Why can not I see the USB flash drive of Windows 7, what should I do?

The reasons for the fact that the operating system does not respond to the connection of the USB drive is most often the imperfection of Windows. If the flash drive is not visible in the operating system, Windows 7 probably works with errors. It is not difficult to eliminate such a problem, you just need to perform the necessary system setup.

However, often in the reasons that the flash drive is not visible, Windows 7 is not at all to blame, and the problem lies precisely in the hardware. For example, the USB storage device itself or the port into which it is connected is broken. In the event of a broken flash drive, you can try to restore data from it, but for a full-fledged work you will have to purchase a new device.

A short list of possible problems

When the computer does not see the USB stick, it usually signals this with the following messages:

• "Insert Disk" when the drive is already connected to the USB slot.
• "The disk is not formatted."
• CRC data error.
• The computer completely freezes when you connect the flash drive.
• Does not react, as if the device was not connected.
• The message "The device is not working properly" in the tray.

Hardware Problems

The easiest way, with which you can understand if a flash drive is broken, or a problem in the software part, is to look at its indicator. Almost on any similar device there is an LED (light bulb) that lights up or blinks when the power is connected. If it lights up when connected, it is possible to say with a high probability that everything is fine with the USB flash drive, and the cause of the abnormal behavior is the OS failure.

If Windows does not see the USB flash drive, but the indicator light does not show any signs of life, first try changing the connection socket and see if the problem disappears. If you turn on the USB flash drive in one of the USB-sockets, the system hangs tightly, but other ports with it work fine, most likely, the socket is malfunctioning.

If the drive is connected using a USB extension cable, try connecting the USB flash drive directly. With the normal functioning of the flash drive after switching it, we can state that the problem is the extension cable.

All USB ports are brushed, but OS still does not see the USB flash drive? What to do in this case? Try to disconnect from the computer all other USB-devices (HDD, printer, webcam, phone and others). If after this procedure the system sees the connected USB flash drive and reads the files on it, then the problem is in undernourishment. And this is usually due to the low power of the PSU. You must either use a USB extension cable with a separate power source, or replace the PSU.

A common situation is when when the devices are connected to the ports on the front panel of the PC the system does not react at all, and when switching to other jacks everything works fine. Most likely, the front panel is simply not connected to the motherboard.

Viruses on the flash drive

It happens that the Windows flash drive sees, but does not open, while on the monitor screen a window appears with the inscription "Access denied". This state of things suggests that the flash drive is a virus, and the anti-virus screen does not allow it to start. Or, there is an autoload file among the files, but the antivirus takes too much care of the state of the computer.

Right-click on the drive icon and select "Explorer" (or "Open in a new window") or use third-party file managers, for example, Far. At the same time, after displaying the files, immediately delete the file autorun.inf, which will be in the root.

Autorun.inf

It is necessary to explain that the file autorun.inf is not a malicious program, and if it is deleted, does not mean that the files on the flash drive are not infected. Autorun.inf is used on Windows systems to automatically download programs when a drive is connected, for example, it can be found on licensed CDs, but today this same launch system is also used by malicious software. Just in case, check the flash drive with Cureit or any other antivirus software.

If the "Access is denied" window is displayed when you open the USB flash drive, do not try to open the drive by disabling the anti-virus software: the files will be seen, but the computer will also be infected.

BIOS Setup

Sometimes the PC does not see a bootable USB flash drive, and in general the OS refuses to recognize the devices connected to the USB slot. In this case it makes sense to check BIOS settings: if support is not disabled in them. A similar problem is considered very rare, because in the latest BIOS versions, USB 2.0 ports are enabled by default.

To enter the BIOS settings, you must first restart the computer. At the very first stage of its activation, you need to press the "Del" or "F12" key (depends on the specific implementation, watch the messages on the screen). After entering the settings panel, find the item Peripherals (or Advanced). There will be a line responsible for USB, it can also have different names, but the main thing is that it must contain the word "USB" (Onboard USB, USB Controller, USB Device). To enable the USB controller, switch the parameter from Disabled to Enabled.

To save BIOS settings after the exit, you usually need to press F10 or select "Exit & Save". After that, the PC will automatically reboot.

Continued Diagnosis

USB support in the BIOS is enabled, but the OS still does not see the USB flash drive. What to do in this case, most fully describes the user's guide Windows, located on the official website of Microsoft.

Go to Device Manager by right-clicking on the computer icon, and then selecting "Properties." Check the "Disk devices" group. If the device is not here, the memory controller probably blown. If you do not see the flash drive on other devices, it's likely that you will not be able to use it in the future, and restore the data too.

If the operating system of the task manager is seen in the disk device group of the task manager, but does not open it in the usual way, it is likely that the drive has file system problems, or the file system on it is such that Windows can not read.

Right-click the "My Computer" icon. In the menu that opens, select "Management". In the left column of the utility loaded, open Disk Management. Here you can see the file system of the flash drive. If it is not known to the operating system, the flash drive will need to be formatted.

Here, right-click on its icon and click on "Format". This process sometimes takes considerable time, especially if the device has a large capacity. To speed up the process, before formatting, you need to tick the "Quick Format" checkbox.

Sometimes a flash drive formatted in Linux OS can not be read due to the fact that Windows does not know how to work with third-party file systems (for example, Raizer or Ext). In this case, you will have to look for a specific unofficial driver or try to format it in FAT. Never format the disks if the OS opens the drive in Explorer, but does not see the files on the USB flash drive, and you need them. After formatting, all data will be deleted.

If the formatting process causes the computer to hang or it fails with an error, the memory chip is likely to be corrupted. Such a device will no longer work, but you can try to restore the data recorded on it in the service center. The price of such procedures is high (although they do not give 100% guarantee), but if the data is very important, nothing else remains.

Driver Failure

From time to time, the flash drive is not visible on the OS, Windows 7 signals that the device is not working properly. In this case, you do not have to format the flash drive , it's just that the operating system had problems installing the necessary drivers. Most likely, the registry contains incorrect information, or the data can not be overwritten automatically. To determine if this is the problem, go to Device Manager and open the "USB Bus Controllers" group. If there is an exclamation mark next to one of them, the problem is related to the drivers.

Before the start of active actions, you will have to create a backup copy of the settings. Open the Registry Editor by pressing the combination Win + R on the keyboard, and entering the word "Regedit" in the "Run" line. Find the HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ ControlClass \ branch and open the {36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} section. Click on it with the right mouse button and select "Export". After that, delete all partition keys that have in the name UpperFilters and LowerFilters.

Re-enter the Device Manager. Remove from it all devices, next to the name of which is an exclamation point. After deleting, press the F5 button. The OS will automatically install all the necessary drivers.

The measures taken will help not only when the USB flash drive is not visible, Windows 7 will also automatically install the software for the correct operation of other USB devices, which previously had such failures.

The problem described above can be caused by a number of reasons. The OS may not recognize a drive that previously worked normally due to a power surge or after using programs that work directly with the USB flash drive controller. These programs include JetFlash, Alcor MP, ChipGenius.

ChipGenius reads and provides detailed information about the drive. AlcorMP is used in service centers to reflash the controllers of flash devices. JetFlash is also used to change firmware.

Why can not I see a Windows XP flash drive?

In this version of the operating system, the work with the drivers is not as stable as in the newer distributions. Old drivers for unused devices lead to a variety of errors, the system can hang completely, give the flash drive the wrong label, or open the disk constantly asking to insert it.

The reason lies in the fact that with each new connection of devices the OS performs the installation of a new driver, but it is not deleted after the end of work with the device, but remains in the system. When connecting a flash drive, this may cause such a conflict: Windows uses a driver that already exists in the system and is defined by a specific USB port, but for a new flash drive it does not fit. Because of this, it may happen that the OS displays the device icon, but does not see the files on the USB flash drive.

Solution

To avoid any conflicts, you simply need to remove all the drivers that were installed earlier. Turn off the computer and turn off the devices using the USB bus. Turn on the PC again and download the DriveCleanup tool, which can be found on the official website of the manufacturer. The application can be installed for any version of Windows. Be careful, use a 32-bit application in a 32-bit OS, and 64-bit, respectively, in 64-bit.

After that, move the downloaded file to the system folder "C: \ Windows \ System32". Run the command prompt. By pressing Win + R, you can open the "Run" window, enter "cmd" in it. Here, type the command "drivecleunup.exe" and press the "Enter" button.

After the removal of the drivers is complete, the computer needs to be rebooted. When the computer turns on, all necessary drivers for the flash media will be installed automatically.

Continuation of the story about XP

Very often, answering the question "why does not the USB flash drive see an outdated OS?", One can say: "Because of the shortcomings of programmers." In the second service package there are many errors that do not allow the flash-media to function normally. In this case, almost always in one USB port some flash drive works, and some - does not work.

The simplest solution is to update the system to SP3 and, among other things, install all the updates and fixes that came out for it.

Why can not the computer see the micro SD card?

Often, for reading and writing information on an external device, the middleman is the "big brother". By transferring photos from the camera, recording audio files to the player, downloading applications to the mobile phone, sometimes or all of the time they use the PC, connecting to it the mobile device itself or by plugging the drive into the card reader.

But the trouble is, the computer either does not react at all to the connection, or does not see the files on the flash drive. Often such an incident can occur due to a faulty loop, or the device itself. In the computer there are no regular means for reading microSD, try to use another card reader or take from friends the same data cable as you.

Information recovery

"No measures have helped, and the computer just does not see the flash drive. How to recover the data that was on it? "- the reader will ask. To restore, you can try using the program R-Studio, which is considered the best in its segment.

Often, if the OS recognizes the device, but does not see the files on the flash drive, R-Studio can also help, and in this case even with a higher probability. Files may disappear after deletion or formatting, and if nothing was written to the USB flash drive afterwards, it will not be a problem to restore them. However, if the formatting was not fast, but complete, you will have to accept that the data is lost irrevocably.

Any user can understand the application, but if after trying to restore to bring the flash drive to the service center, the price for the work will be assigned higher than usual. This is the case, because recovering information after inept actions is several times more difficult.