By Michael | Last Updated
As USB flash drive is very convenient in data storage, it is becoming one of the indispensable office tools. However, it occasionally has some minor problems：for example, the computer does not recognize the USB flash drive after you insert it.Don't worry, In this post, I'll guide you on how to fix unrecognized USB flash drive on computer.
Reason 1: USB flash drive or computer motherboard USB interface has been damaged, if the USB flash drive has been physically damaged, replacing the USB flash drive is the best way; if the computer motherboard USB interface has been damaged that you need to repair the motherboard.
Reason 2: Software/hardware drivers and windows OS are not updated, etc. Now, this article will introduce how to fix the USB flash drive that cannot be recognized due to these reasons.
The computer does not recognize the USB drive after inserting it, the first judgment is the U disk driver problems, so you can try to uninstall the USB device.
Step 1: Open the "Computer system Management" Control Panel and enter the "Device manager" command in the search bar.
Step 2: After opening the "Device Management" , select "Universal Serial Bus Controller" and then click on "USB Mass Storage Device".
Step 3: Click "Driver" to select "Uninstall Device" tab, and click "OK" to confirm.
Step 4:Unplug and reinsert the USB drive and observe if your USB drive is recognized by your computer.
After uninstalling the USB drive, your computer still can't recognize the USB drive, then consider whether your USB drive is disabled.
Step 1: After opening "USB Mass Storage Device", if you see that the driver is "Disabled" , then click it to "Enable".
If the USB drive is already enabled, the reason you need to consider is that the USB disk driver is not updated.
Step 2: In the "Driver" option, click "Update Driver" and then re-insert the USB drive to see if it can be successfully recognized by the computer.
If after trying the above two methods, the problem is still not solved. You can try to "change the drive letter and path of the USB drive", which can solve most of the problems that the USB drive cannot be recognized.
Step 1: Open the "Computer system Management" window and enter the "Disk Management" command in the search bar, you will be able to see the storage devices listed in "Disk Management" and find the unrecognized USB flash drive device.
Step 2: Right-click and select "Change the drive letter and paths", add-check "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder", and select the new unoccupied storage path, after you have done these,click "OK", the computer will re-identify the USB drive and install the relevant drivers.
If the above methods failed to resolve the issue, windows OS that lack security and quality updates and have system vulnerabilities may have problems with USB drives not being recognized.
The way to check if your windows operating system needs to be updated is simple: open the system control panel, click "windows update" to check for updates, follow the system instructions to update and boot accordingly. After you have done everything, retest your USB drive to make sure it is recognized.
Note: Although most cases of flash drive not being recognized by computer can be repaired, if the problem is caused by malicious virus or software attack, even the USB drive is repaired, there is a possibility of file loss and incomplete data.
How to reduce the probability of attack on USB flash drive and secure files on a USB drive ? The best way is encrypt, lock important files by USB flash drive encryption software. By further restricting the read and write access to your USB flash drive, you can securely and quickly protect USB flash drive.
Related articles ：Why and How to Encrypt USB Flash Drive？
Conclusion:
These are some of the ways to deal with the situation based on most USB drives not being recognized, but as you may have noticed, one of the most effective ways to secure your USB drive is encrypt it.If you need to know more about How to secure files on a USB drive , click here.
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