Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual

Hardware profiles are canned sets of settings for particular equipment configurations. By switching from one profile to another, you can quickly inform your computer that you've got a different assortment of gear connected ”a feature that, as you can probably tell, is primarily useful for laptop owners .

If your laptop has a bay that can hold either a CD-ROM drive or a floppy drive, for example, you might create two hardware profiles, one for each of the drives . Or maybe you connect your laptop to a docking station at work; in that case, you could create one hardware profile for the equipment available on the docking station (including a monitor), and another hardware profile for use when you're undocked.

To create a hardware profile, open the System Properties dialog box (see Section 9.23). Then click the Hardware tab, and click the Hardware Profiles button (see Figure 14-9).

The quickest way to create a new profile is to duplicate an existing one, and then make changes to it. Proceed like this:

1. Click the name of an existing profile, click the Copy button, name the new profile, and then click OK.

   The new profile appears in the list shown in Figure 14-9.

2. Click to select the new profile, and then click OK.

   You return to the Hardware tab.

3. Click the Device Manager button.

   The Device Manager displays a list of all the various hardware gadgets you've installed into, or attached to, this machine.

4. Click the + symbol, and then the name of the component you want to turn on or off in this profile.

   The Disable button on the Device Manager toolbar becomes available.

5. Click the Disable button on the toolbar (see Figure 14-6). Click Yes when you're asked to confirm.

   After the Device Manager list collapses and expands, updating itself, you'll see a little red X on the icon of the component you've turned off. (That's what you'll see, that is, if the computer doesn't tell you that it first needs to be restarted.)

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for any other devices you'd like to enable or disable for this profile, and then click OK.

Hereafter, whenever you start your computer, you'll see, on a black, DOS-like screen, a list of the hardware profiles you've created. Only after you've selected one, following the instructions in Figure 14-10, does Windows XP finish its startup process.