What Is Plug and Play?

Date First Published: 15th November 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

How Does Plug and Play Work?
Security Risks

Learn about what plug and play is in this article.

Plug and play (PnP) is a technology that allows peripheral devices to be configured and used without the need to manually install drivers or configure device settings. This means that they start working as soon as they are connected. Most expansion interfaces, including USB, HDMI, and DisplayPort support plug and play.

For example, when plugging a new keyboard into one of the computer's USB ports, the operating system automatically identifies which model keyboard it is and the manufacturer, and then installs the appropriate driver. The keyboard is ready to use within a few seconds.

Some peripheral devices, such as keyboards and mouses can be fully functional using plug and play. Others, such as sound cards and video cards require installing the included software of the product to complete the auto-configuration, which usually involves a few clicks to start the installation process and a wait for it to finish.

How Does Plug and Play Work?

The steps for plug and play include:

The operating system detects and identifies the device using an identification protocol.
The operating system locates and installs the appropriate device driver.
The operating system configures the new peripheral device by assigning the necessary hardware resources. Drivers do not assign resources. Instead, the requested resources for a device are identified when the device is connected.

Plug and play is a standard feature of most operating systems. It is the standard behaviour for connecting new devices to Windows, macOS, and Linux. Before plug and play was a standard feature, users had to manually set up peripheral devices and set up device drivers for each hardware component, which was time-consuming. This automated process allows users to connect devices to the USB port of their computers and use them within a few seconds.

Security Risks

Plug and play comes with some security risks. The greatest security risk is that malicious users can easily plug in a peripheral device, like a USB flash drive to infect a computer with viruses and malware since no manual configuration is required. This is the reason why computers in organisations often have the plug and play feature of USB ports disabled.