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Windows Can't Format Flash Drive Solve It Easily Now!

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joyd1visi0n
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Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.

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Home > Products > Free Partition Software > Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now!

Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it


Easily Now!
When you can’t format �ash drive, you can turn to this article to know the reason of this issue and
how to solve it with different methods.

By Emily / Last Updated May 12, 2023

S ce n a r i o

“I noticed something weird when all of the sudden I couldn’t delete �les off of the �ash drive. I
tried to format it and it either stays in a formatting state (e.g. light on, but getting nowhere) have
to cancel out or it says it is write-protected. After I ‘scan and �x’ I can access the �les on the drive
�ne, but I can’t format this �ash drive, just can’t do anything more than read them. What’s wrong
with it? What should I do? Is there any suggestion?”

Why you can’t format �ash drive?

USB �ash drives are commonly used to save data. Sometimes, you might have to format your USB
�ash drive to either wipe it or �x errors, etc. Generally, the formatting process can go smoothly via
File Explorer, Disk Management or Diskpart Command. However, once in a while, Windows was
unable to format �ash drive. And this issue may happen as a result of following reasons:

1 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

2 . Th e � a s h d r i ve h a s s o m e b a d s e c t o r s ;

3 . T h e � a s h d r i v e h a s b e e n d a m a g e d p hy s i c a l l y ;

4 . Th e � a s h d r i ve i s r e a d o n l y o r w r i t e - p r o t e c t e d .

How to �x “ Windows can’t format �ash drive” issue?

How to solve the problem of Windows unable to format �ash drive? Here provides you four
methods to �x this issue.

Method 1. Eliminate possible virus


USB �ash drives are very portable and can be connected to computer easily via USB drive to
backup or transfer data, so many users often carry them around and use them on various
computers, making it easy to infect virus. In this case, you can make use of a reliable anti-virus tool
to remove malware or virus.

After that, you can try to format the �ash drive again. If you still cannot format the USB �ash drive,
proceed to the following methods, please.

Method 2. Check and �x bad sectors on the �ash drive


As we all know, the �ash drive and other storage devices consist of sectors, the smallest unit for
data storing. Files stored on them usually occupy discontinuous sectors. The bad sectors means
the sectors are damaged and cannot be read or written, so the formatting process can be
disrupted. To check and �x bad sectors, you can use CHKDSK.exe tool.

1. Press “Win+ R” keys on your keyboard to open “Run” dialog, input “cmd” and press Enter to
open Command Prompt window.

2. In the window, enter “chkdsk g: /f /r /x” and hit on Enter to execute this command.

2 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

Method 3. Disable write protection attribute before formatting


Besides, Windows will be unable to format �ash drive which is write-protected. But the �ash drive
can become write-protected due to different causes such as physical lock, being set into read only
mode, or wrong registry settings or corrupted �le system. Different causes need different
solutions.

1 . C h e c k t h e p hy s i c a l s w i t c h

Have a check at your �ash drive at �rst, if there is a physical lock switch on the side, you can slide
the switch to the unlock area. Then, connect it to your computer, and you can format it in your
need.

3 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

2 . C l e a r re a d - o n l y at t r i b u te s w i t h D i s k p a r t u t i l i t y

Connect your �ash drive to the computer at �rst, and make sure it can be detected.

1. Press “Windows” + “R” combination on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.

2. Then type “diskpart” in the Run dialog box, click “OK” to open the Diskpart Command Prompt.

3. Type “list disk” and press “Enter”, all the disks connected to the computer will be displayed.

4. Type “select disk n”, here n refers to the drive letter of your �ash drive. Then, press “Enter” to
continue.

5. Type “attributes disk clear readonly”, diskpart will change your USB’s properties so that it is no
longer read-only.

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Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

After that, you can format �ash drive in your need.

3 . R e m o ve w r i t e p r o t e c t i o n t h r o u g h e d i t t i n g t h e r e g i s t r y

Connect your �ash drive to the computer at �rst, and make sure it can be detected.

1. Open Run dialog, type “regedit” and hit Enter or click "OK" to open the Registry Editor.

2. Access to the following path:

“C
Computer\HKEY_LOC AL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlS et\Control

\ S t o r a g e D e v i c e Po l i c i e s ”

3. Double click the “WriteProtect” and change the value from 1 to 0.

4. Close Regedit and restart your computer. Connect your USB drive again and you should be able
to format it successfully.

Method 4. Fix “can’t format �ash drive” error with CMD


Connect your �ash drive to the computer at �rst, and make sure it can be detected.

1. Click “start” and type “command prompt”.

2. Then, right click “command prompt” and select “run as administrator”.

3. After that, type “diskpart” and press “Enter”. Then execute the below commands in turn:

list disk

selec t disk n

clean

c re ate p a r t i t i o n p r i m a r y

format fs=fat32 quick: If you want to format to NTFS, type “format fs=ntfs quick”.

5 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

Method 5. Force format write protected �ash drive via AOMEI


Partition Assistant
If Windows 11/10/8/7 cannot format the �ash drive because its �le system is corrupted, you can
turn to a third party hard drive formatting software. Here we recommend Free
AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

This �ash drive format toll can provide you many powerful functions like format partition. You can
use it to format USB �ash drive, SD card, as well as other storage drive in Windows 11/10/8/7,
Windows Vista and Windows XP. Besides, when Windows 10 cannot format �ash drive to FAT32 for
its big capacity (surpassing 32GB), this software is also very useful since it breaks out this
limitation and is able to format a large hard drive such as 2TB to FAT32.

Therefore, no matter you cannot format �ash drive to FAT32 or NTFS in Windows, this freeware
can get it �xed. Before you format, please backup any necessary �les in advance because all data
will be deleted.

Download Freeware
Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP

Secure Download

1. Download, install and run it on your Windows PC. Right click the �ash drive and choose
“Format Partition”.

6 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

2. In the pop-up window, choose “FAT32” �le system. And you also can specify “Cluster Size”
under �le system if you need to. Then, click “OK”.

7 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

“Proceed” after your con�rmation.

The formatting progress won’t take you too much time. Of course, the more data on your �ash
drive, the more time the formatting will take.

Co n c l u s i o n

When Windows cannot format �ash drive as normal, you can follow these simple steps. AOMEI
Partition Assistant can be the best �ash drive format tool. Besides, it also provides you many other
powerful functions such as resize/move/delete partition, disk copy, wipe hard drive and so on. If
you want to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data, the feature convert to NTFS can help you.

If you want to enjoy more advanced functions like


extending NTFS system partition without reboot, migrating OS to SSD, securely erasing SSD,
convert boot disk to MBR or GPT without data loss, you can upgrade to AOMEI Partition Assistant
Professional to solve this issue.

8 of 10 8/22/2023, 8:24 AM
Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

Free Partition Manager

Resize and Move Partition

System/Disk Clone

Convert MBR/GPT Disk

Check & Fix Disk Errors

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Windows Can’t Format Flash Drive? Solve it Easily Now! https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cant-format-flash-drive-1881.html

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