Fixing a Blank Device Manager: Step-by-Step Troubleshooting

Aseem Kishore
·
4 min read

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Blueprint-style motherboard schematic with a central gear motif and glowing connection lines to components (GPU, RAM, drives, laptop)

Device Manager is completely blank: no devices listed, just an empty tree and the most common cause is a disabled Plug and Play service or corrupted registry permissions on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum key.

Fix #1: Enable the Plug and Play service

Device Manager can’t enumerate hardware without the Plug and Play service running. This is the most common cause and the fastest fix.

  1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type services.msc and press Enter.
  3. Scroll down to Plug and Play and double-click it.
services.msc window scrolled to Plug and Play service, with the entry highlighted
  1. Set Startup type to Automatic.
  2. If the service status shows Stopped, click Start.
Plug and Play service Properties dialog showing Startup type set to Automatic and the Start button
  1. Click Apply > OK.
  2. Restart your PC, then open Device Manager (Windows + X > Device Manager) and check whether devices now appear.

If you’d rather use PowerShell, open it as Administrator and run:

Get-Service -Name "PlugPlay" | Set-Service -StartupType Automatic -Status Running

Fix #2: Repair registry permissions on the Enum key

If Plug and Play is already running but Device Manager is still blank, the permissions on the Enum registry key are likely broken. Before touching the registry, export a backup first.

  1. Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Click Yes at the UAC prompt.
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum.
  3. Click File > Export, choose a save location, and click Save to back up the key before making changes.
  4. Right-click Enum and select Permissions.
  5. Click Advanced.
  6. Next to Owner, click Change. Type Administrators, click Check Names, then click OK.
  7. Check the box for Replace owner on subcontainers and objects, then click Apply > OK.
Advanced Security Settings for Enum key showing Owner field with
  • Back in the Permissions dialog, confirm that both Administrators and SYSTEM are listed with Full Control. If either is missing, click Add, enter the name, click Check Names > OK, then check Full Control under Allow.
Permissions dialog for the Enum registry key showing Administrators and SYSTEM both with Full Control checked under Allow
  • Click Advanced again and check Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object, then click Apply. Click Yes if a warning appears.
Advanced Security Settings for Enum key with
  • Close Registry Editor and restart your PC.

Fix #3: Run SFC and DISM to repair system files

Corrupted system files can prevent Device Manager from loading its device list even when services and permissions are correct.

  1. Press Windows + S, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.
  1. Run the DISM repair first:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

This can take 10–15 minutes. Wait for it to complete before moving on.

  1. Once DISM finishes, run:
sfc /scannow
Administrator Command Prompt showing sfc /scannow running with a progress bar
  1. Restart your PC when SFC finishes, then check Device Manager.

Fix #4: Re-register Device Manager DLLs

If the above fixes haven’t worked, the DLLs that Device Manager relies on may have become unregistered. This can happen after a failed Windows update or malware removal.

  1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator (see Fix #3, step 1).
  2. Run the following two commands, one at a time:
regsvr32 /s devmgr.dll
regsvr32 /s pnputil.dll

Neither command produces visible output on success — that’s expected.

  1. Restart your PC and open Device Manager (Windows + X > Device Manager).

If none of these fixes work

Boot into Safe Mode (hold Shift while clicking Restart > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart, then press 4) and check whether Device Manager loads there. If it does, a third-party driver or security tool is blocking it in normal mode, then use Safe Mode to uninstall recently added drivers. If Device Manager is blank even in Safe Mode, run Windows Update and install all pending updates, including optional driver updates, then consider a Windows repair install as a last resort.

Conclusion

Fix #1, re-enabling the Plug and Play service, resolves this for the majority of cases, especially after malware removal or an aggressive system cleanup tool has disabled background services. If Device Manager comes back blank after every reboot, the registry permissions fix (Fix #2) is usually the permanent solution. A persistently blank Device Manager that survives both fixes is worth investigating for rootkit activity before going further.