How to clear "stuck" USB assignments

[Masterius]

Several times in the past--mostly due to unplugging and replugging my controllers--I've had issues with the USB ports no longer responding and/or recognizing my controllers. There is also potential issues with a controller, or controllers, being identified by different USB ports, depending on how many different ones you've used in the past.

I ran across a neat little utility called USBDeview, which will scan your entire pc and identify each and every USB port, along with every device ever plugged into them, past and present. It will display which ones are in use, which ones which are currently unused, along with a host of other information...including the description of whatever device is, or was, plugged in...as well as the vendorID. So, for instance, if you want to unplug all your Saitek controllers in order to use your new powered USB hub, and are having issues with the controllers being recognized, you can unplug the controllers, run USBDeview, look for any device with the vendorID 06a3 (which is unique to Saitek) which shows as unconnected, select those and then select to uninstall them.

Voila!

You can then plug your controllers (or any other device) back in, and they'll now be recognized and installed.

Needless to say, this works for far more than just misbehaving Saitek controllers. You do need to use care with it, since you don't want to uninstall anything necessary (like your liquid cooler!) but I've found this little utility extremely useful when it comes to relocating controllers.

[Jacques]

Thanks Masterius, my CH controllers also fall asleep reliably during long flights so I’ll look for this and give it a try.

[Adam_NZ]

Thanks for that! Here's a MajorGeeks link to the file - to save you a few milliseconds of searching!
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/usbdeview.html

Adam.