DevCon Stack

Displays the expected driver stack for the specified devices, and the GUID and the name of the device setup class for each device. Valid on local and remote computers.

A driver stack consists of the layered chain of drivers that support a device, such as upper and lower filters and controlling services.

devcon [/m:\\computer] stack {* | 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 (stack). Otherwise, DevCon ignores the /m parameter and displays the stack of device drivers on the local computer without returning a syntax error.

The DevCon Stack operation displays the expected driver stack for a device. Although the actual driver stack typically matches the expected stack, variations are possible.

To investigate a device problem, compare the expected driver stack from the stack operation with the actual drivers that the device uses, as displayed by the DevCon DriverFiles operation.

Sample Usage

devcon /m:\\Server01 stack * > Server01Stack.txt
devcon stack ISAPNP\ReadDataPort
devcon /m:\\Server01 stack pci* 
devcon stack =multifunction

Examples

Example 14: Display the driver stack for storage devices

Example 15: Find the setup class of a device

Example 16: Display the stack for related devices on a remote computer