The device manager is empty. I open and it is completely empty.

I have used regedit to check the system permissions, and yes the system does have permission so that isn't the problem.

I have also checked to see if plug and play service is running, and it is (Started & Automatic). However I can't stop the plug and play service. The options for stop/restart are both greyed out, so I think that this may have something to do with the device manager issue.

I first noticed this problem when I attempted to install the drivers for my i560 printer, and I believe that this may be the cause of the problem, as I regularly use the device manager to disable my cd drives, so it must be a recent occurance. How can I forcibly stop/restart plug n play or is there another solution that I am not aware of. I disabled the service through msconfig, restarted then re-enabled the service, but this had no effect.

BTW, I am running Win 2003 - but this problem is exactly the same in Win XP and I figured it would get more views here.

Also I have spent ages reading this page, but I have yet to find anything helpful there.

Title edited -- Please, use [TAGS] in your topic's title.

Please follow XP Forum Rules from now on.

--Sonic

Plug-n-Play service is system service, you can't play with it, it always started.

Found this potential fix here.

That fix looks like it might actually work, but I got p***ed off and reinstalled Windows before I read your post. I'll keep it in mind for next time.