Windows Vista™ Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Managing Hardware

Windows Plug and Play technology does a good job of detecting and automatically configuring new hardware. However, if the hardware doesn’t support Plug and Play or it isn’t automatically detected, you’ll need to enter information about the new hardware into the Windows Vista system. You do this by installing the hardware device and its related drivers on the system using the Add Hardware Wizard. You can also use this wizard to troubleshoot problems with existing hardware.

Adding Non–Plug and Play Hardware

Using the Add Hardware Wizard, you can install older devices that do not support Plug and Play. Before you do this, you must turn off the computer and connect the hardware. Once you’ve connected the hardware and started the computer, ...