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Plug and Play is nothing but a standard that reduces conflicts between computer devices by automatically configuring them at startup. In order for the plug and play to work properly, both BIOS and Operating System must support PnP. Also the device that needs to be configured must be Plug and Play compliant. This standard actually works fine but there are chances of problems coming up when there is a mix up of legacy devices with the plug and play ones.
Windows uses the process of Enumeration in order to identify Plug and Play devices in a computer. This occurs each time Windows starts and whenever it receives a notification about a change that has occurred in the computer's hardware configuration.
To install a new Plug and Play device, plug the device into the machine:
If the device and the bus support hot-plug and play then the device installation starts automatically.
If a user needs to power down the computer and open up the system box to plug in a device, then the device will be automatically recognized and configured when the system boots up.
Use Add/Remove Hardware tool from Control Panel to start device configuration in case the device and the bus do not support hot PnP.
