What is "plug and play"

n. (context computing English) A feature that facilitates the discovery of a hardware component automatically, without the need for manual installation and configuration.

In computing, a plug and play device or computer bus, is one with a specification that facilitates the discovery of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving resource conflicts.

Plug and play devices can be due to boot-time assignment of device resources and to hotplug systems such as USB and IEEE 1394 (FireWire).