The issue is you don't have the necessary files SDR# needs to talk to the RTL stick - that's got nothing to do with the Zadig drivers which are what allows Windows to see and utilize the RTL stick directly. Hardware requires drivers to make the hardware functional, the software (SDR#) requires dll files to access and utilize the device interface, so no they're not the same things. Here's how to get the necessary RTLSDR dll files installed.
When you got the SDR# archive (the sdrsharp-x86.zip file from Airspy's website) and extracted it, inside that folder where you extracted it you'll find a file called install-rtlsdr.bat which is a batch file. If you execute that batch file it will download the necessary RTL-SDR dll files to make SDR# work with your RTL sticks but it also downloads zadig.exe and places it in that same folder. You can execute that file to install the necessary drivers at that point.
The proper and recommended way to execute an actual batch file is to open a Command Prompt and here's the easy peasy way to do it with Windows:
Use Explorer to navigate to the folder where SDR# is extracted and once you're there, hold the Shift key and right click someplace in the folder view that shows the contents of that folder - you'll see an option on the dialogue menu that appears that says "Open command window here" and choose that. Voila, instant Command Prompt. Type inst (the first four letters), hit Tab which completes the filename, then hit Enter and you're good to go.
If you run the batch file and it disappears almost instantly then something is pooched someplace. I just did a clean fresh "install" of SDR# 1430 this morning for a tutorial and when I opened the Command Prompt and executed it the process took roughly 25 seconds (I'm on a crappy somewhat unreliable wireless connection presently limited to about 3-4 Mbps):
This should get you up and running. If necessary, start fresh and clean following those steps: download SDR#, extract, install the Zadig drivers if necessary or uninstall the current ones first then install the ones that the batch file downloads - they should be the same), run the batch file, then run SDR# to make sure it's working and it sees the RTL stick in the Source drop down menu.
Good luck...
EDIT:
Based on your output above I'd suspect the Zadig drivers are
not installed correctly because rtl_test can't access the stick so, everything I said above is still applicable overall but you need to get those drivers installed correctly. If rtl_test can't see the stick (the -t option isn't really necessary) then you're never going to make use of the stick because Windows itself can't see and access it (the HAL or hardware abstraction layer is responsible for allowing Windows to utilize connected hardware and then allow software to do so as well).
Also realize the reason we say "Zadig drivers" aka plural is because each RTL stick technically requires two drivers: one is for the actual RTL stick control purposes, the second is for the IR (infrared) controller on each of these sticks. While it's not necessary to make use of the IR portion, the driver does still need to be installed or else Windows can kinda "choke" on accessing the device sometimes. Having the latest drivers for all hardware is also a requirement for the ACPI power management subsystem in Windows to function properly - if you're on a laptop with battery power not having the proper and latest drivers for all hardware can cause serious problems with excess battery usage.
Anyway, when the drivers are installed and with the Zadig installer still open, click the Options menu button, select List All Devices, then use the drop down menu to confirm the Bulk interfaces all have the WinUSB driver installed as shown:
EDIT 2:
After reading another post just a moment ago from someone having trouble getting the Zadig drivers installed and working properly I realized this one other issue that might be causing a problem so I'll repost that paragraph here just in case:
Also realize that if you have Windows Update set to automatically download and install updates there's a good chance that it's overwriting the Zadig drivers with the one for RTL2832U devices from Windows Update which obviously doesn't work properly for SDR use. If that's the case you have to get rid of that driver too and in the future you have to make sure that update is hidden and avoided for these purposes. I've seen that happen a lot with people using the "cheap USB TV tuners" aka RTL sticks as they're getting started using them with SDR software. It sucks that Windows Update tries to push those other drivers on you but the only thing you can do about it is catch that update when it appears (by checking out every update before installation) and hide the update for future purposes, then make sure the Zadig drivers are installed correctly once more - that's IF this is what's happening.
It might help, it might not, but I recommend people use Windows Update set for "Check for updates but don't install them" so you're notified when something is available but it won't automatically install which could wreck things with the Zadig drivers completely.
