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Timothy310's avatar
Timothy310
Iron Contributor
Jan 02, 2025

USB drive not visible in file explorer

I have a new laptop which runs on windows 11, when I put a USB stick in, it makes the usual "ding" but it does nothing and is not visible in file explorer.  I have done a bit of googling and as a res...
device management
MaverickNexus's avatar
MaverickNexus
Iron Contributor
Jan 02, 2025

If your USB stick appears in Disk Management but you can't assign a drive letter:

  1. Check for Read-Only Status:
    Open Command Prompt (Admin) and run:
  2. bashdiskpart list disk select disk X (replace X with your USB disk number) attributes disk clear readonly
  3. Format the Drive:
    In Disk Management, right-click the USB stick and select Format (if the data is not needed).
  4. Update USB Drivers:
    Go to Device Manager, find the USB under Disk Drives, right-click, and select Update Driver.

If none of these work, the USB stick might be corrupted. Test it on another device to confirm.

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