How to reset my Windows 7 USB driver after mouse/keyboard no longer working?

Question

I've gotten myself into a bit of a quandary. I have a Windows 7 x64 computer with USB 3.0 ports. I installed some specialized camera driver software (Point Grey's FlyCapture 2) for use with a high-end USB 3.0 camera.

During installation, there was a option to install a new USB 3.0 driver, with a warning that non-Point Grey devices would no longer work. I (stupidly) ignored this, as I thought my keyboard/mouse were on a different (i.e. non-USB 3.0) interface.

I was wrong. Now when I load Windows, I get to the user log in screen and neither keyboard nor mouse works. (Interestingly, if I turn off my computer without letting Windows shut down properly, I get the text screen asking whether to boot Windows normally or in safe mode -- and in this screen my keyboard works, allowing me to choose which option with the up/down/enter keys.)

So my question is: how do I restore the default USB drivers to get my keyboard/mouse working again?

Solution

Here's how I fixed this:

1. Went to my computer's BIOS setup
2. Disabled the USB 3.0 ports
3. Plugged the mouse/keyboard into the USB 2.0 ports
4. At this point, Windows started normally
5. Opened a command prompt and used rstrui.exe to restore Windows to the state before I installed the new USB 3.0 driver
6. Re-enabled the USB 3.0 ports in the BIOS setup

Comments

[Admin]

No modern PC just has USB 3.0 ports- there SHOULD be USB 2.0 ports either on the rear or in the front panel

[Admin]

So have you tried Safe Mode? If they work there you can uninstall the new driver.

[Admin]

@Karan - yep, tried Safe Mode, with the same problem: mouse/keyboard not responding.

[Admin]

@JourneymanGeek - yeah, that's what I was thinking -- that my mouse/keyboard (via a Logitech wireless dongle) was connected to the USB 2.0 port, not the USB 3.0 port. Alas, not so. I tried with the dongle -- and other, normal wired mice -- on the USB 2.0 port, with the same non-responsive behavior.

[Admin]

Are you able to access the boot options and/or BIOS?

[Admin]

@HodofHod - yes, I did poke around there, and even reset BIOS settings to default, with no effect. Are you thinking I should boot from a recovery disk?

[Admin]

@Ghopper21 I'm thinking if "Last known good configuration" didn't work, you should boot from either a recovery disk/partition (if you have one) or boot a tool that allows you access to a command line. Then you can manually restore your driver files and/or edit the registry.

[Admin]

@HodofHod - thanks, I'll try that. (Now if only I'd created a recovery disk...)

[Admin]

@HodofHod - you mention a boot tool that allows me to access a command line. Can you point me in the right direction for that?