How To Print a Device Manager Report in Windows XP (308579)

SUMMARY

To preserve information about the settings on your computer, you can print a report in Device Manager. This article describes how to print a report in Device Manager.

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How to Open Device Manager

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Performance and Maintenance.
3. Click System.
4. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.

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How to Print Information about a Specific Device

Device Manager sends reports to your printer. If you want to save the file, you must use the Print to file option in the Print dialog box. For information about how to do this, view the How to Print to a Text File section in this article.

To print the report:

1. Double-click the type of device about which you want to print information, and then click the specific device.
2. On the Action menu, click Print.
3. In the Print dialog box, click Selected class or Device in the Report type box.

You can also print other types of reports from this dialog box. The following list describe the types of reports that you can print:

• System summary
  
  This option prints a summary of the devices that are installed on your computer or on the remote computer that you are managing. The summary includes the product version number, bus type, registered owner, and resource information, such as interrupt request line (IRQ) and input/output (I/O) usage.
• Selected class or device
  
  This option prints a report for the device or the hardware type that you choose. The report includes the device name, device driver location, version and manufacturer information, and resources that are allocated to the device, such as I/O ports and memory addresses.
• All devices and system summary
  
  This option prints a report for each device or hardware type that is installed on your computer, as well as a summary of your computer. If you have many devices installed on your computer, this may be a long document.

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How to Print to a Text File

Device Manager does not have a Save command available for you to save a report to a text file. To save a Device Manager report to a text file, you must install a generic, text-only printer, and then redirect the Device Manager report to this printer.

To print to a text file:

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Click Add a Printer, and then choose the following options in the wizard:
   1. Click Local Printer.
   2. Click to clear the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer check box.
   3. Click Use the Following Port, and then click FILE (Print to file).
   4. Click Generic in the Manufacturer box.
   5. Click Generic / Text Only in the Printers box.
   6. Name the printer.
   7. Click Do not share this printer.
   8. Click No when you are prompted to print a test page.
3. When you click the printer in the Print dialog box, Windows prompts you for a file name.

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