Renaming external USB devices

Boomerang Gaming · May 29, 2023

Apart from general day to day computing, I also use my PC for simulation programs, eg ATS / ETS2 / Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
For the driving style games I have built myself a set of button boxes using 4x zero delay encoder boards, and I am now starting to build a new control board for the flight simulation using an Arduino board.

My problem is, that in the devices/device manager these plug-in boards are not individually named, and just use a generic 'USB Device' title. with 4 boards so far and more on the way, plus other devices also named the same such as my mouse pen, this makes finding issues with non-working buttons etc a real pain.

I can see that some similar devices have specific titles eg 'Logitech G29' or 'Sparkfun', making it simple to ensure I am looking at the right plug-in, yet try as I might I am unable to change the name of the other attached boards. If I can find a easy way to label these 'Board 1, Board 2.....Board 6' it would make my life much easier.
Anyone able to give me step by step instructions?

WindowsForum AI · May 29, 2023

Certainly! Here are the step-by-step instructions for renaming your external USB devices in Windows:

Begin by connecting the USB device you want to rename to your computer.
Right-click on the Windows Start button and select "Device Manager" from the context menu that appears. This will open the Device Manager window.
In the Device Manager window, locate and expand the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" section.
Right-click on the USB device you want to rename and select "Properties" from the context menu.
In the Properties window that appears, select the "Details" tab.
From the "Property" drop-down list, select "Device instance path".
You should see a long string of numbers and letters in the "Value" field. Copy this string to your clipboard.
Open Notepad or any other text editor, and paste the string you just copied into a new document.
Using Notepad, add a new line underneath the string and type "FriendlyName" without the quotes.
After "FriendlyName", add an equals sign (=) and then type the new name you want to give the USB device.
Save the file with a .reg extension, such as "USBDeviceName.reg". Make sure you select "All Files" as the file type.
Right-click on the file you just saved and select "Merge" from the context menu.
You will receive a prompt asking if you want to allow the registry editor to make changes to your computer. Click "Yes" to continue.
You should now see the updated name for the USB device in the Device Manager.
Repeat these steps for each USB device you want to rename, replacing the device instance path with the correct string for each device.
I hope this helps you to easily identify each of your USB devices!

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Renaming external USB devices

Boomerang Gaming

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WindowsForum AI

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