Windows 10: USB drive won't auto-assign letter - can't deactivate partition attribute hidden

When I plug in a particular USB hard drive it doesn't get a drive letter assigned automatically. I've tried it on a couple of Windows 10 computers - same deal.


There is only one partition on the drive, and I have discovered that the partition attribute 'hidden' is active on it, but when I try to deactivate it using 'attributes volume clear hidden' it just says there's been an error, and the system log shows this: 'Unexpected failure. Error code: 1@01010015'.


Someone help, please, before I throw the whole lot at a wall. Hard. Thanks.

:)

 

help. USB drive isn't assigned a drive letter.

Any usb flash drive I plug into my computer isn't assigned a drive letter. The physical drive shows in the "safely remove hardware" but it doesnt show up in disk management. I have tried to populate the volume thru the safely remove hardware properties window and it does pop up in the list but it doesn't stay there. This isn't a format or assign a letter problem. It's more complicated then that. Maybe one of the services needed for usb drive management was disabled? Suggestions needed. btw external usb harddrives work fine.

 

help. USB drive isn't assigned a drive letter.

maybe your USB drive is trying to assign a drive letter that is already taken.

goto

start > control panel > administrative tools > computer manager > disk manager

find your USB drive and assign is a drive letter

 

Drive letters are not available for assigning to unallocated space

Hello Sjoerd,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



The reason the drive letters are not available to assign are because they might have been assigned to devices which are removed or hidden. I suggest you to check for any hidden devices and remove them to assign the missing drive letters.



Follow the steps mentioned below to check for the hidden or removed devices.

1. Press Windows key + R. This will open
   Run. Alternatively, you can go to Start and search for Run.
   
2. In Run dialog box, type
   devmgmt.msc and hit enter.
   
3. Click on the view tab at the top left hand corner.
   
4. Now select View hidden devices.
   
5. Now look for the hidden devices under storage volumes and
   portable devices.
   
6. Right click on the hidden devices and click on
   uninstall.
   
7. Restart the PC.
   

After restarting the PC, try assigning the drive letter to the unallocated drive and check if the drive letters D, E, F, G, and H appears.



Hope it helps.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator