Device Identifier Hierarchy

When new hardware, such as a printer, a USB storage device, or a keyboard, is installed or connected to a computer, Windows searches for the optimal driver packages for the hardware. During this search, Windows assigns a rank to each potential driver package it discovers that matches at least a hardware or a compatible device ID. The final ranking indicates how well the driver matches the device. The lower the ranking, the better the match between the driver and the hardware.

Windows uses a hierarchy of IDs assigned to the hardware to determine the best device driver to expose the hardware’s functions. These device ID strings also play a role with Group Policy (GP) to control whether hardware can be enabled and used. For Layered GP, these identifiers are used based on the following hierarchy:

Device instance ID (instance ID) is assigned by the Windows’ Plug and Play (PnP) manager to uniquely identify each similar hardware device (such as multiple similar USB drives installed on the same computer) based on the hardware’s device node in the computers’ device tree.