Windows – Portable device driver has exclamation mark after every PC reboot – until I reinstall the same driver

Problem description

I need some advice with a tough PC driver problem. I have an exotic smartphone (Hero H2000+) which isn't recognized/shown as portable device in Explorer when I plug it into my PC. It shows up with an yellow exclamation mark under device manager. The device itself is set as MTP and USB-Debugging is off.

I already found a working driver but it doesn't start correctly. I can right-click the device and select uninstall. After that I manually Scan for hardware changes and Windows recognizes & reinstalls the portable device. Presumably with the same driver since I cannot tick Delete the driver software for this device.

Now comes the strange part: Normally you would expect that the yellow exclamation will come back after the driver installation. But no! The device is now fully functional and visible in Windows Explorer. First I thought "Hey! Finally I have a working driver".

But this only lasts until the next PC reboot. Then the exclamation is back and I have to repeat the above procedure.

What I have tried

Searched and deleted all related unused drivers: devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 » Show hidden drivers

Q1: Why doesn't Windows recognize my device even when it already has a proper driver? And how can I fix this

Q2: Can I somehow assure that those driver INF files showed in the Gif below are only for my portable device and save to remove? Or are those default Windows driver files?

_{Before and after driver uninstall & reinstall process}

Live demo

Edit #1 (after driver installation on second PC)

The description under device status is

Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware. (Code 37)

I plugged the portable device into a second PC where it never was plugged in before. It doesn't show the same behavior. A Microsoft driver was installed without issues and stays normal after a reboot. That was not the case when I installed the device on the first PC half a year ago. Something changed and Microsoft has now included his own driver version for this device.

Q3: How can I do a fresh driver install so the MS drivers will be used?
(Remember, no checkbox while uninstalling!)

enter image description here

These files seem to be important. Can I really delete them? Will Windows reinstall them if needed?

Edit #2 (after DriverMagician)

I used Drivermagician to backup the driver (uploaded at ge.tt) from the second PC where it is working.

After this I uninstalled the faulty driver on first PC and preventing automatic driver installation via gpedit.msc. Rebooted, still uninstalled, good.

Used normal device manager dialogs to install the driver using drivermagician backup. Installed successfully. Rebooted. Exclamation mark is back…ARGH

Best Answer

Q1: Why doesn't Windows recognize my device even when it already has a proper driver? And how can I fix this?

A Code 37 error basically means that the driver installed for the hardware device has failed in some way.

If you used phone with your PC before, try to rollback drivers. If you didn't or it doesn't help, update driver. Is there a driver from phone manufacturer(on CD, online)? These drivers are often better than Microsoft's. Run sfc /scannow in command prompt as administrator. It repairs system files. Deleteing the UpperFilters and LowerFilters registry values might also help.

Resource : How To Fix Code 37 Errors

EDIT:

You can stop this error(\Driver\WUDFRd failed to load) by changing the Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework service to Automatic. Type Services into the start search box Go down the list to Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework
Double click on it and change startup type to Automatic.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/the-driver-driverwudfrd-failed-to-load-for-the/d2cb045c-6070-45c7-897f-02cf2907a041