Solution! Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware. (Code 37)

[Jimmy G]

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I am facing some issue with Windows XP. I had upgraded to Windows XP from Windows 2000 Pro. After installation the hardware in the system are not installing. I had a cd of my motherboard and I always use this to re-install all the pending drivers. But somehow there is a issue with some hardware which are still marked as unknown devices. I am getting a error that Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware. (Code 37).I tried to remove the hardware which are not working. But nothing worked.

[Mr.Walter]

There are missing drivers. And the drivers that you have in your system is for Windows 2000 not for XP. It is recommended that you find the right drivers which are compatible with your system or else this kind of issues are common. Check your motherboard model and then look on web for the right update. It will help you to use everything.

[moxrox]

For those happening upon this thread because they, too, are having code 37 errors but are on Vista,there's a solution for you, too.

Go to this link at the microsoft.com technet forum and read the 6-23-08 posting by Egarcia titled Answer Re: Code 37 - Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware. (Vista Home Edition). The solution completely fixed all my problems (well, not my relations with my ex, but all my vista/error 37 issues), and that of dozens others with similar issues.

For comparative reference: I was having sudden and numerous problems on my acer 6920 - a half dozen "code-37" errors ID'd in the devices control panel, and failure of laptop's keyboard, built-in mouse, and all audio devices. Then i found the Microsoft thread referenced above. Twenty minutes later, including restart, everything's working perfectly.

[yamaha32177]

exellent advice,worked great,Thanks

[yamaha32177]

Thanks again,Not a computer pro,but it worked flawlessly,been fighting this for weeks now it fixed

[odourless1]

Thanks for posting this.

The latest week's updates from Windows is the only activity my computer had that seemed to spark this problem in my computer - running XP Professional SP3. Did not use the computer all week and so I installed the week's updates yesterday, the 13th August 2010.- suddenly no CD/DVD drive.

I have wasted many hours shutdown doing circle work since installing these Microsoft updates before I found this post and I decided to try this exact method to fix my problem which was the same but with the following message (different to yours):

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

My missing Samsung driver was: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D

I only had the "upperfilters" in my files so that was all I could delete (no lowerfilters mentioned in there). And it worked immediately!

[odourless1]

See Post #9 above for the solution

Originally Posted by odourless1

Thanks for posting this.

The latest week's updates from Windows is the only activity my computer had that seemed to spark this problem in my computer - running XP Professional SP3. Did not use the computer all week and so I installed the week's updates yesterday, the 13th August 2010.- suddenly no CD/DVD drive.

I have wasted many hours shutdown doing circle work since installing these Microsoft updates before I found this post and I decided to try this exact method to fix my problem which was the same but with the following message (different to yours):

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

My missing Samsung driver was: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D

I only had the "upperfilters" in my files so that was all I could delete (no lowerfilters mentioned in there). And it worked immediately!

[wtcacemechanic]

Originally Posted by E Brent Price

I was about to post here with my problem when I stumbled over a solution.

I have a recent upgrade from 2KPro to XPpro and I've been installing and
uninstalling right and left for days, so I don't know what caused it but
suddenly I couldn't see my CD/DVD.

The device properties said "Windows cannot initialize the device driver for
this hardware. (Code 37)"

I tried the uninstall/rescan trick, no luck. Then I came across this simple
registry fix in a forum:


"Run REGEDIT, open up the following folders:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SYSTEM
CurrentControlSet
Control
Class
{4D36E965-E325 -11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

After clicking on {4D36E965-E325 -11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} you should see two
settings on the right-hand side:
"Upperfilters"
"Lowerfilters"

Click on each of them, press DELETE and click YES.

Rescan h/w in Device Manager, it worked for me, my DVD writer is back.

The theory is that something you installed lately created this problem. In
my case I don't remember what, maybe RealPlayer, or GEnie Backup Manager
Pro. I still have to find the culprit.

Tell me if this work.

Ray."

The only thing to add is to delete the CD from Device Manager before
scanning for changes and reboot after that.

You can see by the thread that this affects several brands including Sony,
Plextor and Pioneer (mine).

MicroSoft People: take note. MS KB was little help.

(Thanks Ray. This worked great!)