How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized Error in Windows 10/11

How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized Error in Windows 10/11

Have you ever encountered a situation where you plug in a USB device to your Windows 10 computer and it shows an error message “USB Device Not Recognized“?

This message can be frustrating, especially when you require the USB device for important data. The error can occur for several reasons, such as outdated drivers, malfunctioning USB controllers, corrupted drivers, or virus infections. When these problems appear, your USB data may be in danger. Therefore, in this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive workaround to fix the USB device not recognized error in Windows 10 and a reliable data recovery tool. We will also discuss advanced troubleshooting techniques and prevention tips to avoid future issues.

Possible Reasons for a USB Flash Drive Not Being Recognized

A USB device may become unrecognizable if any of the situations below exist:

• 🔌Connection Errors: There can be physical damage to the USB drive, port, or cable.
• 🔩USB Drive Errors: Your USB flash drive is damaged, virus-infected, incorrectly formatted, RAW, or has drive letter issues.
• 🔖USB Driver Errors: The currently loaded USB driver is unstable, corrupt, malfunctioning, or outdated.
• 💻PC Errors: Your computer needs to be updated for problems that may conflict with a USB external hard drive. Or Windows may need to be updated for hardware or software issues.

To identify which error has occurred and the USB drive’s specific state, you need to examine the flash drive’s details using the Disk Management utility in Windows. After that, you can take the corresponding measures on how to fix USB device not recognized error below to access your valuable files.

🔍How to Check USB Flash Drive States via Disk Management?

1. Right-click on Start and select Disk Management.

2. You will see your USB drive in the following states:

• Your USB drive is not showing up.
• The USB drive appears to be RAW.
• The USB drive is unallocated.
• Your USB device shows no drive letter.

How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized Error in Windows 10/11

Now, apply the corresponding methods below to fix the problem.

1️⃣Solution 1. Check the Connection

📢Applies to: USB drive is not showing up.

When a USB drive is not showing up in Disk Management, the most direct way to fix the problem is to check if there is any physical damage to the USB flash drive, port, or cable. If so, send the USB drive to a professional data recovery center or change a USB port or cable and reconnect it.

2️⃣Solution 2. Recover Data and Format the USB Drive

📢Applies to: USB becomes RAW, logically damaged, virus-infected, incorrectly formatted.

When your USB drive becomes RAW or logically damaged, you can format the USB drive to fix unknown errors. However, as you know, formatting a drive will erase all existing data on it. If the data on the unrecognizable USB flash drive is of vital importance, you need to recover data from the drive in advance of the formatting process.

To recover data from this kind of pen drive, we recommend WorkinTool Data Recovery Software. It applies machine learning and AI technology to scan and recover various types of data efficiently. Packing with the following features, WorkinTool Data Recovery Software stands out from most products of the same kind.

• Recover data from RAW, logically damaged, virus or malware-infected, incorrectly formatted drives.
• Powered by AI machine learning and scanning algorithms, it can get back deleted, formatted, and corrupted data without pressure.
• Suitable for 500+ types of files and any storage media, like internal drives, external hard drives, USB devices, memory cards, cameras, etc.
• Recover files from BitLocker encrypted disk volumes.
• Preview detected videos, pictures, and documents without obstacles.
• Easily accessible for its unlimited scan, 500MB of free recovery capacity, and cost-effective plans.

📝Step 1. How to Recover Data from USB Flash Drive that is Not Recognized

1. Make sure your USB device is correctly connected to a Windows computer. Launch WorkinTool Data Recovery Software, find your USB drive, and click on it to launch a scan.

2. Select Quick Recovery to launch a quick scan and wait for seconds (You can relaunch a deep scan if the files you need haven’t shown up in the result list).

3. Quickly locate the files you need by the navigation pane and the filter features. Then tick them, hit Recover, and save the to-be-recovered files to a NEW drive.

📝Step 2. How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized Error by Formatting

1. Right-click on Start and select Disk Management.

2. Right-click on your pen drive and select Format.

3. Select NTFS as the file system, tick Perform a quick format, and then press OK to start formatting.

3️⃣Solution 3. Create a New Volume

📢Applies to: USB drive shows unallocated.

If Disk Management shows your USB drive is not allocated, you need to create a new volume to fix this. See how to fix USB device not recognized error by creating a new volume.

📝How to Fix a USB Flash Drive that Is Not Recognized in Windows 10/11 by Creating a New Volume

1. Right-click on Start and select Disk Management.

2. Right-click the unallocated space and click New Simple Volume.

3. Follow the wizard to create a new volume.

4️⃣Solution 4. Assign a Drive Letter

📢Applies to: USB shows no drive letter.

If another drive uses the letter that is assigned to your USB drive on the computer, or the drive letter is missing, the pen drive not detected error will also appear. You need to assign a new letter to the drive to fix the problem.

📝How to Assign a Drive Letter to Fix USB Drive Not Recognized Error

If another drive already occupies the drive letter which should be for the USB drive on the computer (or the letter on the USB is missing), you need to assign a new drive letter to the USB drive.

1. In Disk Management, right-click your USB drive volume and press Change Drive Letter and Paths.

2. Click Change to assign a new drive letter and press OK to save the changes.

How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized Error on Windows- More Solutions

In addition to the above solutions, you can also refer to the solutions for USB Device Not Recognized errors from Microsoft. For example, you can:

• Uninstall and reconnect the USB drive when the currently loaded USB driver is unstable, corrupt, or malfunctioning.
• Install the latest Windows updates if the currently loaded USB driver is outdated.
• Install the motherboard’s latest chipset drivers when your computer may conflict with a USB external hard drive or there are hardware or software issues.

Prevention Tips to Avoid ‘USB Device Not Recognized’ Error

• Carefully use your USB drives and protect the drive, port, and cable from being damaged.
• Protect your USB drives from exposure to extreme temperatures or moisture.
• Use data recovery software to retrieve lost or damaged data before you apply any solution to fix the USB drive not recognized error in Windows.
• Always safely eject the USB drive before unplugging it.
• Regularly check and update device drivers and Windows updates.

Conclusion

Various situations may cause a USB device becomes unrecognizable, like USB drive errors, driver issues, system updates, and connection errors. How to fix USB device not recognized error in Windows 10/11? In conclusion, you can fix the error using the four detailed solutions in this post and other solutions provided by Microsoft. It is frustrating that a USB device not recognized prompt keeps popping up on your computer. And things become more devastating if critical files are on the flash drive. Now follow the step-by-step fixing tutorials and the prevention tips to avoid future issues.

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