Win32 determining when keyboard is connected/disconnected

Question

I am trying to determine when my keyboard is connected or disconnected. I have tried the following strategies:

RegisterDeviceNotification

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Answer 1

Have you considered GetRawInputDeviceList() and GetRawInputDeviceInfo(), using RID_DEVICE_INFO for pData and checking it's dwType?

That will get you the initial state, then if your wndProc handles WM_INPUT_DEVICE_CHANGE you can use the params to detect add/remove, and the lParam can be sent straigth to GetRawInputDeviceInfo().

Per comments: The WM_INPUT_DEVICE_CHANGE will only arrive for apps that have called RegisterRawInputDevices() and specifically asked for this notification.