Modem Not Detected in Windows 2000

Your keyboard or other devices may stop working, and you may experience other unexpected results such as loss of display color depth and resolution. A Plug and Play modem is not automatically detected. When you try to install the modem manually, Setup gets stuck in an endless loop and the Hardware Installation Wizard becomes unresponsive. Debugger output continuously prints: "PNP_EnumerateSubKeys caused an exception (1717)." The only way to stop this is to reboot.

This behavior can occur if the Plug and Play service is disabled. The Plug and Play service is required to install and manage devices and drivers in Windows 2000.

To resolve this behavior, use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) tool to start the Plug and Play service, and then install the modem. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools.
3. Double-click Computer Management.
4. Double-click the System Tools branch to expand it, and then click Services.
5. Click "Plug and Play", click Action, and then click Start.
6. Quit the MMC tool, and then use the "Phone and Modem Options" tool in Control Panel to set up your modem.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Plug and Play is a combination of hardware and software support that enables a computer to recognize and adapt to hardware configuration changes with little or no user intervention. With Plug and Play, you can add or remove devices dynamically without having to manually configure them, and without needing an intricate knowledge of computer hardware. The Plug and Play service is a required system service and must be enabled to install and manage devices and drivers.