Why Won't My USB Show Up on My PC?

Sometimes, that doesnt quite happen.

Whered my USB go?

Lifehacker readerJohnWwrites:

Right now I have a usb flash drive that isnt being recognized by my pc.

I plugged it into several different ports and no dice.

I plugged it into another pc and it recognized it fine.

I tried uninstalling and doing the scan for hardware changes but no dice.

First, Im going to assume this is a Windows issue.

Ive experienced this problem before on Microsofts OS, but never on a Mac.

(Not to say it isnt possible; I just havent run into it.)

Perhaps your USB portsare damagedor your systems controller has simply died.

If so, thats nothing you might (or should probably) fix yourself.

Youre going to need to contact your computers manufacturer for warranty service, assuming youre still covered.

The first thing Id try would be to tell Windows to manually scan for USB devices.

hit your computers name, hit the Action menu, and click Scan for hardware changes.

(Were you having issues with something like a USB printer, thats a different story.)

Installing those might also fix the problem.

(you could also find Computer Management under your regular Control Panel.)

Once there, look for the Storage section in the left sidebar and hit Disk Management.

Does your USB key appear in the list of storage devices?

Does it have a drive letter?

Try assigning it one (or changing its drive letter) by right-clicking on the partition.

Finally, its possible that your USB flash drive is simply broken.

Plug it into another desktop or laptop you own, or even a friends systemis it working?

Can you access your files?

If not, your unit might be the culprit, not your box.

Time to go shopping for a new USB drive!