Identify Unknown Hardware Using Hardware IDs

I don't know about the rest of you, but how many times have you done a re-install or upgrade the OS on a fresh install, and found components of you system reporting "Unknown Device" in the device manager?

You are left wondering what they are, and scratch around looking for the possibly driver CD that you have misplaced somewhere?

In device manager, clicking on properties of the unknown device and inspect the Hardware ID will reveal the info you require.

For example, on my laptop I have a device that shows in the Hardware ID;

USB\VID_138A&PID_0001&REV_0372
     ^        ^
     |        |
     |        VFS201 Fingerprint Scanner
     Validity Sensors

 
Using this site; http://www.pcidatabase.com/index.php[^],search for Vendor ID: 138A and then click on Product ID: 0001 to find out the product.

From this info you can then visit the vendor site, or search for compatible drivers via Google, or from perhaps the manufacturer of you laptop/computer etc.

On the site listed above, there are links to other useful tools and sites, and there is also a guide available here;
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-find-unknown-device-drivers-by-their-vendor-device-id/[^]