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Finding hidden device drivers

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I believe that Windows is a great interface; it has help spawn some awesome apps, and help many a company grow. However, that said, why do the developers at Microsoft always have hidden features. Even as far back as DOS there where routines that you could call that were called undocumented. I would hate to see a list of these now.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Some times real detective work is required to solve a problem
So how does this apply to me at this point? Well I have a Nokia N82 and have had some problems with the camera and decided to do a reset of the phone (as recommended by one of their forums). After 3 hours of wasted time I have my phone back up and running, thanks to the awesomeness of Active Sync and Exchange I never have to worry about backing up contacts and the like.

Anyway I also use my phone to connect the internet when on the road using the blue tooth modem. And the laptop could not detect the modem. After fiddling and fiddling I started thinking about the reset and that some how Windows had stored somewhere the old phone name and therefore the old modem drvier. Remembering that you could find old device drivers somehow I searched the internet and this is the result.

I found this useful for when you trying to find devices drivers that are conflicting with existing ones, thanks to the internet here is a step by step:
  • Run command prompt as admininistrator

  • Add the following environment variable:
    SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

  • Now run device manager:
    start compmgmt.msc
  • And then select show hidden devices


Read more here:

http://www.infinitec.de/?tag=/DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/itdojo/?p=731

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

By the way I swear this was easier in previous versions of Windows.

Needless to say I found the older driver and trashed it, and the blue tooth modem works again.
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