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I have a device that I often enable and disable using the Device Manager. I'd like to write a script to do this programmatically (that is, using the command line). I saw a program called devcon that works for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, but I need one that works for Windows 7. Is there one freely available?

Peter Mortensen
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corsiKa
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3 Answers3

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DevManView is another way to do this - and it's a lot easier to acquire than devcon.exe, but still free.

I use the following command in a batch file to use disable/enable a device on my wife's laptop when we need it:

devmanview.exe /disable_enable "SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller"

You can also create a regular shortcut, edit its properties and add the parameters in the Target field.

Álvaro González
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David McClelland
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  • This worked in Vista too. – T.Todua Sep 17 '14 at 21:19
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    It makes me both sad and happy that a tool that does this exists. – dwj Oct 03 '14 at 04:12
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    Site does not mention supported systems but it works fine on Windows 8.1 64-bit (used the "DevManView for x64 systems" version). – Álvaro González Jan 24 '15 at 15:24
  • worked for me in 2015 april - win7-64 – Uğur Gümüşhan Apr 03 '15 at 19:49
  • It would be best if there was an option to toggle the device state. – Adil Malik Sep 24 '16 at 22:49
  • In case anyone wants to tie this to a key combo, I strongly recommend [AutoHotKey][2] for this. I'm using the following script to enable/disable my laptop's touchscreen by pressing Ctrl-Alt-T: 
    ```!^T::```
```MsgBox, Enabling Touch in 3 seconds...```
```Run, DevManView.exe /disable_enable "HID-compliant touch screen", C:\Program Files\DevManView```
```return```
    – Gerbus Oct 13 '18 at 20:21
  • After trying devcon and pnputil, this is the only program that allowed me to disable/enable my device without requiring a reboot! Life saver! – alelom Jan 29 '23 at 14:51
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  1. Download the WDK Windows Driver Kit 7.1.0 from Microsoft.
  2. Use the Universal Extractor to extract the contents of the ISO to a temporary location... or use whatever method you like to mount and get inside the ISO.
  3. You can use the same tool to extract the install file "WDK\setuptools_x64fre.msi" to a temporary directory.
  4. In that temporary directory you will find "WinDDK\7600.16385.win7_wdk.100208-1538\tools\devcon\amd64\devcon.exe". It has been tested to work with Win7x64, and it is part of the most recent Windows Driver development kit.

So, there is Devcon.exe for Windows 7 for you. It works with Windows 7, and it is free.

Instructions taken from the Microsoft Answers forum.

Bon Gart
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For Windows 8, there is WDK 8.1 available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/hardware/gg454513

The small setup binary allows to download (without installing WDK) (~500MB) and without iso-container.

Searched cabs for devcon.exe but names are scrambled. Used Universal Extractor to extract "..\Installers\Windows Driver Kit-x86_en-us.msi" - ends with an error. However, got the file I need: "...\Windows Kits\8.1\Tools\x64\devcon.exe"

Tool needs to run with Admin privs to have effect.

Robert
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