I've got a Windows laptop computer I'm working on that has a small usb device plugged into it, and I can't tell what it is. It has a little red square with an icon of a six-armed gear, and it's one of those low-profile things that only sticks out a quarter-inch or so. I'd almost think it's a wireless mouse receiver, except that this thing also has a wireless mouse receiver plugged in. Is there a program I can run to tell me what USB devices are plugged in?
posted by Pope Guilty
on Nov 9, 2012 -
7 answers
I bought a
Belkin Easy Transfer USB Cable for Windows 7 thinking it would act much like a direct crossover cable connection would. Instead, it only seems to let me transfer the files and folders needed to set up your old Windows profile on a new copy of Windows, rather than giving me access to all files, folders and partitions, which is what I need. Is there a hack to get this cable to do what I want it to do?
posted by Effigy2000
on Nov 27, 2011 -
3 answers
When using the Microsoft win 7 USB/DVD Download tool, to create a bootable USB drive to install win 7 on my Desktop, I get this error "We were unable to copy your files. please check your USB device and the selected ISO file and try again." How do I fix this? I have tried 2 different USB's and 2 different ISOs
posted by Patrick Leo
on Jun 22, 2011 -
3 answers
Windows 7 x64 desktop gives me a BSOD (blue screen) whenever I insert my USB thumb drive/memory stick. Thumbdrive works fine on all other computers.
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posted by jckll
on Jan 25, 2010 -
6 answers
Why is my USB mouse the last item to load when Windows 7 is finished booting up? Sometimes I have to wait while it recognizes external USB drives, and in the meantime, I have no control over my mouse. Is there a way to change the order which my USB devices load?
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posted by newfers
on Dec 8, 2009 -
7 answers
If you were going to bring a USB drive to repair a bunch of workstations, what are some of the latest Windows XP/Vista repair utilities that you would put on it?
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posted by purephase
on Jun 3, 2009 -
7 answers
How can I install Windows 7 (via Boot Camp or rEFIt) from an ISO?
I think the Superdrive on my Macbook Pro (10.5.6) is on its last legs, because it ejects almost anything I put in it. (Meaning blank DVDs, and the DVD I burned of the ISO on my Windows XP desktop with ImgBurn). It's not extremely old (I got it refurbished on Christmas 2007), but still old enough to be out of warranty (at least I would think so).
What I have available:
1tb My Book Firewire External Hard Drive
4gb 1st gen iPod Nano, that isn't even formatted as an iPod right now, so it's basically just a 4gb USB flash drive. I know I can boot from it if it's set up right, because I've been using it with
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posted by N2O1138
on Mar 17, 2009 -
6 answers
I have a portable usb hard drive that I use for keeping all my documents / backups on. Windows seems to love using this drive for everything, for example I am installing IE7 from windows update, and it is using the drive to hold all the temporary files during the install. Because of this the drive is always in use and I can never eject it.
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posted by Syntoad
on Feb 17, 2009 -
5 answers
Vista 64bit has recently stopped recognizing my iPhone and WD MyBook external HD...please help!
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posted by pghjezebel
on Feb 8, 2009 -
5 answers
How can I change the generic name "USB Mass Storage Device" in my Vista system tray "Safely Remove Hardware" dialog?
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posted by msbrauer
on Dec 30, 2008 -
6 answers
I inherited a Memorex Dual USB card reader without a Windows XP driver. It's theoretically available at Memorex's web site but the links throw errors and when I tried to contact support, it generated a MySQL error (surprise, surprise). All of the various drivers sites I could find simply link back to Memorex's faulty site. Does anyone have this driver? It's probably in a form like "Dualreader.exe" rather than a zip archive.
posted by tommasz
on Nov 4, 2008 -
3 answers
I think I'm finally switching to Ubuntu on my main machine. I have two 160GB external drives, currently both with NTFS, currently mirrored (by software, not a RAID). With what and how should I format/use these guys?
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posted by tmcw
on Mar 14, 2008 -
8 answers
I have a big external USB hard drive with three partitions for infrequently used files and backup. I was wondering what kind of file to make to have it automatically open a folder showing the drive when I power on the device and not ask me what I'd like to do with each of the other drives.
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posted by royalchinook
on Feb 21, 2008 -
7 answers
How do I stop the annoying "This device can operate faster" query when I plug a USB 2 thumb drive into a USB 1.1 port (which is all my computer has)?
posted by KRS
on Jan 29, 2008 -
7 answers
How do I perform a FAT32 format of a 2.5" laptop drive that's in an external case connected to a Win2K box via USB? Complication: drive was originally formatted as HFS+ on a Mac.
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posted by jaimev
on Oct 19, 2007 -
7 answers
How do I stop windows from automatically searching for media when a new drive is plugged in? (Minor annoyance.)
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posted by univac
on Nov 29, 2006 -
3 answers
Is there a way to get Windows XP to always assign the same drive letter to a particular removable device?
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posted by king walnut
on Aug 11, 2006 -
4 answers
Work gave me a 1GB keydrive for carrying personal files. What I'd adore is using it to carry around a rescue disk such as one of the many tiny bootable Linux distributions.
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posted by Mozai
on Mar 13, 2006 -
11 answers
I'd like to password protect the contents of a USB thumbdrive that will be accessed from an OS X and Windows platform.
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posted by jaimev
on Dec 7, 2005 -
9 answers
When I turn on the phantom power switch on my new Digidesign mbox, I get a warning that the device is pulling too much power from the USB port (and then it stops working). I'm using a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop, which is one of the recommended systems on Digidesign's site. I have Win XP Service Pack II installed. What gives?
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posted by grumblebee
on Aug 21, 2005 -
26 answers
Can anyone recommend a Windows XP utility that lists details of what's plugged into my USB devices? I need more info than what Device Manager tells me, but don't need the full USB device developer suites I find searching the web.
posted by Nelson
on Feb 13, 2005 -
2 answers
Printer filter/ I'm downsizing to travel cross country and would like to use an old Canon bubble jet (BJ10ex) with my new Dell laptop running XP. Does anyone know if this won't work? I have to wait for a USB Parallel converter cable to arrive to test it. Are there other compatibility problems I need to know about?
posted by NorthCoastCafe
on Feb 3, 2005 -
3 answers
I use a Windows XP box at work. I use a Powerbook G4 at home. I'd like to buy the bluetooth Apple Pro keyboard and use it both at home and at work. Is this possible? If so, any specific recommendations for a USB-bluetooth adapter for my work machine? Thanks in advance.
posted by BlueTrain
on Nov 9, 2004 -
1 answer
Can a USB flash drive be used as your Windows swap space? What are the positive aspects of a design such as this?
posted by Keyser Soze
on Sep 7, 2004 -
18 answers
A USB 2.0 card reader is causing my Windows 2000 laptop to completely hang up. [mi]
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posted by alidarbac
on Aug 16, 2004 -
1 answer
I recently got a new Sony Vaio. Its great, except I didn't realize it didn't come with a floppy disk drive. So, what I'm looking for to replace it is a small USB drive (around 64-128 megs). I've seen a bunch online and at stores for sale, but anyone here personaly use them and know what a good brand is? I want one that hooks to a keychain and can take a good amount of abuse (I don't care about extra features like security- my main concern is will it break easily and be around for a good while). Any ideas?
posted by jmd82
on Dec 24, 2003 -
15 answers
