Thread: How to know which files my Garmin device supports and which files I need to update.

How to know which files my Garmin device supports, which files I need to update and where to put them.

At every new release of an Asian map (and others), we have a bunch of posts like: "Which files for my nuvi xxx?
As we repeated the following many times and sometimes we don't have your devices and we don't have a crystal ball, here it is how to know it immediately without asking on forum.

Attach your GPS to comuter via usb.
Open Garmin folder.
Locate GarminDevice.xml and open it with any internet browser.

You will see that the .xml file contains all the names, extensions, internal memory paths, sd paths etc. of every supported files in your devices.
Pressing F3 or Ctrl + F keys on the keyboard brings up a search box and you can then look for 'IMG', 'JCV', 'VPM' or lesser used files to see if the file type is supported and if so its correct path both for internal memory and sd card too.
Here's a screen of the first part of a GarminDevice.xml from a NA purchased nuvi 3597 for example, but a full file is much longer:

Spoiler: Click to Show

Additionally, looking at your device's currently loaded files can also help to quickly identify which new files are required to match an updated map version and verify the proper placement. Continuing with JCV for example, look for both the present location and similar naming of an existing file, [eg: D1234x0A.jcv where x is a changed digit], and the pixel picture-size of a file from a previous update to match with that currently available (e.g. 480 x 270, 212 x 234).