What should I do if the flash drive is not visible?

Absolutely every user can face such a situation, in which "Windows" does not see the flash drive. This is a fairly common problem. In most cases, you can find a way out without going to the workshop. To do this, you need to understand the causes of the problem. The further actions on elimination of the appeared defect depend on them.

A flash drive or a computer ... Who is to blame?

The first step is to find out what the cause of the malfunction is. The problem may lie in the device or software of the computer. Defective can be the flash drive itself. When using it, you should use not only the front USB ports, but also try to turn on the flash drive to the ports located at the back of the system unit. Front ports can be disabled. This often happens, for example, when buying a used computer, when they simply do not connect to the motherboard during assembly. You can also check the performance of the USB flash drive on another computer. If there it functions normally, then the problem lies in ports or software. In the event that other computers do not respond to the USB drive in any way, and even the card reader does not see the USB flash drive, the reason is in itself. Most likely, the malfunction was caused by the incorrect operation of the controller. Such a device is best to be repaired. If it does not contain important information, replace it with a new one.

Formatting the drive

There are situations when a message is displayed on the connection of the USB flash drive, but its file system and volume are not displayed. In the Explorer or in the "My Computer" tab it is not visible at all. Flash drive in this case must be formatted. It should be remembered that the mismatch between the file systems of the USB device and the computer can lead to malfunctions. Most hard disks function in NTFS, and flash drives are in FAT32 and FAT. If after formatting the flash drive is still not visible, it makes sense to repeat the process for another file system.

BIOS check

Perhaps the use of USB devices does not allow the BIOS. Sometimes this function is used to protect the computer from entering malicious programs from removable media. Therefore, before discussing why the flash drive is not visible, you should check the system settings. You can go into the BIOS right when you start Windows by pressing F2 or Del. Then you should enable the USB devices for the motherboard devices. The function of working with USB-ports is activated, and the flash drive will be detected.

Other reasons

When the flash drive is not visible, it is necessary to check the computer for viruses. Malicious programs can block the display of removable media. It is desirable to use the latest versions of antivirus software with all updates. You should also pay attention to the problem of drivers. Perhaps they are outdated. To install new ones, you need to find the site of the manufacturer of the computer motherboard and download the driver to the USB device. The name of the manufacturer of the motherboard can be found, for example, using the program Aida or Everest.