Remove all non-Windows devices with Device Cleanup Tool

device cleaning tool It is a free portable tool that allows you to remove many or all old, nonexistent and unused devices from your Windows computer. Devices not found They are devices that were installed once but are no longer connected to the computer. When using the built-in Windows Device Manager, you can remove devices one by one; And not all at once. This is possible with the device cleaning tool. You can select one device, multiple devices or all of them that are not present and delete them together.

delete allin present Hardware

Using the device cleaning tool is very simple. Simply download the zip file from File Uwe Sieber website. When you extract the compressed folder, you will see two copies of the device scan tool; One for 32-bit computers and one for 64-bit computers. Double click on the .exe file. appropriate for your system.

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The tool immediately lists devices that are not on your computer. You will see the device name, category and number of days since the device was last used. You can see in the picture the last days used like 36 days, 59 days, etc.

As stated in the tool’s help file, all devices listed by Device Cleanup Tool are currently “non-existent”. This usually means that they have a problem with code 45, which is:

CM_PROB_PHANTOM , the device is currently in the registry only.

The “last used” time comes from when the device registry key was written to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enu

On some Windows PCs, this time is calculated on a startup basis; Therefore, the hardware in these computers will be of the same age. However, in most Windows operating systems, the time is set when the device becomes active; Therefore, for such systems, the time of “last use” is suitable.

In the list created by the device cleaning tool, you can select one, multiple devices or all of them and delete them together. If the device is plugged in again, it will be detected as a new device the next time you use the tool.

There are three tabs on the Device Cleanup toolbar – Files, Devices, and Help.

when you click issueYou can see functions like Refresh (F5), Create System Restore Point, Show Windows Device Manager and Exit.

When you click Show Windows Device Manager, the built-in Device Manager opens. It’s like a shortcut to Windows Device Manager. Non-PnP devices and “software” devices are not listed by the device cleanup tool. This is because they cannot be automatically reinstalled. So, to remove them, you need to use Windows Device Manager.

The creators of this tool also warn that you should be careful with Microsoft MEDIA class devices. Make sure you know what to do with these listed devices before you delete them.

The Hardware The tab allows you to select all hardware and remove selection devices. To remove individual devices, simply right-click on the device and click Remove the device. Remember that you will need administrator rights to delete devices; Otherwise, you may get an “Access Denied” error.

The for help tab, it only gives details about the tool, including its version number.

Free device cleaning tool download

You can download the tool from this web page.

Some of you may also want to take a look at Device Remover or GhostBuster.