How to List USB Devices Using PowerShell?

In this tutorial, I will explain how to list USB devices using PowerShell on your Windows machine. Recently, one of my PowerShell admin team members asked me this question. I will show you how to list USB devices using PowerShell.

Table of Contents

List USB Devices Using PowerShell

The simplest way to list USB devices using PowerShell is by using the Get-PnpDevice cmdlet, which retrieves information about Plug and Play devices. Here’s how you can use it:

Get-PnpDevice -Class USB

This command lists all USB devices connected to your computer. However, the information might be quite basic. To get more detailed information, you can combine this with other cmdlets.

I executed the above cmdlet, and you can see the output in the screenshot below:

Detailed USB Device Information

To get detailed information about each USB device, you can use the Get-WmiObject cmdlet. This cmdlet provides access to the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) database, which contains detailed information about hardware and software on your computer.

Get-WmiObject -Query "Select * from Win32_USBHub"

This command retrieves detailed information about all USB hubs connected to your system. You can also query other WMI classes to get information about USB controllers and devices.

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List USB Devices in a Corporate Environment using PowerShell

Imagine you are an IT administrator at a company in New York City, and you need to audit all USB devices connected to the computers in your office. You can use the following PowerShell script to list all USB devices on a network:

$computers = Get-Content -Path "C:\computers.txt"
foreach ($computer in $computers) {
    Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer -ScriptBlock {
        Get-WmiObject -Query "Select * from Win32_USBHub"
    }
}

In this script, C:\computers.txt is a text file containing the names of the computers you want to audit. The Invoke-Command cmdlet runs the Get-WmiObject command on each computer in the list.

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Filter USB Devices by Manufacturer using PowerShell

Sometimes, you might want to filter the list of USB devices by manufacturer. For example, if you are only interested in devices made by SanDisk, you can use the following command:

Get-WmiObject -Query "Select * from Win32_USBHub" | Where-Object { $_.Manufacturer -eq "SanDisk" }

This command retrieves only the USB devices manufactured by SanDisk.

Log USB Devices to a File using PowerShell

Here’s an example script that logs the USB devices to a file using PowerShell.

$logFile = "C:\Logs\USBDevicesLog.txt"
$usbDevices = Get-WmiObject -Query "Select * from Win32_USBHub" | Select-Object -Property DeviceID, PNPDeviceID, Description, Manufacturer
$usbDevices | Out-File -FilePath $logFile -Append

This script appends the list of USB devices to C:\Logs\USBDevicesLog.txt each time it runs.

Use CIM Cmdlets for Better Performance

The Get-WmiObject cmdlet is powerful but can be slow on large networks. The Get-CimInstance cmdlet is a more efficient alternative that uses the Common Information Model (CIM) instead of WMI. Here’s how to use it:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_USBHub

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Export USB Device Information to CSV using PowerShell

As a PowerShell administrator, sometimes you might want to export the USB device information to a CSV file. Here’s how to do it:

$usbDevices = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_USBHub | Select-Object -Property DeviceID, PNPDeviceID, Description, Manufacturer
$usbDevices | Export-Csv -Path "C:\Reports\USBDevices.csv" -NoTypeInformation

This command exports the USB device information to C:\Reports\USBDevices.csv.

In this tutorial, I explained how to list USB devices using PowerShell with some examples.