A user control point tool allows generic discovery, control, and display of Universal Plug and Play devices from a common user interface. This generic UCP tool provides a common user experience for all UPnP devices, regardless of their individual manufacturers. The generic UCP tool allows discovery of UPnP devices by type, by unique device name, or asynchronously. The user may select one of the discovered devices, view its properties, and select one of the services provided for that device to control. Additional information from a service description document may be viewed, and a user may query the value of the state variables and invoke an action for a service for the selected UPnP device. The results of the action are displayed on the tool's UI, as is the eventing information for the UPnP device. Status information for operation of the generic UCP tool itself is also provided.