While the graphical Device Manager is the go-to tool for most Windows 11 users, system administrators, developers, and power users often need a faster, scriptable alternative. Enter devcon.exe (Microsoft Device Console). This command-line utility acts as a powerful text-based interface to Plug and Play (PnP) devices, allowing you to enable, disable, restart, update, and query hardware devices directly from the terminal.
devcon [command] [arguments] 1. List All Devices devcon listclass * Better: list devices by status: devcon.exe windows 11
devcon disable "PCI\VEN_10EC*"
This article explains what devcon.exe is, how to install it on Windows 11, and how to use its essential commands. DevCon is a legacy but still highly effective command-line utility originally shipped with Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and earlier Windows SDKs. It allows you to perform every major device management task you can do in Device Manager, plus more advanced filtering and batch operations. While the graphical Device Manager is the go-to
Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object $_.FriendlyName -like "*NVIDIA*" | Enable-PnpDevice -Confirm:$false devcon.exe remains a handy, lightweight tool for scripting hardware control on Windows 11. It gives you surgical precision over Plug and Play devices without needing to click through Device Manager. For legacy scripts and fine-grained batch operations, it's invaluable—though you should also familiarize yourself with pnputil and PowerShell cmdlets as the future-forward path. devcon [command] [arguments] 1
Save devcon.exe in your System32 folder, then create aliases or batch files for your most common hardware resets. It will save you hours of GUI navigation over time.
devcon status * This shows every PnP device with “running,” “stopped,” or “disabled” status. devcon find *VEN_10EC* # finds all Realtek devices devcon find *PCI\VEN_8086* # finds all Intel PCI devices 3. Enable or Disable a Device Disable: