Re: Win2k "Found New Hardware" wizard interfering with printer install

A little cleaning up of your un-connected USB connections may be required as a first step to finding a solution. Though for XP, I don't think procedure is any different for W2K, so do the following -

To View nonpresent devices in Windows XP’s Device Manager follow this procedure

* Go to Start, right-click My Computer, and select Properties.

* In the System Properties dialog box, select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.

* In the Environment Variables dialog box, locate the System Variables panel and click New.

* In the New System Variable dialog box, type DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES in the Variable Name text box and type 1 in the Variable Value text box.

* Click OK twice.

* To view the nonpresent devices, go to Start, right-click My Computer, and select Manage.

* Click Device Manager, pull down the View menu, and select Show Hidden Devices.

Next, the clean up -
In Device Manager, (having enabled "Show Hidden Devices") under the sub-categories "Storage Volumes" and "Universal Serial Bus Controllers", right-click on any LIGHT GREY icons/devices and Uninstall them. May take some time depending on how many there are in your system. DO NOT UNINSTALL the DARK GREY items as these are currently connected and present devices.

If there are any showing for "Printers", "Disk Drives", etc...you may do the same, i.e. uninstall the light grey devices.

OK your way out.

Now try installing your new device. This clean up has worked for others and myself when having seemingly unsolvable problems with installing or having Windows recognize a USB device. Hopes it works for you.

Thomas