USB storage won't install

From WikiTechia

USB storage won't install? What might be happening is windows might be trying to assign a drive letter to the USB Storage drive that has already been assigned to a network drive.

Contents 1 Solution 1.1 Got network mounts? 1.2 Bad Connection 1.3 Bad USB Storage

Solution

Got network mounts?

• Disconnect the drives

1. Close all of your explorer windows.
2. Right-click "My Computer"->"Disconnect Network Drive..."
3. Click on the drive you think might be occupying the drive letter windows wants to install your usb drive to, most likely the highest in alphabetical order and click the "OK" button.
4. A dialogue will pop up asking if you really want to disconnect the network drive, click the "Yes" button.
5. Try sticking the USB stick in again.

• Or manually assign the drive letter (needs administrator priveledges)

1. "Control Panel"->"Administrative Tools"->"Computer Management"->"Storage"->"Disk Management (Local)"
2. In the bottom right panel you will see a list of disks and their partitions, look for the usb drives partition and Right-click->"Chamge Drive Letter and Paths..."
3. Click the "Add..." button and assign the drive a letter.

Bad Connection

• A common problem is, that the physical connection is actually the issue.

Quick fix for this is the tried and tested method reffered to as the "USB JIGGLE" where you move the device about waiting for the PC to react.

• If you are using a USB cable, the cable itself could be a problem, most likely if it is one of those retractable USB cables which are only rated for USB1.1 speed and the device and the computer are both USB2.0. The most likely error in this case will be "Device not recognized".

Bad USB Storage

• Removing the device without "safely removing the hardware" can damage the initalising sequence of the device rendering the information on it useless, it is possible to format the drive to bring it back to its former self, sans data.