Ask Leo! by Leo A. Notenboom

How can I tell if I have USB 2.0?

Search First! Then browse: Categories | Full Archive | By Date | Newsletter

Home » Hardware

Summary: USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 is a significantly faster version of USB 1.1. Determining which you have is not at all obvious. But it is fairly easy.

I'm thinking of purchasing a USB device, but it requires USB 2.0. I can't find anywhere on my machine that tells me whether or not I have this. How can I tell if I have USB 2.0?

USB (for Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 is a significantly faster version of USB 1.1. Some devices can be quite speed intensive, and hence manufacturers are starting to require the faster connection. Most new machines come with USB 2.0 already built in. But what about an older machine? How do you tell?

It's easy, just not at all obvious.

The tidbit of information you're looking for is buried in the device manager:

  • Right-click My Computer
  • Click on Properties
  • Click on the Hardware tab
  • Click on the Device Manager button
  • Scroll down as needed until you see Universal Serial Bus Controllers
  • Expand that by clicking on the boxed plus sign in front of Universal Serial Bus Controllers

At this point you should see something like this:

"... on most machines the presence of 'Enhanced', even only once, means that all USB ports are USB 2.0 ports ..."

Note the highlighted line: "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller". While the exact text may vary, the key is the word "Enhanced".

If it's "Enhanced", it's USB 2.0. If it's not, then it's USB 1.x.

Now, wasn't that obvious?

Important: on most machines the presence of "Enhanced", even only once (which it typically is), means that all USB ports are USB 2.0 ports. Typically a machine will have only one type of port and this tells you which kind they all are.

The one exception to this scenario is a machine with USB 1.1 ports that has a USB 2.0 expansion card added. In this case I know of no way to tell which is which, other than simply knowing you added a USB 2.0 card to a machine with built-in 1.1 ports. Obviously in a case like this, the built-in ports are 1.1, and the added expansion card ports are 2.0.

Related:

Helpful? Get new articles weekly by email in my FREE newsletter!

Your Name:
Your Email:


Why Subscribe?

Article C2405 - August 17, 2005

Was this article helpful? «Yes» «No»

Recent Comments
68 Comments

I wish people wouldn't write articles when they are clueless. I have a machine that DOES NOT have an add-in card and yet has USB 1.1 and USB 2 ports and yes it does state enhanced. So you are wrong and it really annoys me when people make assumptions without checking their facts and then pass on inaccurate information to someone else who relies upon it as being correct.

Posted by: xanadu at November 18, 2009 5:02 PM

as per your instructions i check and it says enhanced pci to usb host controller, yet each time i connect a usb device to any port it says." this usb device can perform better..."
????!!!!!!!

Posted by: Vikas Jethani at December 11, 2009 1:17 AM

I have a Dell Latitude D620 laptop with both USB 1.1 and 2.0. The USB 2.0 is used internally for the bluetooth and the card reader, as well as two of the four external ports. The other 2 are 1.1. So I'd imagine the rarity of having mixes is less than the article indicates. Recommend you update your article as it would seem the standard has shifted. Still, thanks for initiating the discussion, I would not have been able to figure out my system as fast as I did without the article and comments.

Posted by: JoSCh at December 15, 2009 6:52 AM

I did everything you described. Nothing has changed. The computer is virus free, and all drivers are up to date.
So why are my USB 2.0 devices still running so slow?
I had to do a reformat, and since then, nothing has worked quite right except for very fast boot-up time.
I have driver detective, downloaded the drivers I need, but still this is a bummer.
I'm running windows xp service pack 2 home edition by the way. If you can help me out with my peripheral hard drives and such, that would be great.

Posted by: Darren at January 9, 2010 3:57 AM

I have same problam of data transferring speed i have standard enhanced pci to usb host controller. the data transferring rate is too slow any suggestion please

Posted by: Rehan at January 27, 2010 2:46 AM

Post a comment on "How can I tell if I have USB 2.0?":






(Email Address will not be published.)

Remember Me?

By popular demand...
my tip jar
Cuppa Joe
Buy Leo a Latte!

(you may use HTML tags for style)

RSS feed Subscribe to the RSS Feed specifically for comments on this article.

Before commenting, please...

  • Read the article at the top of this page. If your comment shows you didn't, it'll be deleted and ignored.

  • Comment only on this article. Use the Google search box at the top of the page if you have a question about something else.

  • Don't include personal information in the comment. No email addresses. No phone numbers. No physical addresses.

  • Don't spam. Excessive links to unrelated sites within a comment or across multiple comments will cause all such comments to be removed.

  • Don't ask me to recover lost passwords or hacked accounts. I can't, and those comments will be deleted.

  • I can't respond to every comment. And I can't vouch for the accuracy of others who do.

Please wait. Your comment is being processed ...


Question? Ask Leo!