Windows 10: Windows Update won't use space on usb drive

I have insufficient space on my C drive to install the latest WIN 10 feature update. I have inserted a 16gb thumb drive to enable the update. But my machine does not react. I have selected the usb drive D and clicked Next button which takes me to a 2nd screen Windows needs space to update. But when I click Refresh in the lower right corner, nothing happens. I have tried running the update troubleshooter and also performed the dism scan as suggested by several online pages. Neither has worked.

:)

 

Lost space of Pen Drive

Hello,

Thank you for bringing up your query on Microsoft Community.

We regret the inconvenience caused to you.

• 
  Have you tried connecting to a different computer?
  

I suggest you to connect the USB flash drive to a different computer and check.

First back up all the data from your USB drive to another location.

I suggest you to connect the USB flash drive to a different computer and check.

Let us try the following steps, and check if it helps.

Step 1: I suggest you to refresh the drive letter and then try to rescan the drives that are connect to the computer and check.

To refresh drive letter:

• Open Computer Management (Local).
• In the console tree, click Computer Management (Local), click
  Storage, and then click Disk Management.
  
• Click Action, and then click Refresh.
  
• Once you have refreshed connect the new zip drive and to update hardware information, click Rescan Disks instead.
  

Step 2: For unallocated space on USB drive

• 
  Press the Windows key, and type Diskpart.
  
• 
  Click the result to open the DiskPart command prompt window.
  
• 
  In the command prompt window, type list disk and hit Enter.
  
• 
  The removable USB drive or hard disk will be shown under
  Disk 1.
  
• 
  Type in the following commands and hit Enter.
  

select disk 1

Clean

create partition primary

• 
  The first command selects your removable USB drive.
  
• 
  The Clean command deletes all the current partitions present on the USB drive.
  
• 
  The Create primary partition creates a fresh partition and allocates all the unallocated space on this fresh partition.
  
• 
  Type Exit to close the command prompt window.
  
• 
  Unplug your USB drive and plug it back again.
  

Hope it helps.

Let us know the status, we are glad to assist you further.

 

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.

 

Installing windows off of a USB stick

Step By Step from vista:
From admin cmd prompt

1. diskpart
1a. list disk
2. select disk 1 (replace 1 with your usb drive)
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1 (replace 1 with your usb drive)
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

Copy Windows Vista's DVD ROM content to the Flash Drive

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\ (d being your vista cd and e being your usb stick)

And that's it, boot off your usb disk