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The most common solution to fix Windows XP unknown device issues is updating device drivers. Computer and hardware manufactures keep on updating their device drivers regularly, as new versions or upgrades of their products become available on the market. If you’re going to stick with your current device drivers, you may end up having devices that will not work to their full potential, become unusable, or contribute to fatal errors, such as the one when a computer crushes completely, known us the “blue screen of death” or “BSoD.”

Updating your device drivers is a very effective way to prevent and solve device related problems in Windows XP. Here are several ways to update your device drivers, whether they are built-in drivers or additional drivers required by hardware or portable devices.

Using Hardware Update Wizard:

You can update each device manually by using the Hardware Update Wizard, and this may be all it takes to fix your particular unknown device problem in Windows XP. First, you need to locate the problematic device in your Device Manager by following these steps:

1. Click the “Start” button
2. Right-click “My Computer”
3. Click “Properties”
4. Click “Hardware Device”
5. In the “Device Manager” of your Windows XP, identify the unknown problematic device by a yellow warning sign. After you identify the unknown device, continue with the remaining steps:
6. Right-click this device and click “Update Driver” and then the Hardware Update Wizard window will be accessible.
7. If your problematic computer has an Internet connection, you might want to allow the Hardware Update Wizard to connect to Windows Update, but if it is offline you can still continue with the process. In either case, you will be asked if you have an installation CD.
8. Click “Next” to let Hardware Update Wizard search for available updates.
9. Choose the latest version of device driver.
10. Click “Next” and remember that in some cases you be will prompted to reboot your computer to ensure that the updated driver will function properly.
11. Now, you can check if your unknown device problem in XP is still present or has been fixed.

Using Windows Update:

You can also use the Windows Update to update the built-in device drivers in your operating system and solve unknown device problem in Windows XP.

1. Click “Start”
2. Click “Help and Support”
3. Pick the task “keep your computer up-to-date with Windows Update.”
4. You will be prompted to choose between “Express” and “Custom” options
5. If you choose “Express,” the updates will be installed automatically on your computer, but if you choose “Custom,” you will be prompted to choose the updates you want to install.
6. After the installation of the updates, check your Device Manager to see if the problem with your Windows XP unknown device has been solved.

Searching Online for Device Driver Updates:

There are cases when both of the processes discussed above will not fix you unknown device problem in Windows XP. Another way to fix this problem is by updating your device drivers manually. Follow these steps:

1. Click the “Start” button
2. Right-click “My Computer”
3. Click “Manage”
4. Click “Device Manager”
5. Right click the “Unknown Device in XP” which is identified by a yellow warning sign, and then click “Properties.”
6. Click the “Details” tab
7. Choose “Device Instance ID” in the provided drop-down list
8. Locate your hardware device IDs, DEV_XXXX (PID_XXXX) and VEN_XXXX, which correspond to the device ID (the product ID) and vendor ID. For example: DEV_8086 stands for “Device ID = 8086.”
9. Now, you are ready to search online using these vendor and device IDs, and one user-friendly website for that is PCIdatabase.com.