In an earlier post I mentioned how several www.podserve.co.uk clients had run up against this problem. Despite helpful suggestions we were unable to find a solution. The best I could offer was a workround using a product such as Xplay (now up to version 3 by the way).
Well, fingers crossed, iPod and iTunes users could have a solution thanks to an authorative reply which I think deserves prominence. Here it is in full:-
We had the exact same problem for months and found that it was an empty device driver. So check that before you read on ... Right click on your Computer, go to manage, then highlight Device Manager. If there is nothing listed, try the following options. The first possibilities are offered by MS but did not work in my circumstance as we had not recently updated to MS SP 3.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311504
and
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953791/en-us
Then I found an old posting printed below from JAZZ that was originally from Annoyances.com, AND IT WORKED! You may want to uninstall ALL iTunes related software, then reinstall.
Good Luck
CBGRI
From : http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/windows-xp/15653-device-manager-blank.html
re: Empty Device Manager
"The issue is security permissions in the registry. I cannot tell how they are lost
but I can tell you how to fix it short of having to re-install Windows!
You must use regedt32.exe in Windows 2000/XP (as I have not seen this problem posted
for any other operating system). Be very carefull making changes in the regisrty!
You must be logged on as a local administrator to perform this task:
1. Go to "Start", "Run", and enter "regedt32"
2. Maximize the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" window.
3. Scroll down to "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum"
4. With "Enum" selected click the "Security", "Permissions" menu.
Note: At this point you will probably notice there are no permissions on this key.
5. Click "Add".
6. Add the group "Everyone" and the user "SYSTEM".
7. Select "Everyone" and check "Read" ONLY!
8. Select "SYSTEM" and check "Full Control".
9. Click the "Advanced" button at the bottom of the window.
10. On the Advanced window check "Reset permissions on all child objects..."
11. Click "OK"
12. On the warning window click "Yes"
13. Close REGEDT32
You should now be able to see everything in Device Manager, Network Places Properties,
and Printers."
My thanks to CGBRI, wish I knew more about you so I could credit you properly.
