This paper deals with the observability of the discrete mode, the internal state and the input of switching structured linear systems with unknown input. The proposed method, based on a graph-theoretic approach, assumes only the knowledge of the system's structure. We express, in graphical terms, necessary and sufficient conditions for the generic observability of the discrete mode, the continuous internal state and the input of a switching structured linear system. These conditions can be implemented by classical graph theory algorithms based on finding particular paths and cycles in a digraph. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.