Platform device manager what. How to open device manager. Installation and features

Hardware Manager allows you to check and update drivers for connected devices detected by the system. This system tool is often useful in diagnosing problems, so information on how to open Device Manager will be useful to all users.

Windows interface

Most quick way enable device manager - right-click on the “Computer” icon and select “Manage” from the context menu. In the “Computer Management” window that appears, select “Device Manager” from the menu on the left.

You can take a slightly longer route and launch the dispatcher through the “Control Panel”:


If this method does not work, try calling the hardware manager directly from the “system32” folder. It doesn't matter what system you have installed: XP, Windows 7 or Ten. The path to the executable file of the hardware tool remains unchanged.


A hardware manager will appear on the screen, with which you can continue to work, making changes to the software of connected devices.

Run menu

Another method that works for everyone without exception Windows versions(from XP to Windows 10) is to use the Run window, which can be opened through Start or launched using the Win + R combination.


Through Run, any programs, system tools and folders are included - you just need to correctly specify the launch command.

Using the Command Line

Let's try to launch the device manager from the command line. First you need to open the command interpreter window itself. On Windows XP, for example, this is done through the Start menu, where among standard programs there is a command line.

On other versions of Windows, you can use the built-in search bar or the “Run” menu indicated above, specifying the “cmd” request in it. Also, the command line is system application, the executive file of which is stored in the “system32” folder in the “Windows” directory. Go here and double click on the cmd.exe file to go to the interpreter Windows commands.

To open Hardware Manager via command line you need to enter the same command as in the “Run” window – “devmgmt.msc”. After pressing the Enter key, a list of all connected devices with which you can work will appear.

Win+X menu

Windows 8 has a new convenient menu for navigating system tools, which can be accessed using the Win+X key combination. IN previous versions This menu does not work, but it is saved in the “top ten”, where it can also be called up by right-clicking on “Start”.

In the Win+X context menu, among other things, there is a link to the device manager - click on it to see a list of connected equipment on the screen.

Making changes to the registry

The first method describes how to launch the equipment manager through the “Management” section context menu"Computer". But if you make small changes to system registry, then you won’t have to open the “Management” window—the “Device Manager” item will immediately appear in the context menu:


After completing these steps, a link to the Hardware Manager will appear in the Computer context menu next to the Manage tool, which you can use if necessary.

In OS Windows family control over the properties of the computer hardware is carried out using a system utility such as device manager. In other words, directly between the user and the hardware. With its help, the following options are available:

  • View the equipment installed on your computer.
  • Timely identification of incorrectly operating equipment and elimination of device conflicts.
  • Editing configuration parameters for a single device.
  • View information about installed device drivers, as well as the ability to download directly from the Internet or computer.
  • Rollback software devices up to the previous version.
  • Enable, disable, and remove devices through appropriate interactions with their drivers.

Opportunities that it opens up this program, can be used by both a beginner (find out the model of a particular device, update drivers) and an advanced user (advanced troubleshooting and conflicts in the operation of equipment).

  1. Go to the Start menu.
  2. Open the “Control Panel”.
  3. Item "System".
  4. In the “Hardware” tab you will see the “Device Manager” button.

Dispatcher Windows devices 7 has the following location:

  1. Click “Start” again.
  2. If there is a “Computer” item in the menu, right-click on it and in the menu that appears, find what you were looking for.
  3. Otherwise, go to the “Control Panel”.
  4. In the upper right corner of the “View” menu, check the box next to “Large (small) icons.”
  5. In the generated list you can find the dispatcher.

Also in any OS Windows manager devices can also be opened using the command line. To do this, go to “Start” and find “Run” there.

It will appear with a line in which enter the line “devmgmt.msc” and press the enter key. That's all.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that your account You must have administrator rights to make any changes to device settings. However, any user can access Device Manager.

And now a few words about Initially, you will see a list of devices on your computer. By clicking on the plus sign to the left of the name of a device or device class, or by double-clicking directly on the words, you can see a list installed drivers. To update the configuration, select the appropriate action from the right-click menu. If in the list you see an icon in the form of a yellow question mark in XP, or a small white circle with an inside on the main icon next to the name in Windows 7, then this means that the driver is not installed for the device, that is, the computer cannot use it in its work. You can fix this by updating the configuration, or searching for the required software manually on the Internet if you know the device model.

VIA HD Audio Deck is official driver, which controls audio output on computers with system board with built-in VIA sound chip.

The program provides fine tuning parameters for output and input audio. The sound driver is installed with computer utilities. The program is free and does not require registration.

In the utility interface, you can set the configuration for devices that record and play back sound. In the driver settings there is a section for configuring “sound” ports. The graphical shell and utility tabs are easy to understand. Even a beginner can understand the options.

Installation and features

The program is installed with default sound drivers. On the menu installation disk with drivers there is a choice necessary components and sound utilities. After installation sound drivers, restart OS Windows to activate the drivers. The shell and tabs of the utility do not contain unnecessary settings.

There is a multifunctional menu in the main program window. You go to the options and set the volume levers, adjust the equalizer and speaker settings. If necessary, you can specify surround sound and view technical data about the sound card.

There is a setting in the sidebar that controls the analog audio output. If necessary, you turn off the driver power for the selected ports and turn off the devices connected to them. The port icon is displayed in a convenient "location" and corresponds to the location on the computer's motherboard. IN additional options There is a choice of front and rear panels to turn on the sound.

Additional tools

Additional tools of the utility are a mixer with stereo settings and an “amplifier” that enhances the DB of the microphone. In sound drivers, you adjust settings in the main window and through the context menu of the icon in the notification area on the taskbar.

Key Features

  • setting up and managing sound drivers on motherboards with built-in sound card VIA;
  • support for balance control and stereo mixer;
  • activation and deactivation of audio outputs in analog format;
  • quick configuration of audio amplification for devices that play and record audio;
  • installation in a package with drivers from the creator of VIA;
  • The sound driver works on OS Windows 7 and higher.

Hello everyone. We are visiting with the great-grandfather of computers, so to speak, this is the VIA company, I don’t know about you, but for me it is associated with old, but so FAVORITE computers. Old computer, eh, I played games on it after school, yes, a computer ten years ago was the LIMIT OF A SCHOOL DREAMS... But time has passed. So. The VIA company itself is not bad, but its direction is too narrow. VIA makes some kind of chips, well, it definitely makes audio chips. And there is also a processor from VIA, it seems to be called C7, well, it’s generally such a slow percentage that it’s a mess. But it doesn’t seem to be intended for ordinary computers, it seems to be for store computers, bank terminals, that is, that is. In general, processors from VIA are weak for home computers. Very weak

By the way, I had the good fortune to get acquainted with an ancient board, there was a Pentium 3 and there was a sound chip from VIA, well, of course there was some kind of sound, or no sound at all. Well, what can you do, at that time, and this was around 2002-2003, then they didn’t pay much attention to the sound. The main thing is TOYS!!!

This means that if you see something like VIA Platform Device Manager, then you have some kind of chip from VIA on your motherboard. I don’t think it’s an audio chip, maybe it’s a FireWire chip, by the way, here’s what it looks like:


You may also have some other SATA chip from VIA, or rather not even a chip, but a controller. IT IS POSSIBLE that you have from the VIA company LAN card, although this does not happen often..

Guys, I do not recommend deleting everything related to VIA, especially the VIA Platform Device Manager. What it is, it’s difficult to say just like that. This is something like drivers for a chip, maybe for some kind of bridge (north or south). Although I don’t know, did VIA make bridges? OK

Look, here is an example of a motherboard from VIA, there is a video chip from VIA, and an audio chip and even a processor (if I’m not mistaken) is also from VIA:


On such a motherboard, or rather such a computer, I think you can install Windows XP, but it will work very slowly. Or rather, no, it can work quickly, but the programs in it will, to put it mildly, slow down...

And if you have some kind of program from VIA, then it may be unnecessary, yes! But there’s also a funny thing here: if you remove it, it can drag down the drivers with it, and as a result, something will stop working for you.. If the network card stops working (provided that it’s from VIA), then your Internet will disappear , do you understand the danger?! Look, here is the installation window for ancient VIA drivers:


A network card from VIA can actually be:

Another example, there is already Windows XP and it also has a network card from VIA:

CONCLUSION: if you uninstall the VIA Platform Device Manager, there may be bugs, the Internet may be lost, the sound may be lost, or some other glitch may appear!!!

Well, guys, have I convinced you that it’s not worth deleting VIA Platform Device Manager because there may be problems? I hope I convinced you. Look, here's Windows 7 and there's something like VIA HD Audio Deck in the Control Panel (it looks like it's an audio deck).

VIA HD Audio Deck is a program that allows you to control sound parameters on computers that have a motherboard with an integrated VIA sound card. Before us one-stop center, from which you can change the settings of connected recording and playback devices. In addition, the program has a separate section with port settings. But let's talk about everything in order.

Installation and features

VIA HD Audio Deck is distributed with standard package sound drivers provided by the manufacturer. But if necessary, it can be installed separately. However, without the presence of drivers, it will not be possible to launch the program. We also draw your attention to the fact that before the first launch, you must first restart Windows.

The main window of the VIA HD Audio Deck is a kind of menu that helps you quickly navigate to sections with volume sliders, equalizer, speaker configuration, surround sound options and general information. technical information about the sound card. On the side is the previously mentioned panel for controlling analog outputs. That is, if necessary, VIA HD Audio Deck allows you to turn off the power to individual ports and thereby limit the operation of the devices to which they are connected. For convenience, port icons visually correspond to their “physical” location in system unit and even “divided” into front and rear panels.

Additional tools

Among the additional tools that are included in the VIA HD Audio Deck, it is worth highlighting a stereo mixer and an “amplifier” for a microphone. Also note that you can adjust some parameters not only from the main panel, but also from the context menu of the tray icon.

Key Features

  • control of sound parameters integrated into motherboard VIA audio cards;
  • the presence of an equalizer and stereo mixer;
  • enabling and disabling analog outputs;
  • quick setup volume levels of playback and recording devices;
  • installation complete with standard set drivers from the manufacturer;
  • Compatible with Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10.