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Cyauthian's avatar
Cyauthian
Iron Contributor
Jun 26, 2025

SD card not showing up in file explorer for windows 11

Bought a new 128GB sd card from Amazon. Surprisingly, the SD card is not showing up in Windows 11 file explorer. My laptop comes with sd card slot and I tried to connect the sd card a couple of of ti...
device management
Nguyenais's avatar
Nguyenais
Bronze Contributor
Jun 26, 2025

This is a common issue. When the SD card is not showing up in file explorer in Windows 11/10, outdated or corrupted drivers may be the issue. Here’s how to update or reinstall drivers properly.

Step 1: Press Win + X and select Device Manager.

Step 2: Expand Disk drives. Look for your SD card (may appear as a generic name like "USB Drive" or the brand name).

Also check under:

  1. Universal Serial Bus (USB) controllers (for USB card readers).
  2. SD Host Adapters (for built-in readers).

Step 3: Update the Driver

  1. Right-click the device → Update driver.
  2. Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software".

Step 4: If Windows finds updates, install them and restart.

Note: If no updates are found, go and visit the manufacturer’s website (e.g., Realtek, Ricoh, or laptop brand) and download the latest driver manually.

 

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