I have the exact same problem. All was running fine when i unplugged my usb hub, mouse etc to take the laptop upstairs, once i wanted to plug it back in, nada, nothing was recognized. no usb hubs work anymore, was working fine before. I keep getting the window that XP needs to install drivers, but it will not find anything at all. I finally was able to get my mouse to work using a logitech mouse software package. (it's a dell mouse) Still everything else fails. If anyone found a solutions, i am dying to hear it.

I too have the same issue . Already installed devices seem fine , but anything new will just not work . Very frustrating and I have not been able to find a fix and any of the suggestions that sound like my problem involve complex registry edits which I am not keen to do .
Please help

With this problem, It seems you can't switch ports with the already installed devices. Devices on the back ports won't be recognised on the front etc. All ports are listed on the spec as usb2.0.
Interested to hear others try this out...

Dude you saved me from going insane. Your solution worked for me on my new Kodak Z612. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. Just don't pee on my rug ;-)

Chris my boy i real glad my flash drive start to work after i selected the inf folder. I was gettin real annoyed with this thing. U real help me out there. I apprecite that.
Justin, Trinidad and Tobago

Chris,
I had a similar problem with a USB flash drive, but your solution has worked perfectly for me. I guess the hardware wizard was looking in the wrong place for the drivers for some reason. Thanks.
Jack

I have had the same problem and a system restore was the only way to get things back to normal at least for a period of time. Must be something with a conflict within the USB hub controllers and drivers.

Your C:\inf fix worked and saved a lot of frustation - thanks

I too had the same problem with installing a Flash Drive and following the suggestions of selecting the windows/inf folder for driver resolution had limited success as the Flash device then appeared in Windows Explorer but was shown with a yellow error flag in Device manager and needed to re-installed everytime it was attached/plugged in.

After searching the internet for a resolution found the Microsoft KB892050 which looked a likely Hotfix. Applied hotfix and restarted Pc and still the same issue.

Then decided to re-apply SP2 ontop of what was an up to date XP Home system and 'Voila' problem solved albeit after having to initially let windows find the correct drivers and files automatically.

Hope this helps somebody with a similar problem.

navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\sp2.cab . Right click file and explore. find usbstor.sys, right click and extract to desktop. Insert memory stick and install!

Likewise...c:\WINDOWS\inf solved the same problem for me. Thanks!

Chris if I could kiss you I would!!!! I recently bought this same camera loaded the software but couldnt get the driver for the camera. I had been working on this for about a week and called Kodak 4 times!! They kept telling me to remove the software, clear the registry and re-install the software it never worked I followed what you did and darned if I finally got it. After looking on the internet I also saw numerous people having the same issue if Kodak would of told me this from the beginning it would of saved me alot of time and frustration. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

Steady now. Glad it worked for you!

Hey,

I found your blog the same way you found various "solutions" - by searching.

I had a similar problem when I wanted to use the integrated USB hub in my Dell monitor. I wanted to free up a usb port by connecting my mouse and keyboard to the monitor. Then I would only have one cable running to the PC for both mouse and keyboard. I connected the USB cable from the monitor to my PC and the hardware wizard would find the hardware but could not install it. I tried adding a different, separate USB hub with the same results. I tried so many solutions like registry mods, physically removing and uninstalling the USB devices in device manager, uninstalling various software I thought was causing the problem. I had to use an old serial mouse while troubleshooting. Removing the USB devices in device manger disabled the USB mouse.

I tried pointing the hardware wizard to c:\windows\inf but it still would not find a suitable driver.
I tried deleting the infcache.1 file in c:\windows\inf. I even removed all the files in c:\windows\Driver Cache\i386. I tried restoring driver.cab from the XP disk, but nothing worked.

Finally, I restored the usb related inf files from the XP disk. usb.inf was the missing piece of the puzzle that fixed my problem. It has all the entries for usb hubs. Now it works.

I owe thanks to you for putting me on the right path.

-Bill

Such a simple fix. Thank you so much. I was going nuts trying to re-install my driver. =)

Hello Everyone,

I have been driving myself crazy trying to fix an issue that is either exactly like the one posted or similar. I have a Centon 4GB datastick sport that I cannot use in my computer. Centon's website says that:

"The drivers for the USB Mass Storage devices like the DataStick, SpinDrive and the USB MP3 Player are already built-in to Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. No additional driver is needed.

For Windows 2000, it is recommended that you update to Service Pack 4.
For Windows XP, it is recommended that you update to at least Service Pack 1, if not Service Pack 2.

A driver is only needed for Windows 98. Those drivers are posted on the Centon Drivers page.
[Note: Windows 95 drivers are no longer supported.]

Again, the driver for the DataStick is already built-in to Windows ME, as well as Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Some computers may not fully install USB Hardware List drivers. To fix this you will have to extract the usb.inf file from the .cab files on the Windows CD. For additional assistance with this, please contact your computer manufacturer."

When I plug my datastick into my computer Windows XP recognizes it and it shows up in My Computer as a drive letter and all. When I click on it to open it; however, it asks me to insert a disk like it doesn't even recognize what type of removeable media it is. Because Centon says that Windows XP drivers are built-in no updated driver is available. I have seen other posts saying that adjusting power settings, etc. fixed their problem but my computer is an HP with a locked down BIOS and I wasn't able to try all the things they suggested. I saw these postings and decided to try extracting all the USB drivers from the XP CD to my compuer (i.e. overwriting them with the ones from the CD) but I don't know how to do it. There is nothing on my CD that I can tell directly relates to the USB drivers only, etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hello,

I am having a similar problem (if not exact) to the issues described in this post. I recently purchased a Centron 4GB datastick sport. When I received it and plugged it into my computer Windows XP recognized it and installed it and told me it was ready for use. I went into My Computer and it showed up with a drive letter assigned. Then I double-clicked the drive and a received a message asking me to insert a disk into the drive?? So I figured I would update the drivers, but when I went to Centon's website I found this message:

"The drivers for the USB Mass Storage devices like the DataStick, SpinDrive and the USB MP3 Player are already built-in to Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. No additional driver is needed.

For Windows 2000, it is recommended that you update to Service Pack 4.
For Windows XP, it is recommended that you update to at least Service Pack 1, if not Service Pack 2.

A driver is only needed for Windows 98. Those drivers are posted on the Centon Drivers page.
[Note: Windows 95 drivers are no longer supported.]

Again, the driver for the DataStick is already built-in to Windows ME, as well as Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Some computers may not fully install USB Hardware List drivers. To fix this you will have to extract the usb.inf file from the .cab files on the Windows CD. For additional assistance with this, please contact your computer manufacturer."

So I starting searching and found some people with similar problems suggesting power fixes, etc. but nothing worked. Then I tried to find the usb.inf file they were talking about on the Windows XP CD. Maybe I am missing something but I didn't see a usb.inf file in any of the .cab files. I then found this page and saw that someone overwrote ALL of their USB drivers/files on their computer with the ones on the Windows XP CD. How do I do this? I couldn't even find where the usb.inf file was located on the CD.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

Hello Chris,

I am having trouble connecting my Kodak Z612 digital camera to my Sony Vaio system with Windows XP. I notice you mentioned going to the c:\windows\inf folder, and re-installing drivers. I cannot find that folder on my system.

When I plug he camera in, it recognizes the camera under "other devices" in the device driver manager as the correct make and model. However, I cannot find the driver. Here is some background:
* I bought the camera second hand without the CD.
* I have downloaded the Easyshare software from Kodak (several times), and even tried installing just the "camera connection software." Each time I get the same result as above.
* Kodak support tells me I should choose the "Digital still camera" (DSC) option from the list of available drivers on the "don't search, I will choose the driver to install...." window. However, the DSC is not listed.
* Kodak tells me that the driver is a generic one available from Microsoft.
* Microsoft tells me I need to go to Kodak to get the driver (catch-22?).
* By the way, kodak refuses to send me a CD to see if the driver is on it, but I suspect it is not on there anyway, if it was not part of the Easyshare download.

Is it a lower level driver than the one Easyshare provides, which is why I can't get at it? I have searched in vain on the Microsoft website and elsewhere for a "digital still camera" driver to no avail. In some discussions, there was a mention of a dsc.inf file. COuld this be what I need?

Best regards,

John Seal

The c:\windows\inf folder is hidden.

Therefore, to un-hide it you need to click on Tools in Windows Explorer then select Folder Options. On the View tab, locate the Hidden Files and Folders option and ensure Show Hidden Files and Folders radio button is active.

Then try to install the device again.

Chris,

Thank you, thank you. I followed your suggestion. I was able then to install the device, and the camera is now recognized! the C:\windows\inf directory seems to be a key for much of this hardware connectivity, wish I had found it before.

As you said in your first post, at one point, I had to uninstall all the drivers with question marks, and painfully go through every one again individually to re-install it. But by using this folder, it really speeded things up. The Sony Viao I purchased 2 years ago did not include Windows CDs, so until now I was at a loss as to where to get this information.

So once again, thank you for all your advice, it has been invaluable. There don't seem to be too many people around who know this level of the hardware/software interfaces of Windows computers.

Regards,

John

I had the same problem. I recently bought a new camera and couldn't get it to install on my laptop, even though my old camera still works fine when connected to the same usb port. I thought I would just buy a memory card reader for the laptop, since I couldn't connect the camera, but I could not get the memory card reader to install. I even have a usb mouse that I can't get to install. It works with the port replicator that was previously installed, but when I unplug it from the port replicator and plug it directly into the laptop, in the same usb port that the replicator was plugged into, it will not work. I finally got tired of messing with the old laptop and bought a newer one. I have had a hard time trying to get my files off of the old computer, since it doesn't have a cdrw, floppy, or any removable rewritable media. I was not able to transfer files with a direct ethernet cable, or a wireless ad-hoc network, so I went and bought a usb flash drive. Then it wouldn't install wither. I also couldn't find anything in the device drivers to uninstall for it, so that I could uninstall and then reinstall the flash drive. After a system restore and telling the add hardware wizard to look in C:\windows\inf folder the usb flash drive now works. I can now transfer all of my important files and reinstall windows on the old laptop. Thank you very much.

You are a lifesaver I spent the whole of yesterday afternoon trying to install a Nikon camera - neither the camera shop or my system helpdesk could solve the problem , the later suggesting I needed to complete a complete re-install . This clearly a windows 'bug'- what sense does it make that usb devices need to be plugged into the same usb port to work (as I found out by trial and error).Thankyou again.

Let me add one more to the long list of "thank you" messages. All of my hardware -- scanner, external floppy, external Zip, printer, etc. -- all came back online after C:/Windows/inf was changed from "hidden" status. My backup laptop can now go back into mothballs for another year.

I've battled with this issue for a couple of hours on a clients machine. No new USB devices could be installed at all. Existing USB devices worked fine - news device would even be identified correctly - eg. Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 - yet no suitable driver could be found. Not on Windows Update - not in the INF directory - not on the Windows XP disk. Re-installing the USB host drivers did nothing; they were working anyway, as they could identify devices successfully.

A short google and I stumbled across your blog. Unfortunately, simply pointing to the INF directory didn't solve the problem. It did however point me in the right direction. To solve the issue I copied the entire contents of the INF directory off a working machine. Fortunately I had the convenience of a network connecting the two machines - otherwise you could use a CD to achieve the same goal;

1) I created a directory on the trouble machine called INFB under c:\Windows
2) Copied another WinXP SP2 machines entire C:\WINDOWS\INF contents into the INFB folder.
3) Rebooted into Safe Mode with command line using the F8 key on startup
4) renamed the INF directory to INF.old
5) renamed the INFB directory to INF
6) Reboot
7) Plug and play USB returns!

Hope this helps someone else out there - cheers

Matty

Thanks Matt, every post helps!

Chris

Hi,

Got a similar problem here- no keyboard or mouse.

I'm interested to hear you say VNC and System Restore. I understand System Restore (pressing F8 on startup) but how can you navigate this without a keyboard? I'm probably missing out on what VNC means as that clearly needs to be "done" first- can you help me here?

Thanks,

b814sn1

Matty i am in the same situation as you are in. A clients machine not installing usb devices properly. When a new usb device is plugged in the new hardware screen constantly flashes. Even after removing the usb device it still continues to flash. I see this is more than likely the same problem as yours. So i will try your solution soon. Can you please help me out though as i can see it will work for the like of usb flash drives or mice/keyboards but will it solve the problem with like big printers connecting via usb that may need the drivers installed manually because this is where my problem started. Failing all this it will have to be a clean install of windows which id rather not do as it is a customers machine. Machine is dell dimension 5000

Yes, fortunately we often install VNC on machines for remote support purposes so he was able to connect in from another machine. You could try installing VNC version on a remote PC or if the machine is XP Professional you may be able to Remotely Enable Remote Desktop.

You Guys ROCK!!!! Enough Said.

Hi guys. I am now having this problem whith usb sticks on my laptop at home, no idea why. I tried what you said but when I ask the install wizard to look in the c:/windows/inf folder (i have un-hidden the folder) it says there are "no driver files in this location".

anyone any clue? im unable to do any uni work over the hoildays now and its a big problem!

Bloodyyyyyyyyyy Fantastic. Had 2 years of USB related issues and this little Windows/inf solution just Rocks. My laptop now feels like it belongs to me and I am incharge :)

Great site

i had this problem,

I had it look for drivers in
C:/Windows/ServicePackFiles

I discoverd the I386 folder for SP2 in here, windows by default looks at the original i386 i dont know why this happened to me, but all my usb works now

Had to use Matty's copying of the INF file for it to work. ONly issue was that I was copying from an XP Professional to an XP Home. I didn't actually go through the process of chaning the INFB file name...rather i just targeted that folder when going to install. Worked like a charm.

Thanks!!

Tom

You're Officially my Hero now. It's my birthday today AND I found a solution for my USB problem. What else can I wish for? :-) Thanks Chris! The INF suggestion works great.

You could wish for a big cake!

%systemroot%\inf has been removed from the DevicePath Registry Key. It should be the first value, just paste it in followed by a ; infront of the path that's allready there.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/ab4453f3-596f-4819-a5a5-2c7b6c39c9f61033.mspx?mfr=true

Hi I have an issue with a friend's computer. Now she is using an extremely old computer that used to have Windows 98 installed. Before she was given the computer, the previous owner did a upgrade to Windows XP. Her computer runs not too fast, but not slow either. To my knowledge, she has never used the usb port for anything. The only times were when her cousin plugged it in to charge her iPod. Not to put music on or anything else so I doubt it was actually detected in the first place.

Now recently she purchased a logitech usb microphone, and when she plugs it in, the Add hardware wizard appears and nothing works. But here's the interesting thing I've never encountered before. There is no Windows directory! I discovered that instead its C:\SicoWin and she has no system or system32 folder either. Now I found the inf folder you spoke of and tried re-directing to it, but it still fails. Eventually I gave her my iPod as a present and she has the same problems when plugging it in. A short time after her sister purchased a Samsung GoGear flash mp3 player and reaches the same results upon plugging it in. Could the issue have something to do with that upgrade? Could the computer be too old? Her computer is running Windows XP Home Service Pack 2 with the latest updates from Microsoft Update.

Please help... Thanks!

Whenever I went to plug in a new memory stick or camera my computer wouldn't install it. I sorted it by going to this site http://www.infdump.com/inf-files/U_1.html and downloading the USBSTOR.inf. I copied this into my inf folder and all my devices now work.

I also had the same problem with 2 different cameras here at work. I replaced the USBSTOR.INF file with one from my machine. Restarted the computer, had the user log back in. Inserted the camera cable thinking it was resolved and it still would not allow me access to the memory card inside the camera (no window popped up to allow me access like it does on other systems). I decided to go into the device manager and saw that there was a new entry in the USB section called USB Mass Media (or something to that effect) I verified that it was the one I was looking for by disconnecting the camera and it disappeared from the list. So I plugged it back in, waited a minute for the computer to do it's thing and then right clicked on it and uninstalled the driver. I unplugged the camera and waited a minute for it to do it's thing again and then plugged the camera back into the USB slot. BINGO! It found the camera and the window that asks you what do you want to do popped up again and I was able to open up the folder with all the pictures.

Thanks to all that have participated in this discussion and I appreciate it VERY much. The user was getting irate about not being able to look at the various pictures they had taken of company functions and the products that we have available (we're a marketing firm).

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO YA'LL!

BigD in Texas

Hello,

I've been trying all what's written in this forum and nothing worked for me.
I replaced inf folders, I replaced USBSTOR.INF.... and nothing.
I've got a Microsoft transceiver v3.0 for bluetooth which messed up my usb. Since I first used it nothing is recognised when plugged in the usb.

Any advices?
Where should I look for my problem?

Ok, here I am again.

If you got a Microsoft transceiver v3.0 for bluetooth you'll get a lot of headaches.

I've been trying for two days to sort out my problem with my transceiver.
In the end I got to try all these steps which didn't work:
- installing the driver
- reinstalling it
- I found out that a mondll.dll is causing the problem and I looked in the system for it. Never found it. Not on the Internet as well.
It seemed to be a file from the driver which you couldn't get from nowhere, although mondll.dll doesn't exist in any system file from any computer (C:/WINDOWS/system32). But, this wasn't the problem anyway.
- I tried your way by replace the inf. file in order to get the installation of the device from there. Didn't work for me.
- I looked in Driver Cache when installed. Nothing happened.
The error message was always the same. code1.

And then, he said:

Try this as well.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810509

Download that tool.
Unzip it.
Click Start > Run > then type in CMD and hit OK.
When the black box pops open it should say
C:\Documents and settings\yourusername\
If it does then you need to type "cd local settings"
Then it will say
C:\Documents and settings\yourusername\local settings
Then type "cd temp"
Then it will say
C:\Documents and settings\yourusername\local settings\temp
Then type in pnpreg -l
(that "l" is an L).
It should run that downloaded file and set some of the permission correctly.

With this, all your USB problems will be solved forever.

Thank you Aitrusskyy, wherever you are.

PS: you can find him on: http://forums.techguy.org

Helppppppppp
Read all the above - tried a few but getting a sore head.
My problem is that I have two external Hard drives both were working, one through the USB on the p.c and the other through the USB on the first External - I went to change one of them to a bigger unit now both wont work.
Device Manager : USB device - This device is not configured correctly. (Code 1) To reinstall the drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver. Tried that -searches for driver in system 32 and then gives the following error : The Data is invalid.
Is it something to do with the USB or the hard drives?

Thanks
Mac

+1 On the INF.

Trying to get to the root of the issue, Mine was a windows 2K machine that was upgraded to SP1. I wondering if SP2 changed where to look for the drivers? Or maybe something in the registery that 2K didn't like

I really need help...I've been working on this all night. I don't have a working mouse so I'm using just the keyboard. NO new USB is working. My dad got a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 7000. I just need it to work so I can copy all my files and reinstall XP home. I've tried almost everything here.. can someone PLEASE help me out? I'm going crazy..been working on this for 10 hours and I'm very frustrated. I've tried the inf, I've looked for the I386, can't find it. I've tried the pnpgreg and it didn't work said it couldnt find it when I got to the last step. I haven't tried the coping the inf file from another computer, but I will be.

Any other ideas? :(

Not on this. But if you just need a mouse to help you move your files to reinstall. Check out Mousekeys, you can then have a rudimentry mouse using the keyboard. Follow the "Keyboard actions" which will take you through enabling it when you don't have a mouse.
Keyboard shortcuts that are useful when you don't have a mouse.

CTRL+ESC - Bring up the start menu. (then use the arrow keys and enter)
TAB - To cycle through the options in dialog boxes and windows.
SHIFT + TAB - The same as TAB but cycle backwards.
ENTER/SPACE - Select
CTRL + A - Select all
CTRL + C - Copy
CTRL + V - Paste
CTRL + X - Cut
ALT + SPACE - Bring up Window options (maximise, minimise, close etc)
ALT+F4 - Close window

Good luck!

Thanks, though I have been using the keyboard for everything for 3 days now LOL. I've become a pro at it *sigh*. I'll check out the mouse keys though thanks!

Thank you Chris - I was beginning to despair that I would never find a solution to the problem of no NEW USB devices working. I tried the C:/WINDOWS/inf folder advice and now have a fully functioning laptop once more. So many people are having similar problems and this is the first time any of the advice given has worked for me. I'm sorry to read it isn't a cure-all for everyone and hope the definitive answer will eventually be found. It seem the 'anomaly' started in 2006 and it would be interesting to know why.

Penny :)

I run into the same problem with unable install new USB storage devices. After checking, I realized that usbstor.inf is missing from my machine, how did it happen I have no idea.

After copying usbstor.inf from my colleague's computer and putting it back to c:\windows\inf, everthing works great.

Thanks!!!

Hi,

Original post in 2006, and people still thanking you by the end of 2008. Let me add my thanks to the list. :)

Baris

my printer stopped working and i tried to re install it but it said that the usb.inf file was missing