Windows 10: Windows Security Scanner Is Unable to Remove Viruses from External Hard Drive on Windows 10

So, a while ago I gave my brother my external hard drive to transfer some games from his PC to a friend's. After the exchange, as usual, I had to run a virus scan to remove potentially harmful stuff. And the scan surprisingly found like 100+ viruses affecting over 27k files. So I tried disinfecting the hard drive, but the Windows Security scanner could not remove them after hours of waiting. So I looked in the community for answers and found a potentially useful tool, the Microsoft Safety Scanner. So I downloaded it, run a full scan and tried removing the viruses, but no luck. I then rebooted my PC into safe mode, ran another full scan and tried the same but still, the viruses are still torturing me.

Now sometimes my antivirus just turns itself off for some reason and when I try turning it back on it just quits unexpectedly. I end up restarting for it to turn back on but only for a few minutes. I am afraid I might have to format the whole Hard drive just to get rid of the virus but in the process I will have to lose all my data Approx. 2TB of data

Can someone help me? Is there something I'm missing here? I need to deal with this before the viruses completely take over my PC....

:)

 

External drives and Windows 10 issue

Hi Sal,

There are many possible causes why your external hard disk is set to read-only. It can be that your external hard disk has a bad sector that appears to be defective. One of the possible reason of having a bad sector on your hard disk is if it's infected
by a malware or a virus. We would suggest you to run a Check Disk to scan your external hard disk for bad sectors. To do so, follow the steps below:

• Go to File Explorer.
• Right-click on your external hard disk.
• Click Properties.
• Click Tools.
• Click Check (Under the Error checking portion).
• Upon clicking, it will open a new window. Click Scan
  drive.

Also, we would suggest you to scan your external hard disk for malware and viruses. You can use Microsoft Safety Scanner by following
this link. Be guided that this software expires after 10 days and it is not a replacement for using an antivirus software program that
provides a real-time protection.

 

Unable to remove Viruses

Hi Tony,

I appreciate for performing the steps to fix the issue.

I will certainly help you with the issue you are experiencing.

This issue might occur due to downloading games from a website without any safety precautions on your PC.

Please follow below mentioned issue to resolve the issue:

Method 1:

I would suggest you to run Microsoft Safety Scanner on your PC to scan and fix the viruses on your PC.

Please refer below link to run the Microsoft Safety Scanner.

Microsoft Safety Scanner Download - Windows security

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software.

Note: All your files that are corrupted or virus attached will be deleted while you run Microsoft Safety Scanner.

Method 2:

Step 1: Install Windows Updates and run a full System Scan using
Windows Defender.

To install Windows Update,

Navigate to “Start->Settings->Updates and Security->Windows update->check for updates->Install updates”.

Or

• 
  Press “Windows key + R” and type
  “control update” and press ok.
  
• 
  Click on check for updates option and click on
  Install updates.
  

To run Windows Defender,

• 
  Navigate to “Start->Settings-> Updates and Security->Windows Defender->open Windows Defender”.
  
• 
  Select the option “full” under
  “scan option” and click on “scan now”.
  

Note: time taken to scan your full system depends on the size of the file you have on your PC.

Step 2: Uninstall unknown programs.

I would suggest you to check, if any unknown programs are installed on your PC.

• 
  Press “Windows key + X” from your keyboard and click on
  “Control panel”.
  
• 
  Change to “Large Icon” under “View by” (you will see at right top corner of the windows).
  
• 
  Click on “Programs and Features” option.
  
• 
  Select and right click on the unknown programs (if installed) and click on
  uninstall/remove.
  

I would like to inform that usually Appdata folder will be hidden, please refer to below link to
unhide files and folders on Windows 10.

Please follow below mentioned steps to unhide files and folder.

• 
  Press “Windows key + E” from your keyboard.
  
• 
  Go to the tab View->check “Hidden” option.
  

Please get back to us with the updated issue for further assistance.

Thank you.

 

unrecognised external hard drive on Windows 10

Since you already reinstalled the drivers of the External Hard Drive, let's run the
Hardware and Devices troubleshooter as it can resolve your concern. You can do that by following these steps:

• 
  Press the Start button.
  
• 
  Type and select Troubleshooting.
  
• 
  Click on View all on the left panel.
  
• 
  Select and run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.
  

If the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter doesn’t resolve your concern, we suggest that you change the letter of the External Hard Drive. You can do that by following these steps:

• 
  Press the Start button.
  
• 
  Type and select Control panel.
  
• 
  Select System and Security.
  
• 
  Select Administrative Tools, and a new window will appear.
  
• 
  Double-click Computer Management, and a new window will appear.
  
• 
  Select Disk Management that is located under
  Storage in the left pane.
  
• 
  Right click on the External Hard Drive that is not showing on the File Explorer.
  
• 
  Select Change letter and network path, and a new window will appear.
  
• 
  Select Change, and choose the letter that you want for the External Hard Drive.
  

After changing the letter of the External Hard Drive, we suggest that you reboot your laptop for the changes to take effect.



Let us know how it goes.



Regards.