How to Fix USB Pen Drive does not appear in File Explorer?

Today, when I attached one of the old pen drives to the PC, it didn’t show in This PC/My Computer/File Explorer. I disconnected and connected it again, reboot my pc, and tried to access the pen drive in safe mode, but none of them worked.

✨ How to Fix USB Stick/Pen Drive not appearing in This PC?

I read 5 to 6 top articles on google but all those articles told me to perform several tasks but none of them helped me. Finally, I decided to research and fix this issue myself. After spending half an hour, I fixed it myself. So, I decided to share it with others so that they could also fix the USB stick not listed in File Explorer.

Method 1: Use Advanced System Repair Tool

If File Explorer is not listing your USB drive, it means something bad happened on your PC so, your computer is not able to recognize and list your USB device.

Missing system files, outdated drivers, registry problems, malware/viruses, incorrect system settings, etc, are the most suitable reason behind USB Devices not recognizing problems. You must use Advanced System Repair Tool to fix these Windows problems.

Windows is made with huge number of dll files, exe files, sys files, various types of services, databases, etc so, it is not possible to keep monitoring all the files always. A brilliant PC Optimizer tool repairs damages, fix errors, update windows and drivers, and eliminate various types of errors silently.

Outbyte PC Repair Tool does all the above task easily and provides you an errorfree and smooth Windows environment to work so that you can focus on your business only.

3 Steps to Fix this Error
Step 1. Download Outbyte PC Repair Tool [File Size: 16.4 MB]
Step 2. SCAN your Windows PC
Step 3. Click Fix button to Repair Error

Method 2: Assign Driver Letter and Path

Most of the time, due to unknown reasons, Windows can’t assign a drive letter to your external USB stick or pen driver. Due to this reason, the USB stick can’t be listed in file explorer.

Step 1: Open Disk Management. Right-click on the Start menu and select Disk Management.

Open Disk Management Tool in Windows 10 & 11

Step 2: Click on Disk Management under the Storage section.

Storage section in Disk Management Windows 10 & 11

Step 3: Right-click on your USB storage device and select the “Change drive letter and paths” option.

driver properties in Disk Management Tool in Windows 10 & 11

Step 4: Click on Add button. Click just OK in the next window.

assign drive letter to usb storage drive in Disk Management

Step 5: Now open File Explorer and check for the USB device.

Method 3: Re-install the USB driver

If the problem still persists, you should re-install the driver again. You can do it using the Device manager window.

Step 1: Open Device manager. Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.

open device manager in windows 10 & 11

Step 2: Expand Disk drives and do Right-click on your USB device. Select Uninstall device.

uninstall a device in the device manager windows 10 & 11

Step 3: Disconnect the Pen drive from your computer and connect it again. It will install a suitable driver again and you will be able to access this drive.

Method 4: Format the Pen drive using the command prompt

You might need to format your USB stick using the elevated command prompt. After formatting a USB device, a new file system will be installed automatically.

Step 1: Open the elevated command prompt.

Open CMD as Administrator Windows 10

Step 2: Run the following command step by step. Be careful when choosing the options. Caution: A wrong selection may delete your entire primary drive.
Step 3: Open diskpart to start disk operation.
diskpart

diskpart commands in windows 10 & 11

Step 4: List disk and then select your USB device.
list disk
select disk 2

list disk command windows 10

Step 5: List all the available volumes and then select your desired volume.
list volume
select volume 6

list volume command in diskpart

Step 6: Format your usb drive using the following command.
format fs=ntfs quick

format fs=ntfs quick command in diskpart. It is used for formatting storage devices.

Step 7: close the diskpart by running exit command. Go to File explorer and you will see your USB drive in the list.

Summary

This tutorial solves the problem of the USB Stick/Pen Drive does not appear in This PC/My Computer/File Explorer. There are several methods are explained in this article that will help you to figure out this problem.