Sometimes you may encounter technical issues in your flash drive while using it on your computer. You may see an error message on your screen in such cases saying, “Windows was unable to complete the format.” This happens when you try to format your USB drive to make it empty and clean all stuff inside it. Formatting a flash drive is also a great way to enhance its efficiency and lifespan. However, when you are unable to format your flash drive on a Windows computer, it could leave your USB drive useless. Suppose you are trying to format your USB drive, and you suspect this problem suddenly on your screen. How irritating could it be? It will stop you from using your flash drive if there is an error in it. In case you are unable to format it, this guide can help you out. Let’s find out how to fix it.
Format USB Drive via Disk Management
Windows disk management is a dedicated tool in the Windows operating system to let users manage all functions related to the system’s discs.
This utility might allow you to format your USB flash drive even though you cannot format it using the regular way.
- First of all, remember that this process will ruin everything that your USB flash drive stores.
- Press the Windows key on your keyboard.
- And then put in disk management.
- Select the best matching results.
- The disk management should appear on your screen.
- You will see that you can access different drives of your computer there.
- Find your USB drive that you are not able to format.
- Perform a right-click on it and then select the option that says Format.
- Select a volume label.
- After that, choose the appropriate file system for your USB drive. In most cases, you should click on the fat32 while choosing the file system.
- In the allocation unit size option, don’t make any changes.
- There would be an option that says, “perform a quick format.” You need to make sure that it is unchecked.
- Then hit the format button to start the process.
- If you were able to format your drive effectively, then it’s a pleasure for us as our guide helped you.
- In case you are still not able to format your drive, keep on reading further.
Turn Off Write Protection for Your USB flash drive
If you have enabled write protection on your USB drive accidentally or intentionally, you won’t be able to format it in the usual way. So before you begin formatting your drive, you first need to make sure that you have turned off write protection on your computer.
- First and foremost, strike the Windows + R keys on your keyboard at the same time.
- The Run dialogue box should show up on your screen, and you need to input the diskpart command into its textbox.
- After that, press the enter key on your keyboard to execute the command.
- It will then prompt you to confirm your decision.
- Just hit the yes button to continue.
- You will see the command prompt window on your screen.
- Enter the list disk and then strike the enter key on your keyboard to execute this command.
- It will show you the drive list of a computer. You will be able to see the size of each drive.
- Now you have to identify your removable USB drive by its size.
- As soon as you find it, input “select disc x” and then press enter.
- Now enter “attributes” of the disc.
- If you see “Yes” in the front of the “Current read only state,” it means your USB drive has the write protection.
- To remove it, please input “attributes disk clear readonly” and press enter.
- Type “exit” and hit the enter button to close a command prompt and save the settings.
- Restart your computer, and then check if you can format your drive now.
We hope these troubleshooting methods have helped you in fixing the error message reading “Windows was unable to complete the Format.”
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