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Computer Hardware and Windows Server 2008

Device Management and Installation

Device Management and Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Error Codes in Device Manager

Code 1: The device is not configured properly

Code 3: The driver for this device might be corrupted, or your system may be running low on memory or other resources

Code 10: The device cannot start

Code 12: This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use

Code 14: This device cannot work properly until you restart your computer

Code 16: Windows cannot identify all the resources this device uses

Code 18: Reinstall the drivers for this device

Code 19: Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged

Code 21: Windows is removing this device

Code 22: This device is disabled

Code 24: This device is not present, is not working properly, or does not have all its drivers installed

Code 28: The drivers for this device are not installed

Code 29: This device is disabled because the firmware of the device did not give it the required resources

Code 31: This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device

Code 32: A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality

Code 33: Windows cannot determine which resources are required for this device

Code 34: Windows cannot determine the settings for this device

Code 35: Your computer's system firmware does not include enough information to properly configure and use this device

Code 36: This device is requesting a PCI interrupt but is configured for an ISA interrupt (or vice versa)

Code 37: Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware

Code 38: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory

Code 40: Windows cannot access this hardware because its service key information in the registry is missing or recorded incorrectly

Code 41: Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device

Code 42: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because there is a duplicate device already running in the system

Code 43: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems

Code 44: An application or service has shut down this hardware device

Code 45: Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer

Code 46: Windows cannot gain access to this hardware device because the operating system is in the process of shutting down

Code 47: Windows cannot use this hardware device because it has been prepared for safe removal, but it has not been removed from the computer

Code 48: The software for this device has been blocked from starting because it is known to have problems with Windows

Code 49: Windows cannot start new hardware devices because the system hive is too large (exceeds the Registry Size Limit)

Code 52: Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device

Code 51: This device is currently waiting on another device or set of devices to start

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Code 38: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory

Published: August 31, 2007

Updated: June 3, 2010

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista

Device Manager displays the following message in the Device Properties dialog box, on the General tab, in the Device Status text box:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38)

The driver cannot load because a previous instance is still loaded.

Try the following:

Restart the computer.
Try searching for “code 38” and your hardware type, name, model number, or technology on the Microsoft support site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=538). For example, for code 38 issues with standby mode, search for “code 38” standby.
Contact your device manufacturer for the latest information about using the device with the Windows operating system version that you have.

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