2155

I've inherited an old PC from my girlfriend's dad and when setting up the printer I got a bit of a surprise:

Toaster keyboard

Two questions spring to mind here:

  1. Why does Windows think my wireless keyboard is a toaster?
  2. Why does Windows even have an icon for a toaster in the devices menu?
ydaetskcoR
  • 11,893

3 Answers3

2129

Reason 1

Because Microsoft made a toaster driver sample. In the sample there is the line <DeviceIconFile>Toaster.ico</DeviceIconFile> and there is a chance that your keyboard manufacturer took that sample.

Reason 2

Look at the back of the keyboard for some place to insert a slice of bread…

Amazon Dies In Darkness
  • 9,990
Kenneth L
  • 14,104
238

As for "why specifically a toaster", "Toaster" is an old catch-all name for "any arbitrary device." For example, you can find "SCSI toaster" alongside "SCSI disk", "SCSI tape", and even "SCSI scanner" (yes, scanners used to be on SCSI) in some very old Microsoft slides depicting the storage stack.

Amazon Dies In Darkness
  • 9,990
Jamie Hanrahan
  • 24,326
2

Windows recognizes device type by what the device says it is which in the majority of cases can be overwritten...

If you have plugged in an actual thumb drive (confirmed by observation) it could be because there is malware/virus on that device.

This is a technique used by impostor software to for example show up as a keyboard so windows will trust it automatically yet act as a key-logger...

Never had experience with a 'smart' toaster so it depends, did windows trust it (install and allow its usage) without any consent?

Note: this scenario is unlikely, but note it ;)

BAR
  • 429