Device Console Utility (DevCon.exe) Repository

How to obtain Device Console Utility (DevCon.exe) without downloading and installing the entire Windows Driver Kit (WDK)

>>>Shortlink to share this article:
https://wp.me/p7I9kP-w

I sometimes see people asking “Where to get devcon.exe without installing WDK?”. Well, in fact some of the nice guys shared a link to their DevCon executable file already extracted from windows driver kit. However, Microsoft wasn’t happy about it:
I recently deleted a comment by a reader who posted a link to the versions of DevCon that he had extracted from the Windows Driver Kit. Redistribution of Microsoft software without consent is usually a violation of our End User License Agreements. Downloading and using such redistributed software may also place you at risk for malware infections. Please do not do this. Such links as this that appear here in the future will also be removed.”

Said Michael Murgolo, a Microsoft executive. But it doesn’t sound fair to download approximately 1GB (and install it!) to obtain an under 100KB executable. So I came up figuring out how to share “devcon.exe” without redistribution and violation of terms.

It’s almost easy to obtain old versions of “devcon.exe” for Windows Xp/Server 2003, because it was also available as a part of so called “support tools” back then. It may be available in the following path: “SUPPORT/TOOLS/SUPPORT.cab” under the root directory of some Windows Xp/Server 2003 installation media. If it’s not, don’t worry! Just continue reading.

However, as of the newer versions, Microsoft shows no grace. It’s only available in WDK, Visual Studio, and the Windows SDK as stated by Microsoft. But these bundles are made of several packages installed as a whole. What if you knew which one exactly contains the files you need? Let’s assume you already knew it, because I’m gonna tell you now!

But, what is really the difference between giving you these packages instead “devcon.exe” itself?

  1. It doesn’t place you at risk for malware infections”, because these are genuine packages contained in WDK, and signed by Microsoft itself.
  2. It’s not a Redistribution of Microsoft software without consent” that violates their EULA. The links available in this topic are not hosted by me, but by Microsoft, and are the same links that WDK uses to obtain its packages. If downloading those is illegal, so is installing WDK too, because it does the same!

For Windows Xp/Vista + Windows Server 2003(R2) (as described by Microsoft here):

x86:
Download Support.cab (which is Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 32-bit Support Tools) and extract “devcon.exe”. (download size: 3.45 MB)

amd64:
Download w2k3sp2_3959_usa_x64fre_spcd.iso (which is Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, x64 Editions – ISO-9660 CD Image File) and mount the “.iso” file, then go to “SUPPORT/TOOLS/SUPPORT.cab” and extract “devcon.exe”. (download size: 475 MB)

x86/amd64:
Highly recommended due to the size, but oldest version and not hosted by Microsoft anymore. The link is from web archive, and the file have the Microsoft signature so it’s genuine. It was previously available under this article but now the link is dead.
Download DevCon v5.2.3718 and run it, write a path in the “Unzip to Folder” field, and click Unzip to extract. You can also leave it blank to extract to the current folder. (download size: 78 KB)


For Windows 7/8/8.1/10 + Windows Server 2008(R2)/2012(R2)/2016:

Instructions:

  1. Download the “CAB” files for the versions you need. (~8MB per “CAB” for Windows 10.x and ~50KB per “CAB” for Windows 8.x).
  2. Extract the following file from each “CAB” and rename it to “devcon.exe”:

    x86:

    Windows 10.x CAB name:
    82c1721cd310c73968861674ffc209c9.cab
    Windows 8.x CAB name:
    af0d6547860d8f68c1b0c9da530f699d.cab
    Filename to extract:
    fil5a9177f816435063f779ebbbd2c1a1d2

    amd64:

    Windows 10.x CAB name:
    787bee96dbd26371076b37b13c405890.cab
    Windows 8.x CAB name:
    09844d1815314132979ed88093f49c6f.cab
    Filename to extract:
    filbad6e2cce5ebc45a401e19c613d0a28f
  3. If the process of finding and renaming the files is confusing, download “Extractor Script”, put it to the same directory as package(s), and run it to extract and rename the file(s) for you (no administrative privileges required). It creates a folder called DevCon in the same directory which includes versions you downloaded (x86/amd64 or both)

Thanks to @Sc4r4b for posting the new links in the comments!

Windows 10 version 1803 Redstone 4
(April 2018 Update)
Windows Build: 10.0.17134
Driver Kit Build: 10.0.17134

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 10 version 1709 Redstone 3
(Fall Creators Update)
Windows Build: 10.0.16299
Driver Kit Build: 10.0.16299

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 10 version 1703 Redstone 2
(Creators Update)
Windows Build: 10.0.15063
Driver Kit Build: 10.0.15063

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 10 version 1607 Redstone 1
(Anniversary Update)
Windows Build: 10.0.14393
Driver Kit Build: 10.1.14393

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 10 version 1511 Threshold 2
(November Update)
Windows Build: 10.0.10586
Driver Kit Build: 10.1.10586

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 10 version 1507 Threshold 1
Windows Build: 10.0.10240
Driver Kit Build: 10.0.26639

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 10 Insider Preview
Windows Build: 10.0.10075
Driver Kit Build: 10.0.10075

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 8.1 Update
Windows Build: 6.3.9600.17029
Driver Kit Build: 8.100.26846

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 8.1
Windows Build: 6.3.9600.16384
Driver Kit Build: 8.100.25984

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


Windows 8
Windows Build: 6.2.9200.16384
Driver Kit Build: 8.59.29757

Extractor Script | x86 | amd64


And good news! Although these names seem a bit confusing, they are not just random hashes, but identifiers! It means the next time you obtained the newer version of WDK, you can find these packages inside the “Installers” folder and repeat the procedures to obtain newest version of “devcon.exe”. Same goes for similar bundles (i.e. ADK, SDK).
If you found this article helpful, it’s also posted as an answer to a question about downloading DevCon in Superuser.com. If you are a member, I would appreciate if you up-vote my answer here.
Disclaimer: All the links (except for the script and DevCon v5.2.3718) are provided by Microsoft, and all links to .cab files are the same links that WDK uses to obtain its packages. The information is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.

74 thoughts on “Device Console Utility (DevCon.exe) Repository

Leave a comment