Ghost Devices & Drivers

Show All Ghost Devices & Drivers

This Tutorial will show how to make Ghost Devices you have removed from your Computer and Drivers used by programs Visible in Device Manager along with many other Ghost Devices and Drivers used by utilities and Applications within Vista, This will free up a bit of memory and stop any possible Conflicts between Devices while clearing out old devices that are no longer used.


Step 1
Right-Click Computer in your Start Menu and open Properties


step1.jpg

Step 2
You can now see Basic Information about your Computer, on the left click Advanced System Settings


Step2.JPG

Step 3
You will now see a System Properties window automatically opened to the Advanced Tab, Just click the Environment Variables button located at the bottom.


step3.JPG

Step 4
Under User Variables click New

Step4.JPG

Create a Variable name called devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices With a Variable Valve of 1


Step4-1.JPG

Click OK when Done.

Step 5



You will now see this entry appear under your User Variables at the top, Once you confirm it has been entered correctly just click OK on the Environment Variables Window then again on the System Properties Window.

Step 6
Open your Start-Menu again and right-click Computer and open Manage


step6.jpg

Step 7
Select Device Manager found on the left, then at the top click View > Show Hidden Devices


warning   Warning

Do Not Delete any Generic Volume Shadow Copy Drivers or Non-Plug and Play Devices without Checking what their functions are or some programs and utilities will fail.

Step 7.jpg

Alternatively use this Simple Device Manager
You can now see ghost Drivers and Devices by expanding the Groups in Device Manager, They will appear faded compared to other drivers.


GhostDevice.jpg


Your have now Successfully made hidden and unused Devices Visible in Device Manager.
 

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great tutorial saved me a lot of heart ache, my only problem is that it still does not help me. Let me explain, every so often my system close down unexpectedly. The sevice control manager shows a system failure with the following boot start or system-start driver failed to load " i8042prt", this is supposed to be driver controls for keyboard and PS/2 compatable mouse for the intel 8042 controler.
I am using a microsoft whireless multimedia keyboard 1.1 and optical mouse 2000.
in showing hidden devices, there are no groups to expand!!!!
can you point me in a direction to follow, i have windows vista buisness sp1 and office sbo 2007
 

My Computer

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Your welcome Alexanderd. I hope it sorts itself out for you.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
This may not be the place for this issue, but since it is already started, I'll continue.
I have the same problem everytime I boot; the i8042prt driver fails to load. Running a bootlog confirms this failure, yet I can find the driver in the folder it is supposed to be. I have had it for a very long time, but I do not really think it is causing any problems. Would like to get rid of it at some point anyway. My guess is it appeared at a time I could not get my Bluetooth keybord to work when trying to log on. Had a PS2 keyboard and logged on with that; it has now gone for recycling and I am dependent on bluetooth. So, by today, I am a wizard on bluetooth keyboards, and always manage to log on, no matter what. Last time I got it running by hitting it with my head.

Anyway, ever since, I have had this error when starting. It has puzzled me, as I cannot find this driver for any of the 5 (!) mysterious keyboard entries I have in my Device Manager (2 HID Keyboard Devices, MS eHome MCIR 109 Keyboard, MS eHome MCIR Keyboard and MS eHome Remote Control Keyboard keys). None of them seem to be using the failing driver.

If I show the hidden devices in the Device Manager, an entry "Terminal Server Keyboard Driver" turns up under System Devices. This one use i.a. the i8042prt.sys driver. This also show in the dxdiag (thanks for the tutorials helping me find it).

So what is the "Terminal Server Keyboard Driver" and anybody having a suggestion how to fix the error?

alexanderd, are you still around, and did you find any solution?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS720
    CPU
    Intel Quad Q6600 2.40GHz
    Motherboard
    Dell 0YU822, NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP / SLI MCP
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 800MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1024 MB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2407WFP-HC
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    NVIDIA 640GB SATA Raid 0 (2x320GB) (7200 rpm) for Vista,
    Intel X25-M G2 160 GB for W7,
    Maxtor OT III External HDD,
    WD Elements 1 TB External HDD
    Internet Speed
    100/20
    Other Info
    M779 PCIe PAL/SECAM/DVB-T Desktop TV Tuner. Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller.
thank you, thank you, thank you, this was driving me nuts. I couldn't get rid of old ghost router in devices and printers for the life of me. this worked beautifully on windows 7. question though. do I leave the new variable that I made during this process or go back in and delete that variable? thank you

oh man, I was just looking at all the ghost items. this computer used to have a amd radion graphics card on it, now I've installed a NVidia gtx. would it be ok to uninstall the ghost amd graphics card off of this computer you think?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    custom build or ibuypower
    CPU
    AMD FX(tm)-6300 processor
    Motherboard
    gigabyte GA-78LMT-usb3
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia geforce gtx 760
    Sound Card
    n/a
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 23 inch
Hello Justin,

Yes, you can delete the variable after finishing if you like. :)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Hello Justin,

Yes, you can delete the variable after finishing if you like. :)

thank you again brink!! one more question, on those devices I now can see. one of them is my old radion grahpics card. can I delete that as well? thanks again
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    custom build or ibuypower
    CPU
    AMD FX(tm)-6300 processor
    Motherboard
    gigabyte GA-78LMT-usb3
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia geforce gtx 760
    Sound Card
    n/a
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 23 inch
You're welcome.

Yes, you can safely delete the old AMD Radeon device since you no longer have it. :)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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