Windows 10: How to reformat USB Recovery Drive

I used the "Create recovery drive" tool in Windows 10 to create a recovery drive on a USB stick. I no longer need that recovery drive and would like to use the USB stick for other things. I have been unable to erase or reformat the USB drive. I keep getting a write protection error. I have followed various instructions to use diskpart to remove the write protection as well as editing registry entries to no avail. Is their some way to use this USB drive for something else or is the only choice to throw it away?

:)

 

Recover or Reformat?

The reformat won't budge?

I did what you said and then was told to remove the CD from the CD-Rom Drive, put in the recovery CD and then press the 'OK' button to continue

So I changed to the next disk but the OK doesn't appear to be being 'pressed'. Yes I have pushed enter on the keyboard which is what I have been using to get me through the other steps..

Any suggestions?

 

Recovery Drive for Windows 10 Doesn't Recognize USB Drive

When I try to create a Recovery Drive in Windows 10, Windows doesn't recognize the flash drive.

I'm following the instructions to create a Recovery Drive listed here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/create-a-recovery-drive

• 
  From the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice. (I was asked to confirm my choice, and I clicked "Yes".)
  
• 
  When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select
  Next.
  
• 
  (Secret Step) Wait a minute or so for the "Please Wait" screen to finish thinking
  
• 
  Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it ...
  

The issue is that when I connect a USB drive to the PC, it doesn't appear on the "Connect a USB flash drive" screen as a drive that can be selected, and the "Next" button is grayed out.

However, when I look in File Explorer, I can see the USB drive plugged into the computer. Selecting Properties shows that Windows considers its Type to be "Removable Disk". (Sounds right to me.)

I'm not getting any error messages.

My environment:

A brand new Toshiba Sattelite C55-C5241 laptop with Windows 10 Home. It's never had anything other than Windows 10 on it - unless they upgraded it at the factory.

A brand new ativa 8GB USB flash drive. Note that the packaging for the USB drive does not include Windows 10 in the System Requirements, but seriously?

What I've tried:

• Plugging the flash drive into all three USB ports (USB 2, USB 2, and USB 3)
• Reformatting the flash drive with FAT32
• Restarting the computer with the flash drive plugged in
• Turning off Real-Time Scanning in McAffee

I've seen a few threads with this issue in Windows 8, but none of the potential solutions in those threads have worked for me. So here I am asking the same question, but for Windows 10.

Does anyone have any suggestions for resolving this issue?

Thank you.

 

Create Recovery USB Wizard does not recognize my USB drive - Dell Workstation with Windows 10 Professional

Hello,

Thank you for keeping us updated.

• What is the capacity of the USB device and what is the size of the recovery image which you are trying to create?

To create a recovery drive, you'll need an external USB drive formatted to FAT32, with enough available storage space for all your recovery data.

Creating a recovery drive will erase anything that’s stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using that USB drive to create a recovery drive.

I suggest you to reformat the device to FAT32 and check creating the recovery drive if the issue resolves.

Reference: Create a recovery drive

Please post to us with the results to help you better.