Windows 10: RE: Windows 10 does not recognize external hard drives or flash drives

I followed the above post and couldn't believe the complicated solutions provided. I have the same problem. I have 2 Win 10 PCs and 5 USB hard drives from the past used by me, my wife, and daughters for backups and had some time to look at what was on each one. Then I went down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out why each disk wasn't showing up in File Explorer on either PC. They were showing up in Settings/Devices and Printers and certain other places which I'm forgetting and didn't write down. But the important point is, I could not access them, couldn't read, write or anything else.

:)

 

Windows 10 does not recognize external hard drives or flash drives

When I start up my computer it will recognize an external hard drive if it is already plugged into a usb or is immediately plugged in following login. If I disconnect the external hard drive to switch to a different one then the new hard drive will not be recognized and will not be shown. This problem also extends to flash drives. Any external hard drives that I have attached do not show in the Disk Manager. When I open the drive in Device Manager I get the following message:

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38)
The driver could not be loaded because a previous version of the driver is still in memory."

I have looked at multiple forums and have not found a solution.
I have tried:
-Changing drive settings in the Disk Manager (will not work because the usb drive does not show)
-Going into Device Manager, uninstalling the USB drivers, and rebooting

-Holding the Shift key while pressing Shutdown
-Installing/updating chipset drivers

-Searching for and installing the latest Windows update.
-running USB Oblivion

I am running Microsoft 10 home edition. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Windows 10 does not recognize external hard drives or flash drives

In regards to those steps that you have suggested:

1. Disk management

Will not work because my external hard drives and flash drives do not show in the disk manager (as I had mentioned).
2. Follow steps on MSPoweruser
Followed, did not work.
3. Go to device manager and look for the drive under Disk Drives
External drives and flash drives do not show under the Disk Drives tab, so will not work.
4. Go to the USB category

None of the hubs have "rollback" as an option, so I uninstalled all of them then rebooted. Did not work.
5. Run a diagnostic.
No problem on the drives tested.

6. Check installed updates.
Looked for installed drivers only to see that the only driver listed was for a printer.
7. Try a system restore
The tutorial that you might have tried to link to only leads me to a site that sells fiber optic broadband.
8. Check if the device is detected on another pc.
Tried, and all of the devices that I've tested work on my other pc. All of them are detected and shown.
9. If the device checks on another pc, back it up and wipe it.
Why would I do this for a storage device that has no problems?
10. Run Data Recover on the device
See #9
11. Reformat
See #9
12. Perform file recovery using Recuva
See #9

 

Toshiba external hard drive not recognized

Hi Philip,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I understand that the external hard drive is not recognized by the PC. I appreciate your efforts in trying to resolve the issue.
It would be great if you can answer these questions to assist you in a better way.

• Did you try connecting the Hardrive to different USB Port?
  
• Does the Hardrive get detected if you try connecting it to a different PC?
  
• Are you aware of any changes made to the computer recently?
  

I suggest you refer and follow the steps mentioned in the KB article and check if that resolves the issueError:
“USB Device not recognized” when you try to access a USB external hard drive

Note: Ignore method 2 & 5 from the above article.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Zaki