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About the Author
Reviews and Awards
- Video Recovery
- SD Card Recovery
- Recycle Bin Recovery
- Recover Data from USB
- Recover Deleted Emails
- Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows
- Recover Unsaved Word Documents
- Recover Deleted Files
- Recover Files from Virus Infected Hard Drive
- Best Free Photo Recovery Software
- Recover Files from Formatted Hard Drive
Issue: Computer Not Recognizing USB
"I have an 8 GB Transcend flash drive. When I plug it in my laptop for data transfer, it is not even detected and I can not see it on My Computer. Why did this happen and is there any fix that I can try to get the USB device recognized?"
Have you ever run into a similar USB device not recognized issue? The symptoms of the problem vary in different situations. You may
- Receive a USB device malfunctioned error in the lower right corner with "The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it." error message.
- See Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed) error in Device Manager.
- Get no error message but just discover the USB drive not showing up in My Computer (named to This PC in Windows 10).
First Aid: Ask a Professional USB Repair Service for Help
Before you carry out the DIY solutions to get your computer to recognize a USB device, take the professional data recovery and disk repair service into account. EaseUS Data Recovery Services can repair hard drives/USBs/PCs/laptops that have crashed, mechanically failed, experienced physical damage, and worse. Call now to begin the data recovery process.
Consult with EaseUS data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service. We could offer the following services after a FREE diagnosis
- Repair corrupted RAID structure, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk file
- Recover/repair lost partition and re-partitioned drive
- Unformat the hard drive and repair the RAW drive(Bitlocker encrypted drive)
- Fix disks that become GPT-protected partitions
5 Ways to Get My Computer to Recognize a USB Device
The followings are five useful methods to get the computer to recognize a USB device.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Check the USB on Another Laptop | If it is still not detected, it suggests that the USB device might be corrupted. In this case...Full steps |
Run Device Troubleshooter | Go to Start > Control Panel > search "troubleshooter" and then click "Troubleshooting"...Full steps |
Re-install USB Controllers | Open Device Manager. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers. Right-click a device...Full steps |
Disable Selective Suspend Setting | Click the Start button, type "power plan" in the Search box, and then select...Full steps |
Recover Data & Reformat the USB | Connect the USB flash drive to your computer and launch EaseUS USB data recovery software...Full steps |
1. Check if the USB Device Is Recognized on Another Laptop
If it is still not detected, it suggests that the USB device might be corrupted. In this case, you will need to check and repair disk errors.
If it is detected, move to the next step to diagnose and fix the problem.
2. Run Device Troubleshooter
Step 1. Go to Start > Control Panel > search "troubleshooter" and then click "Troubleshooting" > Hardware and Sound > Configure a Device.
Step 2. Follow on-screen instructions, and click on "Apply this fix" if any problem is found.
This helps if the USB device is not recognized issue occurred because other important hardware updates are missing in Windows, due to software issues, or as a result of malware interference. If it doesn't work, move to step 3.
3. Uninstall and Re-install USB Controllers
Step 1. Open Device Manager.
Step 2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers. Right-click a device and select Uninstall. Repeat for each device.
Step 3. Restart your PC and your USB controllers will be automatically re-installed.
Your computer will then recognize the USB device if the issue occurred because the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupted. And if the problem still exists, proceed to step 4.
4. Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting
Step 1. Click the Start button, type "power plan" in the Search box, and then select "Choose a power plan".
Step 2. Next to your currently selected plan, select "Change Plan Settings".
Step 3. Select "Change advanced power settings".
Step 4. Select the box to expand USB settings > USB selective suspend settings.
Step 5. Expand the drop-down menu next to "Plugged in", and then choose "Disabled".
Step 6. If you're using a laptop, select Battery, select the drop-down menu, and then choose "Disabled".
Step 7. Select "Apply" > "OK".
This method can help your computer recognize a USB device by preventing your USB external drive from powering down.
5. Recover Data and Reformat the USB Drive to Make It Recognized
These are all the troubleshooting steps that you can try to make your computer recognize a USB device. If none of them resolve your issue, our advice is to try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover your data and then format the USB drive for repair.
EaseUS data recovery software can recover data from inaccessible hard drives as well as restore files from corrupted, formatted, and RAW drives.
Step 1. Choose the USB drive to scan
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose your USB drive where you lost important files. Click "Scan" to start.
![select the USB drive](/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/screenshots/recover-memory-card-step1.png)
Step 2. Check and preview USB drive data
When the scanning is finished, you can quickly locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature as well as the Search option.
![Scan and find lost flash drive files](/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/screenshots/recover-memory-card-step2.png)
Step 3. Restore flash drive data
After checking and finding lost USB drive files, click "Recover" to restore them. You shall save the found files to a safe location on your PC rather than to your USB drive.
![Restore lost files from USB drive](/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/screenshots/recover-memory-card-step3.png)
Video Tutorial: Guide to Fix USB Not Recognized Error
We also provide a video guide to fix and make your USB recognized on your computer.
Get My Computer to Recognize a USB Device FAQs
We have three additional questions here to help you learn more about getting your computer to recognize a USB drive:
How to fix a USB device not recognized on Windows 10?
There are six methods to fix a USB device not recognized on Windows 11/10/8:
- 1. Unplug the PC from the power source.
- 2. Change to plug in another USB port.
- 3. Uninstall the USB device driver.
- 4. Update the USB device driver.
- 5. Change the USB selective suspend settings.
- 6. Fix the USB root hub.
How to fix the USB device not showing files?
It is possible that your files on USB drives are hidden. You can unhide these files in many ways:
- 1. Unhide files on USB drives using Windows Explorer.
- 2. Recover hidden files with EaseUS USB Recovery Software
- 3. Unhide files with CMD.
- 4. Check and fix USB flash drive errors.
Why is my USB device not showing up on my computer?
The following reasons can cause your USB device not showing up on your PC:
- 1. Your USB port on the computer is broken.
- 2. You forget to turn on the USB device.
- 3. The cable you use to connect your USB device is broken.
- 4. Your USB device needs a repairment.
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Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.
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Approved by David Balaban
David Balaban is a computer security researcher with over 18 years of experience in malware analysis and antivirus software evaluation. He presents expert opinions on contemporary information security matters, including social engineering, penetration testing, threat intelligence, online privacy, and white hat hacking.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a powerful system recovery software, designed to enable you to recover files you’ve deleted accidentally, potentially lost to malware or an entire hard drive partition.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is the best we have seen. It's far from perfect, partly because today's advanced disk technology makes data-recovery more difficult than it was with the simpler technology of the past.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro has a reputation as one of the best data recovery software programs on the market. It comes with a selection of advanced features, including partition recovery, formatted drive restoration, and corrupted file repair.
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