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If Windows cannot recognize or format the USB drive properly, there may be a problem with the operating system or the USB drive. If the problem is in Windows, you can solve it by reinstalling the USB driver. If the problem is with the USB drive (and it’s not damaged), you can fix it with an advanced formatting process.
Steps
First way
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Plug the USB into the computer and open Disk Management. This Windows utility allows you to manage all connected drives. Even if the USB drive is not properly formatted, it will also appear in this utility.
- Press the Windows + R combination and type diskmgmt.msc to run the Disk Management utility.
- Find the USB in the list of connected drives. If your USB is listed here, it may not be formatted properly. Click for instructions to format the drive. If your USB is not showing up, read on for troubleshooting.
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Plug the drive into another USB port. Before continuing, the fastest way to identify the problem is to try plugging the drive into another USB port on your computer. You must plug it directly into the port on your computer, not the additional USB ports.
- If the drive works on another USB port, the first port is probably damaged. There is nothing you can do but replace the motherboard. In the short term, you need to avoid using this port in the near future.
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Plug the USB into another computer. If the drive still doesn’t show up when you plug it into another computer, the USB might be damaged. You need to buy a new USB drive.
- If the drive shows up when you plug it into another computer, there may be a problem with the driver on your computer. See the next section for how to troubleshoot driver problems.
Delete and reinstall the driver
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Press . Windows + R combination and type devmgmt.msc . Device Manager will open.
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Expand the “Disk drives” section. All connected drives will appear, including hard drives and USBs.
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Right click on the USB and select “Uninstall”. The USB drive will be erased from the system.
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Unplug the USB and plug it back in. Windows will try to automatically install the driver.
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Update the USB drive. If you see a yellow exclamation mark appear next to any device, it means the driver has a problem. If the yellow exclamation mark is next to the Universal Serial Bus controller, the USB drive driver is malfunctioning.
- Right-click the inactive device and select “Update Driver Software”. Follow the instructions to reinstall the driver. [1] X Research Source
Reformat the drive using Disk Management
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Press . Windows + R combination and type diskmgmt.msc . The Disk Management utility will open.
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Right click on the USB drive partition. You will see all the partitions of each drive in the bottom pane of the Disk Management window.
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Select “Format” from the menu. The Format tool will open.
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Select “FAT32” as the file system. This will allow most devices like Windows, OS X, Linux and most game consoles to read the USB drive.
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Uncheck “Perform a quick format”. Formatting will take longer, but Windows will be able to fix the error on the drive.
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Click . OK to start formatting. This may take a while, but if the format is successful, the drive should appear on Windows. If it still doesn’t work, try the next method.
- When reformatting, all data on the USB drive will be erased.
Reformat the drive using Command Prompt
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Open Command Prompt. You can open Command Prompt from the Start menu, or press Windows + R and type cmd .
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Type . diskpart and press Enter. You will be prompted for administrator rights. The prompt will change to DISKPART> .
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Type . list disk and press Enter. All connected drives will appear.
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Type . select disk # and press Enter. Replace # with the number corresponding to the USB drive.
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Type . clean and press Enter. The computer will check the drive for errors.
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Type . create partition primary and press Enter. This command will create a new partition on the drive.
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Type . active and press Enter. This command will set up the newly created partition as the active partition for the USB drive.
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Type . format fs=fat32 and then press Enter. The new partition will be formatted with the FAT32 file system, making the drive compatible with most devices and computers.
- Formatting will take a while.
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Type . exit and then press Enter. The DISKPART utility will close. [2] X Research Source
- If, after using the DISKPART utility, the USB still does not appear on Windows, or you get an error when trying to format it, it is likely that the drive has been damaged and is no longer usable.
X
wikiHow is a “wiki” site, which means that many of the articles here are written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some of whom are anonymous, have edited and improved the article over time.
This article has been viewed 4,584 times.
If Windows cannot recognize or format the USB drive properly, there may be a problem with the operating system or the USB drive. If the problem is in Windows, you can solve it by reinstalling the USB driver. If the problem is with the USB drive (and it’s not damaged), you can fix it with an advanced formatting process.
Thank you for reading this post How to Format a USB if Windows Can’t at Tnhelearning.edu.vn You can comment, see more related articles below and hope to help you with interesting information.
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