What is the reason why Windows standard tools fail to format a flash drive sometimes?

Windows standard tools may fail to format a flash drive because the drive may be corrupted or damaged, the file system may be unsupported, or the drive may be write-protected.

How can you determine if your flash drive needs to be formatted or if it has another issue?

If your flash drive is not being recognized by your computer, you can try connecting it to another computer or using a different USB port. If the flash drive is still not being recognized, then it may need to be formatted. You can check the device manager to see if the flash drive is listed and if it has any errors associated with it. If there are errors, then the flash drive may need to be reformatted or replaced.

What are the steps involved in using the Diskpart utility to format a flash drive?

Insert the flash drive into a USB port on your computer. Open the Diskpart utility by typing “diskpart” into the Windows search bar and selecting the “Diskpart” program. Type “list disk” and press enter to view a list of all available disks. Type “select disk #”, where # is the number of the disk corresponding to your flash drive. Type “clean” and press enter to erase all existing partitions on the disk. Type “create partition primary” and press enter to create a new partition on the disk. Type “format fs=ntfs quick” and press enter to format the partition as NTFS. Type “assign” and press enter to assign a drive letter to the partition. Type “exit” and press enter to close the Diskpart utility.

How can you use the Windows Registry to fix the 'Windows was unable to complete the format' error?

Open the Registry Editor by pressing the Windows key + R, typing regedit and pressing Enter. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStorageDevicePolicies Right-click on the StorageDevicePolicies key and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value WriteProtect and set its value to 0. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. Try to format the drive again.

What is the difference between a quick format and a full format, and which one should you choose?

A quick format is a process that deletes the files and folders on a hard drive, but does not scan the drive for bad sectors. It is much faster than a full format and is generally used when reinstalling an operating system. A full format, on the other hand, scans the drive for bad sectors, then erases the entire contents of the drive, including any hidden files. It is a much more thorough process and should be used when setting up a new drive or if you suspect there are bad sectors on the drive.

How to Format Your Flash Drive When Windows Tools Fail

Author: Vladimir Artiukh
Editor: Oleg Afonin
Updated: 8.05.2024 14:50

Discover the ultimate guide to formatting your flash drive when standard Windows tools fail in this comprehensive tutorial. If you’ve encountered difficulties completing the format using built-in Windows utilities, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with expert solutions and alternative methods to ensure your flash drive is formatted effectively.

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Nowadays every PC user has a USB flash drive. Sometimes they need to be formatted, for example, when changing the file system, when encountering errors or just when you need to delete all files.

Usually, this operation is quick to perform, but sometimes you can see an error message saying: “Windows was unable to complete the format.”

Error: Windows was unable to complete the format

Let us have a look at several ways to perform formatting and repair the flash drive.

Contents

Formatting With Windows Disk Management

Often you can format a flash drive without turning to third-party utilities but by using Windows disk manager.

To launch it go to Windows Control Panel, then switch to “Administrative Tools” and click on “Computer Management”.

Then go to Disk Management tab. In the list of all drives available you should see the flash drive (which you have trouble formatting). Right-click you mouse on the drive and select the menu line “Format.”

How to Format Your Flash Drive if Windows Standard Tools Cannot Complete The Format

Formatting With Command Prompt

In this case you should launch the command prompt with administrator rights.

Right-click your mouse on Start menu and select Command Prompt (Admin).

Then enter a simple command: “format f:” (type in without quotation marks where “f:” is the drive letter).

Low-level formatting

An inscription on the flash drive case always specifies manufacturer name, memory size and sometimes the speed: USB 2.0 (3.0). In addition, every flash drive has its own specific controller and knowing about it, you can try to perform low-level formatting.

To determine the controller model, there are two parameters: VID and PID (vendor ID and Product ID, respectively). When you know VID and PID you can find a utility to repair and format your flash drive. Yet you should be careful: flash drives by one manufacturer and in one model range can still have different controllers!

After that, just search for a flash drive format utility (a sample query: “silicon power VID 13FE PID 3600”) using Yandex or Google. As you find the utility you need, launch it to format the flash drive (if you did everything right, there shouldn’t be any problems).

Yet before you start low-level formatting you should understand it means erasing all user information without a chance to restore it. That is, the part of the drive where data is contained will be cleaned completely. Standard Windows formatting does not do that but only applies quick formatting which is basically remarking your drive.

It is quite a common variant which can help you to repair flash drives by almost any manufacturer.

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