Opening the Device Manager from a command prompt on Windows 8

To open the Device Manager window on Windows 8 from a command prompt, take the following steps:

1. Right-click on the Start button in the lower-left corner of the screen.
2. If you are logged in under a standard user account and only want to view device settings, you can choose Command Prompt. If you may need to change settings and aren't logged in under an account in the administrators group, choose Command Prompt (Admin). If you choose the latter, you will be prompted for administrator credentials; provide a user name and password for an administrator account. When you choose Command Prompt (Admin), the title of the window that opens is "Administrator Command Prompt" versus "Command Prompt" if you open the command prompt window using a standard account.
3. When the Command Prompt window opens type devmgmt.msc at the command line and hit Enter. If you are logged on with an account that does not have administrator privileges and haven't opened an Administrator Command Prompt window, you will see the message below:

   You are logged on as a standard user. You can view device settings in Device Manager, but you must be logged on as an administrator to make changes.

   You can then click on the OK button to view information for devices listed in the Device Manager. If you've run devmgmt.msc from an Administrator Command Prompt window you will have view and modification capabilities.

[/os/windows/win8] permanent link