Devices Uninstall Device in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to uninstall a device in Windows 11.

When you connect a device to your PC, it gets installed. Sometimes you may want to uninstall a device. For example: troubleshooting, replace, upgrade, or just not using it again on this PC.

Reference:

You must be signed in as an administrator to uninstall a device.

Uninstalling a device does not always uninstall its driver.

Before uninstalling a device, it is recommend to physically unplug the device from the PC. If the device is uninstalled before it is unplugged, Windows may subsequently rediscover the device and reinstall drivers for it. This can happen immediately after the uninstall or upon rebooting the system.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Bluetooth & devices on the left side, and click/tap on Devices. (see screenshot below)



3 Click/tap on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO") you want to uninstall to expand it open, and click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)


4 When finished, you can close Settings.





1 Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc).

2 Click/tap on View on the menu bar, and click/tap on Show hidden devices to check it. (see screenshot below)


3 Expand the type of device (ex: "Camera") you want to install, and perform an action below: (see screenshots below)

If the device's icon is grayed out, it means the device is not currently connected.

• Right click on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), and click/tap on Uninstall device.
• Select the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), click/tap on Action on the menu bar, and click/tap on Uninstall device.
• Double click/tap on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO") to open Properties, click/tap on the Driver tab, and click/tap on the Uninstall Device button.
• Right click on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), click/tap on Properties, click/tap on the Driver tab, and click/tap on the Uninstall Device button.

4 Click/tap on Uninstall to confirm. (see screenshots below)

If available, you can check Attempt to remove the driver for this device or Delete the driver software for this device to also uninstall the driver for this device.

5 You can now close Device Manager if you like.





1 Open Devices and Printers.

2 Perform an action below: (see screenshot below)

• Right click on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), and click/tap on Remove device.
• Select the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), and click/tap on Remove device on the toolbar.

3 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)


4 You can now close Devices and Printers if you like.






1 Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc).

2 Click/tap on View on the menu bar, and click/tap on Show hidden devices to check it. (see screenshot below)


3 Expand the type of device (ex: "Camera") you want to install, and perform an action below: (see screenshot below)

If the device's icon is grayed out, it means the device is not currently connected.

• Double click/tap on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO") to open Properties.
• Right click on the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), and click/tap on Properties.
• Select the device (ex: "Logitech BRIO"), click/tap on Action on the menu bar, and click/tap on Properties.

4 Perform the steps below to get the "Device instance path" of the device: (see screenshot below)

1. Click/tap on the Details tab.
2. Select Device instance path in the Property drop menu.
3. Under Value, you can right click on the "Device instance path" (ex: "USB\VID_046D&PID_085E&MI_00\5&2CD8535E&2&0000") to Copy it to the clipboard to make it easier to paste in the command below.

5 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

6 Type the command below into Windows Terminal, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Substitute <Device instance path> in the command above with the actual "Device instance path" (ex: "USB\VID_046D&PID_085E&MI_00\5&2CD8535E&2&0000") from step 4.

For example: pnputil /remove-device "USB\VID_046D&PID_085E&MI_00\5&2CD8535E&2&0000" /force

7 You can now close Windows Terminal if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink