager is).

heavyd

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 54 755

In Windows 7 and up it takes only Win+Pause and one click instead of 2 – phuclv – 2017-06-21T03:16:03.423

Create a new shortcut.
Enter devmgmt.msc as the target.
Give the shortcut a name. For example: Device Manager.
Optionally, pin the resulting shortcut to your taskbar for even faster access.

Der Hochstapler

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 77 228

Simple. In Windows 10, do Win + X and press M.

user740705

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 41

1That mutes sound on Windows 7 (via the Widows Mobility Center). – DavidPostill – 2017-06-20T22:33:14.810

It worked for me Windows 10 when I tried it. – Peter Mortensen – 2018-06-22T13:15:32.280

Use Win + R hdwwiz.cpl

Or Win + R devmgmt.msc

Both files open the Device Manager window and are located in %windir%\system32\.

Though .cpl is opened by control.exe, and .msc by mmc.exe executables which are also located in the same path.

PS:

Personally I think hdwwiz.cpl is better to memorize as it can be associated with the appwiz.cpl counterpart for software, that is the Programs and Features window, but despite being a .cpl file it opens in microsoft management console, meaning it's not a control panel app and therefore should be associated with mmc.exe.

user373230

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation:

You can start the device manager through:

The management console snap-in
```
devmgmt.msc
```

The control panel pane

hdwwiz.cpl

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hdwwiz.cpl

The device manager dll:

rundll32.exe devmgr.dll DeviceManager_Execute

These all work on Windows 7 through Windows 10.

Reinstate Monica

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 223

Under Windows 10 (and 8 it seems) you can press WIN + X to open a menu that contains an entry for device manager.

surfmuggle

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 259

Win+Break to open System from Control Panel quickly.

i486

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 163

The search function in the Vista/7 Start Menu is pretty awesome. Just type 'Device Manager'. This works for pretty much any system config applet as long as you have the slightest idea what it's called. (Try 'hard drive' sometime.)

The old-fashioned way I used in XP, and this still works, is to right-click My Computer in the Start Menu and select 'Manage', which brings up the Computer Management console which has Device Manager, Disk Manager, Event Viewer, etc, readily accessible.

Shinrai

Posted 2010-08-16T16:09:11.457

Reputation: 18 051

1Yeah, but sadly, the search doesn't work in Win 8 :( – Gustavo Mori – 2013-09-09T19:57:57.343

1@GustavoMori - Sure it does (and I just tried it on my Surface to make sure). You have to look in the Settings subheading, though (apparently this is changed in 8.1 and they've eliminated categorized search by default, but I haven't messed with 8.1 at all yet). It's probably faster just to do WinKey + X and pick it from the list if you're on the desktop, though. – Shinrai – 2013-09-10T21:24:27.217