Barcode scanners do not recharge in Windows 10 if set to IBM handheld / IBM TT / Opos

Issue / Question

Why my scanner is not turning on when set to IBM handheld / IBM TT / Opos and connected to Win10 host system

Symptoms : 

- 4 beep : Transmission error 

- Cradle has no light, or the light disappears in seconds

Applicable To

Barcode Scanners

Resolution / Answer

This issue may occur because of power management improvements that are introduced in Windows 8.1/10 . These improvements help reduce power consumption and extend the battery life of mobile computers. If the USB device presents itself as a Human Interface Device (HID) and there is no app accessing the device, Windows suspends the device.

With the new Microsoft driver installed, Windows seems to apply its "Enhanced Power Management" function to the device. This causes the scanner to go into low power mode and become inaccessible within a few seconds. To work around this, perform the following steps:
 

1. Connect the USB device to the computer.
2. In Control Panel, open the Device Manager item. To do this, swipe in from the right to open the charms, tap or click Search, and then type device manager in the search box. Or, type device manager at the Start screen, and then tap or click Device Manager in the search results.
3. To display the list of connected HIDs, tap or click the arrow next to Human Interface Devices.
   
   Note The device may be listed by name or generically as "USB Input Device."
4. In the device list, right-click or press and hold the entry for the device that is not charging, and then click Properties.
   
   Note If this entry is labeled as "USB Input Device" instead of the device name, and if there are multiple "USB Input Device entries, follow these steps to determine which entry is the correct one:
   1. Disconnect the problem device from the computer.
   2. Right-click each USB Input Device entry, and then click Properties to view the device description and details. Note each connected device.
   3. Reconnect the problem device.
   4. Examine each USB Input Device entry again to determine which one is new and, therefore, represents the problem device.

5. In the Properties dialog box for the problem device, tap or click the Details tab.
6. In the list under Property, select Device Instance Path, and then note the ID information. For example, note the following:

USB\VID_1234&PID_5678\0A1B2C3D
Note This line is a combination of the following ID numbers:
 

• Vendor ID (VID)
• Product ID (PID)
• Instance ID

6. Start Registry Editor. To do this, swipe in from the right to open the charms, tap or click Search, type regedit.exe in the search box. Or, type regedit.exe at the Start screen, and tap or click regedit in the search results.
7. In the navigation pane, find the registry key that corresponds to the problem device. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Tap or click the arrow next to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder to expand it.
   2. Expand SYSTEM.
   3. Expand CurrentControlSet.
   4. Expand Enum.
   5. Expand USB.
   6. Locate the folder whose name contains the VID and PID that you noted in step 6 (for example, locate VID_1234&PID_5678), and then expand that folder.
   7. Expand the folder that matches the Instance ID from step 6.
   8. Tap or click Device Parameters.

9. In the details pane, right-click or press and hold EnhancedPowerManagementEnabled, and then click Modify.
10. Change the Value data to 0, and then tap or click OK.
11. Exit Registry Editor.

The problem device should now recharge correctly.

The procedure for disabling enhanced power management is taken from the following Microsoft article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2900614
Unplug the barcode scanner and plug it back in. It should now stay enabled. With this workaround, the barcode scanner works correctly