After a recent update, Apple products like MagSafe wireless charger and Airpods are no longer charging when connected to a Windows laptop’s USB C Port. However, this can be resolved by disabling a HID device in device manager and charging will start working again.
Disable HID device in Device manager
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Open Devices and Printers in control panel (For Windows 11, open Settings, under Bluetooth & devices click “View more devices” and then scroll down and click “More devices and printers”)
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Right click Apple MagSafe Charger(Or Airpod) and open properties
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Go to Hardware tab
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Select HID-compatible-vendor-defined device (1st one worked for me)
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Click Properties
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Click Change settings (if applicable)
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Go to Driver tab and Disable the device.
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Unplug and re-plug the MagSafe/Airpod
MagSafe charger and AirPods should start charging again now.
Background
Apple MagSafe did work with windows before Microsoft broke it sometime in late 2021. After the update, even completely reinstalling the OS won’t fix this issue. Only option is to use the workaround.
Interestingly this issue affects only older laptop and in my case it was a Dell with 7th gen Intel i5. I got a new laptop recently with Windows 11 and Apple MagSafe is working without the workaround even though it still gives error “USB device not recognized”. So this issue is specific to a model or older generation USB controllers. Many users have posted about this in Microsoft forums and reddit, but Microsoft is yet to fix this even after 1.5 years.
The idea behind the workaround is the Apple devices need only power from the laptop and doesn’t need the drivers to be working. For some reason Windows is disabling power delivery to the device. This was apparent when the charging was working during computer boot time and gets cut off as soon as login screen appears. So the idea of workaround was to stop Windows from find out about the device by disabling it. Now windows don’t see the device and power delivery continues.
I’m on Windows 11 and need to click “Other Devices” in Control Panel \ Devices & Printers \ Bluetooth & Devices” on order to see “Airpod Case.” However, no amount of clicking on that icon with either mouse button yields a contextual menu. My only option is to click the “elipsis” to the far right of the “Airpod Case” icon, and then my only choice is “Remove Device.” I’ve also tried looking for the Airpod Case in Device Manager, but can’t find it. Am I screwed by Windows 11? Thanks for any help!
For me this has not happened on Windows 11. The tricky part in Windows 11 is the option to view the devices the traditional way is kind of hidden. In Settings, under Bluetooth & devices click “View more devices” and then scroll down and click “More devices and printers”.
Hah! That let me see the “AirPod Case” and disable the driver. Followed the instructions and now the iPhone status pop-up that appears when you open the case next to the phone shows the case as charging! No orange light on the case, I will check back in in a bit to let you know if the charge level is increasing. Regardless, thanks for the super-fast reply, much appreciated!
Glad to hear that.
Just some additional info. I experienced this issue last year on my old Dell laptop and found this work around. This started happening when Microsoft released some update for Windows 10 in late 2021 which broke the charging for apple magsafe/airpods. It was working perfectly fine before. Reinstalling the OS also didn’t fix it. But the workaround worked.
I got a new laptop last year with Windows 11 and my magsafe worked(even though I get popup for unrecognized device). So I thought Microsoft fixed it. Seems they haven’t. But it is interesting this issue doesn’t affect newer devices.
Solved! Case is charging! Thanks very much!
thank you so so much dealing with this for weeks
This works, as you said. My system showed AirPod Case instead of MagSafe. Thanks for sharing; I knew they were doing this on purpose. I love hacking their hack. LOL
Cool. Thanks for the comment.
This absolutely worked! Thank you! Been wracking my brain for weeks as to why it was not charging!
Hey man, sending a big thank you for your instructions! I can charge my iphone on my computer now!
Glad to hear it.