Windows 10: USB Flash Drive Virus Infection

A friend of mine downloaded something sketchy off the internet now it's got a virusWhat a surprise. So now it's my job to fix it. My question is that will using a flash drive to format it infect it in the process? I'm planning on going on to the BIOS and booting into my Windows loaded flash drive. Because I'm not booting the HDD but my flash drive would that mean I wouldn't get infected? I just gotta make sure.


Edit: I just went and formatted it anyway but not gonna connect my flash drive into anything until I know for sure.

:)

 

clean possibly infected flash drives and CD-RWs

Your steps in post #1 should work for 99% of viruses that may be on a usb flash drive. However, there are a very few viruses that can infect the MBR of a drive. I would use Diskpart from a command prompt (Admin) to clean them. In the command prompt type DISKPART then, at the Diskpart prompt use the commands:

LIST DISKnote the disk number of the usb and use it in place of # in the command:SELECT DISK #
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

After this you will have cleaned the partition table from the usb and created a partition using the whole of the the available space. You can then format this partition in File Explorer.


For a CD-RW, if you right-click on it in File Explorer there is an Erase option.

 

install.wim is 7GB, how to make a bootable USB flash drive

This is a method to make a ntfs flash drive.

The trial and error step will be booting using Legacy BIOS...

Code:

This is the link:
Guide: How to Format USB Flash Drive Using Cmd - EaseUS

The link did not use active so that is why it is a trial and error step.

 

USB Flash drive made bootable

Hi Nelson,

Check if there is any slide switch on the side that provides write protection. It show's a closed and open lock on each side. We suggest to follow these steps below:

• Insert the USB flash drive into the USB port.
• Click Start, type devmgmt.msc in the Search textbox and press Enter.
• Find Disk Drives and expand it.
• Find the USB flash drive you want to format, and double-click it. It opens the
  Properties dialog box.
• Click Policies tab.
• By default, the Optimize for quick removal option selected, switch it to Optimize for performance and then press
  OK.
• Now open Computer. Right click on the USB Flash Drive and select Format. The Format dialog box now appears.
• Select NTFS in the File System field.
• Press Start and wait while the process will be completed.

You can also connect the USB drive on a different computer and try formatting.

Let us know how it goes.