Normally when you install a new piece of hardware on Windows, the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’ will pop up and walk you through the steps to install your new gizmo; and then it works perfectly. Yay. You stop reading this article now.
But sometimes, it doesn’t work that easily. For exampe, you might not have had the CD or DVD that came with it in the CD/DVD drive. Unfortunately, the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’ typically won’t volunteer again; even if you have the CD or DVD in the drive this time.
The following instructions will help you get the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’, whether Windows is feeling helpful or not. Theoretically, your new device will be working by step 8. If it’s not, keep going. As soon as your device starts working, you’re done with this guide.
Start Menu - Control Panel
- Use the Start Menu to open the ‘Control Panel’.
- From the Control Panel, open ‘Administrative Tools’.
- From Adminstrative Tools, open ‘Computer Management’.
In the left panel of ‘Computer Management’, select ‘Device Manager’.
The top item in the right panel is the name of your computer. (As you can see from the picture, my computer is named QBert.)
Right click it, and select ‘Scan for Hardware Changes’.
You will now see the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’.
Follow the steps in the Wizard to install your device.
If you don’t see the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’, then all of your hardware is fully installed, and should appear in the list in the right panel. As you can see in the picture below, a device that is not working properly will be indicated with a red ‘X’.
Select the device you’re trying to install, right click it, and select ‘Update Drivers’. This will take you through the same process as the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’ would have.
If the ‘Found New Hardware Wizard’ is unable to fully install your hardware; you probably don’t have the CD or DVD that came with the hardware in the CD/DVD drive. Put it in and try again.
If you’ve lost the disk that came with the device (and we all have been guilty of this); your only remaining hope is to search high and low for the correct ‘driver’ to download from the manufacturer’s website.
If you find any ‘driver’ that looks like it might be correct, I recommend burning it to a CD or DVD, and putting that CD or DVD into your CD/DVD drive; then following these instructions again from the beginning.
If that didn’t work, scour the manufacturer’s website for drivers again. Repeat step 13 as necessary.
It’s still not working? Then it’s time to buy a new device. (And become paranoid about not losing the disk that comes with it.) I sympathize. We’ve all been at step 15 at some point.
I recommend buying a different brand device this time. If you have had this much trouble, in spite of using this guide; then your device manufacturer is at least partially to blame for not having a better disk, better instructions or a better website. You will have better luck with a different brand of device
- Edward