Windows 7 does not "see" Arduino Uno R3 board in its Device Manager

Question

I'm not sure if this is a proper place to ask such question, but I'm ran of ideas. I have plugged Arduino Uno R3 board to my laptop via USB and I try to install Arduino's drivers, but to do so, I have to have it visible on my Device Manager. And here is a problem, because I do not see anything which can be my Arduino board. I do not have even a Other Devices category in it, or a node Unknown Device. In addition, Arduino's the ON led is not lit. I have Windows 7 Home Edition.

Answer 1

I've found the solution to my problem:

1. Push Start menu button and type in the searchbox hdwwiz. Click on hdwwiz.exe and wizard will open.
2. Choose Install hardware I select from a list.
3. In the list below select Ports (COM & LPT).
4. In the next screen you should be able to select Arduino in the left box.
5. In the right box you should be able to select your type of Arduino.
6. You can click Next in order to try install drivers automatically, or you can click the Have Disk and point to the FTDI USB drivers located in e.g. C:\Arduino\drivers\FTDI USB Drivers depending where you installed the Arduino 1.X.X package (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software#toc2)
7. After installation is complete in your Device Manager you should now see Ports (COM & LPT) node and subnode in it called e.g. Arduino Uno (COM3).
8. Right click on it and go through the instructions described in section 4 Install the drivers described at http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows.

PS Before you try solution described above, uninstall your Arduino software, unplug your board, and be sure to FIRST plug the board to your computer and NEXT install the Arduino's software. In some cases it also may be helpful.

Answer 2

I ran into similar problem, you can fix it from device manager. The solution was to select "Let me pick from a a list of device drivers on my computer" once you right click and try to update driver. I got this solution from here: http://eestuffs.com/2017/01/19/fix-arduino-driver-install-problem/