DevCon Find

Finds all devices that are currently attached to the computer. Displays the device instance ID and device description. Valid on local and remote computers.

devcon [/m:\\computer] find {* | ID [ID ...] | =class [ID [ID ...]]}

Parameters

/m:\\computer

Runs the command on the specified remote computer. The backslashes are required.

*

Represents all devices on the computer.

ID

Specifies all or part of a hardware ID, compatible ID, or device instance ID of a device. When specifying multiple IDs, type a space between each ID. IDs that include an ampersand character (&) must be enclosed in quotation marks.

The following special characters modify the ID parameter.

Character Description

* Matches any character or no character. Use the wildcard character (*) to create an ID pattern, for example, *disk*.

@ Indicates a device instance ID, for example, @ROOT\FTDISK\0000.

'
(single quote)
Matches the string literally (exactly as it appears). Precede a string with a single quote to indicate that an asterisk is part of the ID name and is not a wildcard character, for example, '*PNP0600, where *PNP0600 (including the asterisk) is the hardware ID.

=class

Character	Description
*	Matches any character or no character. Use the wildcard character () to create an ID pattern, for example, disk*.
@	Indicates a device instance ID, for example, @ROOT\FTDISK\0000.
' (single quote)	Matches the string literally (exactly as it appears). Precede a string with a single quote to indicate that an asterisk is part of the ID name and is not a wildcard character, for example, *'PNP0600*, where PNP0600 (including the asterisk) is the hardware ID.

Specifies the device setup class of the devices. The equal sign (=) identifies the string as a class name.

You can also specify hardware IDs, compatible IDs, device instance IDs, or ID patterns following the class name. Type a space between each ID or pattern. DevCon finds devices in the class that match the specified IDs.

Comments

The /m parameter must precede the operation name (find). Otherwise, DevCon ignores the /m parameter and searches the local computer without returning a syntax error.

You can use the DevCon Find operation to find devices that are not currently attached to the computer by specifying the full device instance ID of the device instead of a hardware ID or ID pattern. Specifying the full device instance ID overrides the restriction on the DevCon Find operation that limits it to attached devices.

The DevCon Find operation with a single class argument is the same as the DevCon ListClass operation.

To find all devices, including those that are not currently attached to the computer, use the Devcon FindAll operation.

Sample Usage

devcon find *
devcon find =media *pnp*
devcon /m:\\Server01 find *mou* 
devcon find @*hub*

Examples

Example 20: Find devices by hardware ID pattern

Example 21: Find devices by device instance ID or class