Windows Can't Format Flash Drive Solve It Easily Now!
Windows Can't Format Flash Drive Solve It Easily Now!
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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?”
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 solve the problem of Windows unable to format �ash drive? Here provides you four
methods to �x this issue.
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.
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
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.
4 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
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.
“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 ”
4. Close Regedit and restart your computer. Connect your USB drive again and you should be able
to format it successfully.
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
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
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.
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
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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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