If UAC is enabled, you need to find Command Prompt from start menu and run it as administrator.
Follow steps below and see whether it can get everything done.įor Windows 7 users click Start button and type cmd in the search both and press Enter. It looks like this method is complicated to common users, but it is not. Thus we need to switch to command line based formatting solution. When the process is done, you'll find the USB drive has been formatted and is properly recognized by system.ĭisk Management is not almighty and it is not helpful in many cases. Operations are following the onscreen instructions, setting options and click "Next" button. You'll get the New Simple Volume Wizard which guides you recreate new partition for the flash drive. Right click on the USB drive and select "New Simple Volume" item. However, this action is not workable in some cases, and you need to try step 3. Right click the flash drive and select "Format" option and select file system format to perform quick format. In the center section you can see local hard drive and partitions and the USB drive which can be recognized by capacity. Right click on My Computer and select item "Manage", and then click Disk Management on the left side. Thus it's not available to format the drive through right-click menu "Format" option. If USB drive uses unrecognized file system format or becomes unallocated or uninitialized, it will not show in My Computer or Windows Explorer. Damaged flash drives can be formatted within Disk Management.
Disk Management is able to create new volume, extend or shrink partition, change drive letter, delete or format partition, etc. Steps of file recovery from damaged USB drive will be talked in next section of this post.ĭisk Management is provided by Windows and it helps to manage partitions and disks for computer. If USB drive became inaccessible before you had time to backup data, then you need to perform file recovery first prior to formatting. What's more, make sure that important data and files of the drive to be formatted have been backed up, as files will be erased once the drive is formatted. Thus there is no guarantee that these methods work on all scenarios. You should note that all these solutions won't be workable if the USB drive gets badly physical damage. Now connect USB drive to computer and follow step-by-step guide given below: If you are not capable of formatting your USB drive (USB flash drive, external hard drive, SD card, pen drive, etc.) in usual process then try to format that drive with following methods.
How to fix "Windows couldn't complete format" on USB drive? This error may happen as a result of following reasons: Now and then, you need to format USB flash drive or SD card but get error messages saying Windows couldn't format the drive.
Main causes that Windows can't complete the format USB drive USB drives are important to users and it's necessary to learn skills and solve the problem.
USB flash drive is easy to carry and transfer data, and memory cards, with smaller size, have become essential component in various digital products such as digital camera, cell phone, MP3 player, etc. USB flash drives or memory cards are useful storage devices in modern society, as they are capable of storing a large amount of data but occupying small physical space. This is one of those frequently asked questions on many forums and question sites and this post will give detailed and overall explanation about this issue. I really need to be able to format it and make it normal to use, as it holds important documents. The problem is that formatting can't be performed successfully and gives error message 'Windows was unable to complete the format'.įor the moment, the USB flash drive turns inaccessible and can't be formatted. Recently it reports errors when it is connected to computer and yesterday it asked me to format it. It was formatted to NTFS to store data, which was proved too slow. "Hey guys, I bought a brand new 64GB USB flash drive with the purpose of carrying documents and other files between home and company. How to fix "Windows couldn't complete format" on USB drive? - 3 Methodsįile recovery from USB drive that can't be formattedĬonclusion Symptom of Windows was unable to complete the format error Main causes that Windows can't format USB drive