App to View USB in Trees on Windows

by Rian

I’m still in the process of rewiring a standing desk, and it’s giving me enough nightmares on the Windows side of the business. On macOS, there is a similar tool already included inside the System Information. The app prints the tree hierarchy of USB devices to troubleshoot where the bottleneck is. It is paramount to understand where it could be, otherwise it is simply impossible to find which adapter, which cable, or which hub is the faulty one.

USB Device Tree Viewer is a freely available tool that just about does what macOS System Information does. For most of my use cases, I use it to identify which port is using what USB protocol at what bandwidth. It is also capable of control device’s driver and miscellaneous Device Manager settings directly.

Currently, the problem I am having has to do with the handshakes between the Windows PC and the Thunderbolt Hub taking USB-C input. It is within the specification, — connecting to a PC via USB — but it fails to connect any devices that are 3.0 or higher. I will do a proper write up on the issue for documentation purposes once I finish rewiring, but no doubt this will be a common nightmare for many USB-C users, who are struggling to find the “right” USB-C, and standing desk users, who are struggling to find the “right” cable at 3 meters (10 ft) or longer.