MS update-fix to fix an update that causes USB problems

[RedBaird]

(We would not normally post Tech-info in News, but the timely post by SinCity could save many, many people a lot of time.)

 

 

Sincity's post: https://fearless-assassins.com/topic/92671-usb-devices-stopped-working-last-week-microsoft-has-released-a-fix/
 
My computer and a co_Leader's computer both had the USB problem.  Our printers and other USB-connected devices had troubles of various kinds.
 
My keyboard and mouse seem to be working okay...
 
I am posting this here to save a lot of people a lot time trying to troubleshoot their printers, etc.

---

 
Update after Dzoni posted below.  People may get different problems on their different computers...or perhaps no problems at all. 
 
My update was successful.
 

Addresses an issue in which some USB devices and onboard devices, such as a built-in laptop camera, keyboard, or mouse, stop working. 

This may occur when the Windows Update servicing stack incorrectly skips installing the newer version of some critical drivers in the 
cumulative update and uninstalls the currently active drivers during maintenance.

This announcement was intended to help people avoid the troubleshooting adventure that is posted below.

Edited March 7, 2018 by RedBaird
Updated

[Feint]

Physical Examination

"The first thing you’ll want to do is to check the USB port for physical damage.

A simple test is to put your USB Flash Drive into the port and see if it wiggles up and down really easily. Be gentle doing this! You don’t want to create a hardware problem if you don’t already have one. If you’re not sure how sturdy the USB port should be, do the same thing in a port that you know works and compare the two.

In case it is definitely loose, you’ll probably want to move right to the end of this article where we talk about dealing with USB port hardware issues. Otherwise, follow the steps we have here."

 

 

Restart Computer

"Before you get carried away with Device Manager, try the old tech support standby: turn it off and turn it on again. Sometimes that works by forcing the operating system to scan for hardware, like the USB port, and makes it work again."

 

"If that doesn’t work, then it’s time to get into Device Manager."

 

Check Device Manager

"You can launch the Device Manager in a few different ways, but here’s the quickest one: Click on the Start menu and type devmgmt.msc then hit Enter. Device Manager should start up right away. You’ll see the following window:"

 

Check Universal Serial Bus Controllers

Device Manager shows all the categories of devices installed on your computer. At this point in time, you want to look at the Universal Serial Bus controllers entries. Click on the arrow head to expand the selection. You will see something like the window below:

This might not make much sense to you, but there is some useful information here. See where it says Intel® 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller? That is the specific type of USB Host Controller for my computer. The key words are USB Host Controller. Find those in your Device Manager. If you cannot find any, this may be our problem.

Scan for Hardware Changes

Click on the Scan for hardware changes button in the toolbar. You can see it highlighted in the image below. This will force your computer to check all of your hardware again. If you’re lucky, this will pick up the USB port, and you’ll see a USB Host Controller in the list. If not, then the problem persists.

Uninstall USB Host Controllers

From here, things get a little tougher. You’ll still be working in Device Manager for now. If you are working with a desktop computer, with your mouse and keyboard plugged into USB ports, you may need to manually force a restart with the following steps. Uninstalling the USB Host Controllers will disable your USB devices.

Under the Universal Serial Bus controllers heading, you will right-click on the first USB Host Controller. That will bring up a small menu like this one:

 

Click on Uninstall. Repeat that process for any remaining USB Host Controller. Now restart the computer. This will force the computer to poll for these controllers and, hopefully, pick up the one that isn’t responding.

Clean Out Device Manager

While you’re in the Device Manager, did it seem like there were an awful lot of devices installed that might no longer be in your computer? Sometimes the drivers stay lingering on your computer, long after the device is gone. This is a good time to clean those out, and we have just the article on easily removing old drivers from Windows.

 

 

Find DisableSelectiveSuspend Registry Key

To get to the Registry Editor, click on Start and then enter regedit in the Search box and hit your Enter key. The Registry Editor window will open. It looks like this, if you haven’t seen it before:

Navigate to the DisableSelectiveSuspend key by clicking on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then SYSTEM, then CurrentControlSet, then services, then USB. Where it says DisableSelectiveSuspend in the right-hand window, right-click and click Modify. In the Value Data field enter the number 1. This will disable the selective suspend feature and power will go to your USB ports constantly.

Create Registry Key

If the USB key doesn’t exist in your registry, it’s easy to create it. Just navigate to the services key, and in the toolbar click on Edit > New > Key. Call it USB.

In the USB key, right-click in the right-hand window. You’ll only have the New option. Click on that and select DWORD (32-bit) Value. It may just be called DWORD Value on your system. Name the new value DisableSelectiveSuspend. Just like above, right-click and click Modify. In the Value Data field enter the number 1. There! You have disabled the selective suspend feature. To apply the setting, you may need to restart your computer.

This is a good time to mention that if you ever feel the need to block your USB ports from working, there is a tool to help with that. It’s called USB Manager and we have a short article on how it works.