Solved: USB Device not Recognized keeps popping up

Recoverit Editorial Team

Oct 23, 2026 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions

TL;DR:

Resolve an unrecognized USB flash drive by ruling out physical port issues, updating USB controller drivers via Device Manager, or running built-in disk repair tools before reformatting.
    ● Windows users can fix underlying power or system corruption conflicts by disabling the USB Selective Suspend setting or running the sfc /scannow and DISM commands in Windows Terminal.
    ● Mac users can force hardware detection by holding Command-Option-P-R during startup to reset the PRAM or manually mounting the external device through the Utilities application.
    ● Reformatting the drive to NTFS or FAT32 resolves persistent file system errors but erases all contents, requiring a tool like Wondershare Recoverit Data Recovery to extract the lost files afterward.

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What Caused the Flash Drive Not Recognized on Computer?

Several root causes would result in the not recognized flash drive issue. They should be addressed so that you will not need to deal with the issue(s) for a long period.

[Windows]: 11 Methods to Fix the USB Flash Drive Not Recognized

Depending on what is the root cause of the problem, you may only need to do one of these four steps or all of them. Follow these solutions step-by-step to resolve your problem.

Way 1: Restart your Computer

The first method we can't miss is to restart your computer. It's the most efficient way to solve some occasional bugs appear on your computer.

Way 2: Try a different USB port or device

Connect the USB drive to another computer or USB port to see whether it works or not.

Way 3: Scan Flash Drive to Find the Issue

1. Plug the flash drive into your USB port.
2. Go to My Computer and right-click on the flash drive. Open the Properties

3. Open the Tools tab and click Check now"¦

4. It may take some time to complete the scan. Once finished, it will tell you what the flash drive's problem is.

Way 4: Uninstall the drive device

One of the reasons that the usb device not recognized is that it is corrupted. For this case, uninstalling the usb device can easily solve this issue.

1. Type Device Manager in the search box next to the Windows icon. Then select and open Device Manager.
2. Find and click the Disk drivers section.
3. Right-click the USB device, and click on Uninstall device.

4. Restart your computer and reconnect the uninstalled usb device to check whether the USB device not recognized issue is fixed.

Way 5: Disable the USB Selective Suspend Setting

Disabling the usb selective suspend settings is another good way to solve the problems that USB drive not recognized. To save the battery power and protect some USB devices, the Windows operating system may automatically power the devices down when they haven’t been used for a while, which may cause the USB drive not showing up. Disabling this feature can fix this:

1. Go to Settings on your computer->System->Power&sleep->Additional power settings.

2. Click on Change plan settings->Change advanced power settings.
3. Click the plus icon next to USB settings.
4. Then, click the plus icon next to USB selective suspend setting, select Disabled.

5. Click Apply.

Way 6: Perform driver updates

USB controllers is important for the connection between your computer and the USB driver. When the USB device not recognized error appears, it may have something to do with the USB controllers. Updating the controllers may fix this issue.

1. Open the Run command and type in msc in the field. Click OK.

2. This will open the Device Manager. Find the Universal Serial Bus controllers.

3. Expand the menu and right-click on the Generic USB Hub. Click on Update Driver Software"¦

Way 7: Reinstall USB controllers

When updating the USB controllers didn't work, you can try reinstalling to fix this problem:

1. Type Device Manager in the search box. Select Device Manager and open it.
2. Click Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3. Find the USB controller your USB drive is connected to, and click on it.
4. Click Uninstall device. Then restart your computer and connect the USB device to check whether it works.

You can try any of the controllers if you’re not sure which one is in use, because they will get reinstalled automatically once you restarted the computer.

Way 8: Operating System Updates

Keep your Windows updated is another effective way to fix the USB driver not recognized issue.

1. Type Windows Update directly in the search box next to the start menu.
2. Select Windows Update, and click the Check for Updates option to review available updates.

3. Select the update you want to install, then click Install updates.
4. Once it completes, restart your computer to check whether the issue is fixed.

Way 9: Repair windows system

If it doesn’t fix this problem by repairing your USB device, then the problem may relies on your Windows operating system. If the operating system is corrupted, it can also cause the USB device not recognized issue. Try repairing the Windows system to fix this issue:

1. Right click the Start icon and launch Windows Terminal(Admin) or Windows PowerShell(Admin).
2. Enter the command to scan the operating system files: sfc / scannow
3. When it completes, restart your computer and check whether the USB device not recognized problem is solved or not.

If it isn’t fixed, you can continue with repairing the Windows Component Store:

1. Launch Windows Terminal(Admin) or Windows PowerShell(Admin)
2. Type and enter: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
3. It will scan the Component Store and find the issues. After that, type and enter: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
4. And also: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
5. Restart the computer, and check again.

Way 10: Reformat the Flash Drive

1. Right-click on the flash drive and click on Format"¦, the Format window will pop up.

2. Under the File system toggle it between NTFS and FAT32. Click Start.

Way 11: Update the Chipset Drivers for Your Motherboard

To let your motherboard work correctly, the chipset drivers need to keep being updated. If you haven’t done this for a while, you can go to the official website to check whether there is newer chipset driver available to download. If yes, download the driver and install it.

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[Mac]: 3 Methods to Fix the Flash Drive Not Recognized Problem

Like in Windows, your resolution method will be determined by the root cause of the problem. These are the three ways that you can do to fix flash drive not Recognized issue.

Way 1: Manually Connect the Flash Drive

1. Go to Application and click on Utilities.

2. A pop-up window will appear and click on the highlighted commands as marked in the image below:

3. Under Devices, click External Devices to manually connect the unrecognizable flash drive.

Way 2: Retune PRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press the Power button and subsequently hold down the Command-Option-P-R This should be done before the grey screen appears.

3. Your Mac should reboot itself. Let it go after the start-up chime.

Way 3: Format Mac's Drive

1. Press the Command-Spacebar buttons simultaneously, plug in the flash drive and go to the Application Click on the Disk Utility option.

2. You will be able to find the flash drives that need to be fixed in the left panel.

3. Click on the Erase button to complete the process.

What's Next?

Now that the flash drive not Recognized problem is solved on your Windows or Mac computer, make sure you had back-up all important documents in the flash drive. This is to ensure that you will be able to access the files stored in the flash drive should it happens again.

You should also check if there is any accidental data loss from the drive. Should you find things missing, use a flash drive data recovery tool to help you recover loss documents do this immediately before it is overwritten by new data.

[Bonus]: How to Recover Data from Flash Drive Not Recognized

When you fix the USB flash drive not recognized with format solution, all your data on the drive will be got formatted and lost. On this guide, we will show you how to recover data from flash drive not recognized on Windows. Recoverit Data Recovery software can easily help you recover lost files from flash drive, even the drive got damaged/corrupted, formatted, virus attack and the file system crashed.

Recoverit - The Best USB Flash Drive Recovery Software

• Undeleted files from flash drive which not recognized on Windows and Mac.
• Recover files from USB flash drive due to accidentally deleted, formatted and damaged/corrupted.

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Steps to Recover Lost Data from Flash Drive

Download and install Recoverit Flash Drive Recovery on your computer, follow the next simple steps to perform flash drive data recovery on Windows computer.

Step 1. Launch Recoverit Data Recovery program, select the "External Device Recovery" mode to get started.

Step 2. Make sure your flash drive detected on the computer, select it, and click "Start" to proceed.

Step 3. The flash drive recovery software will start to scan the device to search and restore your data files.

Step 4. Finally, you can check all the recovered files. Select your data and recover back by clicking the "Recover" button.

If you are a MAC user, you should download Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac or follow the guide to perform flash drive recovery on Mac.