Windows 10: USB Drive Problem code 38

Hi,

I've been having this problem from yesterday. I have Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

I have 2 external drives that are all the time attached to the PC. Since yesterday I realized only 1 of them is displayed in Explorer.

I tried many things: uninstall the USB driver from device manager, tried the USBOblivion tool with the drives removed to try to remove the driver so Windows will reinstall it. I also tried to Shift + Shutdown to flush the memory, but so far nothing worked.

After reading this thread: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...8/b7cc78e7-f4aa-4b8e-9a83-f6beaad6e60e?page=3 I also tried to look up the mentioned registry entries and my values are as it should be.



Today I've been trying to see if clean boot or safe mode helps. In clean boot mode all services other than from microsoft disabled, and all startup programs disabled the problem is still there. However, in safe mode I can see all the external drives even the USB thumb stick I plugged in from the front. But as soon as I'm not in safe mode, the driver problem is back. I booted Windows with virtually all services disabled but the error is there, only in safe mode where I can see all the drives.


Can someone help me with this? I'm sure the drives are not the problem since I tried them on other laptops and they work just fine.

:)

 

USB Devices not work - code 38

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you are receiving an error Code 38 for USB mass storage device. I’ll certainly help you with the issue.



The error code 38 states that Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. It is caused because the driver could not be loaded because a previous instance is still loaded.
For more information, see
Error codes in Device Manager in Windows.



I would suggest you to refer the troubleshooting steps mentioned below:



Method 1: Reboot your computer



The simplest way would be to reboot your computer and check if that helps.



Method 2: Rollback the driver



If the issue persists, I would suggest you to try rollback the driver and check. Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Press and hold the Windows key + X, and select
   Device manager.
   
2. In Device manager, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
   
3. Right click on USB Mass Storage device and select
   Properties.
   
4. Navigate to the Driver tab and click on
   Roll Back Driver.
   
5. Restart the computer.
   

Method 3: Reinstalling the driver



If the issue persists, I would suggest you to try reinstalling the driver and check. Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Press and hold the Windows key + X, and select
   Device manager.
   
2. In Device manager, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
   
3. Right click on the USB Mass Storage
   device and click on Uninstall.
   
4. Uncheck the box Delete the driver software for this device
   and click on OK.
   
5. Restart the computer.
   

Let us know how it goes.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

USB device problem. (Code 38)

Hello.

I have problem attaching USB devices.

When I attach USB flash drive or USB HDD or CD card I receive this error:

[table][tr][td]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.[/td][/tr][/table]

The interesting thing is that I have attached 2 USB devices that work: USB wireless dongle for mouse and external hard drive.

I tried uninstalling USB controller and then restart the laptop. The problem is still present.

I tried installing USB Fix from Microsoft. It couldn't solve the problem.

I think that the problem appears after the last Win Update.

OS: Windows 10 Pro, x64, v1809

HP ProBook 6560b

 

Error Code 38- Problem with USB Printers

I have visited Vinodh Kumar comments on Error Code 38...I had a problem for two days on my two printers with that code. Under Universal Serial Bus controllers,I have seven different Host controllers. Which one has to do with the printer problems? There
are over 20 items under USB controllers. I have the latest Wdos 10 program and he latest updates as of today.

* Moved from Community Participation Center

* Original title: Eror Code 38