USB Drives not working with Windows 11

Hi all,

Would be grateful for any advice to help resolve this weird issue - my USB drives (mostly) do not work in Windows 11. All devices work fine in the usb ports - keyboard, mouse, controller, headset, mobile phone charger etc, but not the USB drives. It pings on insertion / removal, but nothing happens. Sometimes an error message eventually appears that the drive has malfunction or is not recognised.

I have tried lots to fix this (see below). Strangely, sometimes it has started working after I have tried something, but its always temporary and goes back to not working, seemingly without reason. I have tried the following things, some which I understand, others which I do not:

- all the stuff with drivers for the USB controllers etc - checking they are up to date, deleting them and letting windows reinstall etc
- stuff with power settings (preventing windows turning off ports etc)
- checking the ports are not disabled in the registry (start set is value 3)
- adjusting a plug and play setting from manual to automatic
- installing the file wpdmtp in the INF folder in Windows
- reinstalling the motherboard chipset drivers

The last 3 things each in turn caused it to suddenly start working, but only temporary. The INF file fix worked (temporarily) several times but now does not work any more.

Its really getting me down and Im at my wits end.

One strange effect I have noticed is in device manager: On insertion, the USB drive can appear under "disk drives" with its proper name. Other times it doesn't appear there, but under "USB Controllers" and is called "Unknown USB Device (device descriptor request failed)". if it appears under "disk drives", it still doesnt appear in "devices and drives" in explorer.

But there is definitely nothing wrong with the USB Drive and its definitely a Windows 11 issue and not a hardware issue. I can say this with confidence as I have had the same issue on two identical PC builds - I sent the first back to the builder for this to be checked, but the delivery company managed to smash it and so I can another new build, but the same problem occurs. Plus, I have shown that it can be made to work, albeit only temporarily.

And should there not be an entry something like "USB Mass storage controller" under "USB Controllers" - I dont see that present?

Thanks for reading, grateful for any advice!

This is what I have on my Dell Vostro 5890 Desktop which has 2 x 4TB My Book drives and a 1TB drive in a Sabrent case connected through a self-powered USB 3 Hub, haven't been having any issues with the drives:

Hi @GAW1903 and welcome to Eleven Forums.

Please fill out the full details of your PC in My Computers section of your profile. This will make it easier for those attempting to help you with your issue.

Marcus Vinicus said:

Hi @GAW1903 and welcome to Eleven Forums.

Please fill out the full details of your PC in My Computers section of your profile. This will make it easier for those attempting to help you with your issue.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome and the tip Marcus - I have now added my info!

Berton said:

This is what I have on my Dell Vostro 5890 Desktop.....

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Berton. Here are some screen shots of my device manager:

USB Controllers
Normal view of the USB Controllers, with no USB Drive inserted.



Disk Drives

USB Drive appears under Disk Drives, correctly named, but absent from Explorer. What happens is that it just suddenly refreshes and vanishes from Disk Drives too (seemingly if Windows is aware you are snooping around lol).:



Unknown USB Device

Now the USB Drive appears within USB Controllers, but as an "unknown device". I even managed to catch the occasional error message in bottom RHS.



Code 43
What you get if you double click the "unknown device"



Hopefully these will help shed some light.

Thanks all!

are these of any help.



best of luck, Steve ..

GAW1903 said:

USB Drive appears under Disk Drives, correctly named, but absent from Explorer. What happens is that it just suddenly refreshes and vanishes from Disk Drives too (seemingly if Windows is aware you are snooping around lol).:

Click to expand...

If the drives show in Device Manager and Disk Manager but not in File Explorer be sure a Drive Letter has been assigned in Disk Manager. It's also part of the prompt panels when formatting a drive, can also give it a recognizable name such as Tosh1 for a 1TB Toshiba. USB drives will frequently pick up the first available Letter, usually the main/system/boot drive will be C:, the ODD is D:. Any drive with 2 or more usable partitions can have different letters for each partition and are treated as separate drives when working with files. The C: will have 3 to 5 partitions but only one, the largest, accessible, C:, unless it's big enough to have a second usable partition which may be D:.

XxXxX said:

are these of any help.

How to Fix Your USB Drive Not Showing Up on Windows 10 or Windows 11

Technology like USB drives are wonderful and convenient until they stop working.

www.howtogeek.com

How to fix storage drive not showing on File Explorer on Windows 11

When one of the drives doesn't appear in File Explorer, you can try these troubleshooting steps on Windows 11 to resolve the issue.

www.windowscentral.com

3 Ways to Fix USB Drive Not Showing Files and Folders on Windows 11

Is your USB drive not showing all the files and folders on Windows 11? Here are some effective fixes that will help.

www.guidingtech.com

best of luck, Steve ..

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. I will work through these and report back.

I have looked at some similar videos already and might have tried the solutions, but its worth checking as they all have something different

Berton said:

If the drives show in Device Manager and Disk Manager......

Click to expand...

Thanks Berton. Unfortunately, the USB drive never seems to appear in Disk Manager, argh!

I did some more snooping around and found the following:

I looked in Bluetooth and Devices and it was appeared there (as an "unrecognised device") and there was a driver error reported.



Here is disk manager at the exact same time, no recognition at all (just my two hard drives):



When looking around, I managed to generate a code 45 error, to go with the earlier code 43:



The curious thing is, when I do the check drivers routine and uninstall / reinstall drivers for the USB drive and associated, It always says the best drivers are already installed.

Yet, I am getting these errors and a driver error reported? What gives?

Could my drivers be corrupted or similar? Is there an alternative or replacement via download?

Thanks!