Intended For Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 2003 Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95

Windows 95/98/Me

• You can open Device Manager by double-clicking on the System icon in Control Panel, and choosing the Device Manager tab. It is also accessible by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties, and selecting the Device Manager tab. Getting to the Device Manager this can require up to six mouse clicks, but there is an easier way.

• Open an Explorer window, and select your Start Menu folder (under your Windows directory). It doesn't have to go here, but it's as good a place as any.
• Select New and then Shortcut from the File Menu.
• In the field labelled Command Line, type C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE Sysdm.cpl, System,1 (replace C:\WINDOWS\ with your Windows directory, if different).
• Click Next, type Device Manager for the name of this shortcut, and press Finish when you're done.
• There will now be a shortcut directly to Device Manager in your Start Menu.

Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista

• You can open Device Manager by double-clicking on the System icon in Control Panel, choosing the Hardware tab, and clicking Device Manager.

• Fortunately, Device Manager can be more easily run by launching devmgmt.msc - just create a shortcut to the file (as described above), and launch it at any time.

Written by: Annoyances.org
Last updated: Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Previous discussions about this article:
(open a message to see applicable responses, if any)

• [Windows 98] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Dave: Saturday, September 1, 2001)
• [Windows ME] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Jim van Zee: Monday, October 8, 2001)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (GeneP: Friday, October 12, 2001)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Neal Deacon: Saturday, January 19, 2002)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Raymond Hicks: Sunday, February 3, 2002)
• [Windows XP] Comment about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Ch0ps: Monday, May 13, 2002)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (boulderhard: Saturday, October 5, 2002)
• [Windows XP] XP upgrade refuses to allow use of head phones (Frank Erridge: Wednesday, November 20, 2002)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (George: Sunday, January 26, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Remark about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (xpdevmgr: Sunday, January 26, 2003)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Wick Smith: Monday, February 17, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Faster method to 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Jack: Sunday, July 20, 2003)
• [Windows XP] problem with device manager (Tom: Sunday, August 3, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Miyon: Wednesday, September 10, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Chester Vidacovich: Thursday, May 20, 2004)
• [Windows Me] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Timothy Burchnell: Tuesday, August 31, 2004)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Rasmus: Saturday, December 25, 2004)
• [Windows XP] Comment about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Sid: Friday, January 7, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Ralphie-boi: Sunday, May 22, 2005)
• [Windows XP] KB shortcut about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Christos Georgiou: Tuesday, June 28, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Mike: Thursday, February 23, 2006)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (JTor: Monday, October 2, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (D.J.Tiley: Wednesday, November 15, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (JW: Friday, December 8, 2006)
• [Windows Vista] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Victor Epp: Sunday, April 22, 2007)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (CHRIS: Friday, July 13, 2007)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (John: Sunday, December 23, 2007)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'Go Directly to Device Manager' (Neil: Wednesday, February 13, 2008)