Cannot Remove Hard Disk Controller in Device Manager

ID: Q202393

The information in this article applies to:
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to remove a hard disk controller in Device Manager, you may receive the following message:

This device is part of a multi-function device and cannot be removed independently. To remove this device, select and remove the multi-function parent. This will also remove any other devices that are part of the multi-function device.


CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the parent device for the multi-function device has already been removed, and the child device is still displayed in Device Manager.


RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).


To resolve this issue, use Registry Editor to locate the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\MF\CHILDxxxx
where xxxx represents the numeric value of the folder.

Delete the following folder under each CHILDxxxx device:
PCI&VEN_8086&DEV_7010&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00&BUS_00&DEV_0D&FUNC_01
This removes the child device from Device Manager and allows Windows 98 to properly detect and set up the hard disk controller.

This behavior may also occur in Windows 95. If you check hard disk controllers in Safe Mode Device Manager and see duplication of the child devices, you may need to delete the folders referred to in this article. You may need to delete the folders if you are removing the parent device(s) from Safe Mode Device Manager and the NOIDE key in the registry does not fix your problem.

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbenv kbhw win98 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: August 12, 1999