Over the past few years, flash storage media have become very popular and are used by us literally every day, due to their advantages over disk storage media. It is hardly possible to overestimate the usefulness of flash media, because you can quickly write or read information on it, it does not take up much space in a briefcase or bag, and price segment pleasantly pleases.

Despite all the positive aspects, sometimes situations occur when you cannot read the data due to the flash drive or computer itself. After all, at the very important point you may lose access to stored files, and to quickly return everything to normal you need to have certain knowledge. In this article we will analyze all possible problem situations and find ways to solve why the computer does not see the flash drive.

The most common problems why the computer does not see the flash drive:

The flash drive itself does not work

This is the worst situation for a person whose documents are stored on a flash drive, because it is almost impossible to bring it back to life. A flash drive can be damaged by mechanical impact on the device chip or its controller, by shorting electrical circuit, damage to the contacts on the USB board. This is what a flash drive looks like after the electrical circuit is closed or moisture gets inside the drive.

It is quite easy to determine whether this happened to your drive. The very first thing you need to do is check the flash drive for mechanical damage, chips, cracks, etc. If it is completely broken, you can look for a replacement at a computer peripherals store. If you doubt its inoperability, you can check it using a practical method.

Connect the flash drive to the USB connector of the computer, if the LED on it lights up and you hear a sound on the computer that is typical for connecting a new device, then everything is in order, it makes sense to look for the problem further. If this does not happen, the flash drive is most likely no longer suitable for use.

You can try to take the flash drive to service center, where the technician will try to resolder the contacts or replace the controller, but it will be very expensive, and this action will be justified only if you store important documents on it. If no fatal malfunction was detected and the flash drive shows signs of life, try the methods to restore its functionality, which will be described below.

The USB port on the front panel of the computer is de-energized

This problem is very common among desktop PC users. Most computer owners are accustomed to inserting a flash drive into the front USB ports, because it’s fast and convenient.

But there is a situation when, during PC assembly, for some reason the front panel is not connected to the power system; usually this happens due to the forgetfulness of the computer technician. Accordingly, your flash drive will not be displayed, despite its full serviceability.

This problem can be solved in two ways. If you urgently need to use information on removable media, you can connect it to the back panel of your computer. The front connectors will still remain inoperative, but you will have access to documents. Such manipulations cannot be called a full-fledged solution, so let’s consider the second option.

Method No. 2 involves connecting the power cable on the motherboard to the front panel of the computer. Depending on the computer case model, the connection connectors may differ. But don’t be afraid, they all have markings and you won’t be able to connect the wrong connector due to design features. The most common wire types are “VCC”, “D-”, “D+” and “GND”. Moreover, the color markings of the cable and the connector on the motherboard are the same, but it is better to keep a guide by the inscriptions.

The first step is to gain access to the motherboard; to do this, unscrew the mounting bolts on the case and remove the cover. Find the cable that leads to the front panel and find the same connector on the motherboard. In the image below you can see what the connector should look like.

It is not recommended to make the connection yourself; it is better to call a specialist. If you connect the cable and connector incorrectly, you can burn these contacts and even devices. If you decide to connect front USB connectors, then it is better to tell us the model of your case and motherboard, and we will tell you how to do it correctly and explain what the connector and cable look like.

The USB port on the computer is faulty or disabled

Sometimes the problem of unreadability of information on removable media is not related to the problem of the flash drive itself, but to the connector into which it is connected. A certain USB port may not be working, and this condition can be caused by simple damage to the connector contacts. Then not only the flash drive, but also other USB devices will not work in this port.

Decide this problem you can, armed with a regular soldering iron and minimal knowledge of circuit design. If you don’t have such knowledge, skills and equipment, then it can be fixed at the nearest service center for a low fee.

However, if there is no reaction to USB connection device is not observed on all connectors, then the problem may lie deeper. Ports can be disabled in BIOS settings.

In order to connect ports in the BIOS menu, you need to get there initially. To enter the BIOS in the first seconds of booting the computer, you need to press the corresponding key on the keyboard, which is responsible for calling up the menu. Most often, the default key is F2 or Del, but depending on the motherboard brand and BIOS version, it may be different. It is indicated in the first image that pops up when loading.

After you have entered the BIOS itself, we need to go through the following route: “”.

Find the line “USB Controller”, so that you are allowed to use the ports, the value opposite should be “Enabled”.

Once you have enabled the USB ports on your computer, press the F10 key. This will save your settings and exit the BIOS.

The USB flash drive connector is dirty

Flash drive is mobile device storing information and is therefore often carried in pockets, briefcases or as a keychain. Due to such operating conditions, dust and small debris may accumulate in the connector. This does not happen often, but it can cause the flash drive to malfunction. Dust and small debris accumulate on the contact and prevent connection from the contacts in the port on the computer. Such a flash drive may not only not be displayed at all, but also freeze, transfer or read information slowly and may not be detected the first time.

To clean the USB connector of a flash drive, arm yourself with a match and a cotton swab. Using a match, remove all debris from the connector, and then moisten a cotton swab with alcohol and wipe the contacts of the flash drive. This way you will rid it of debris and oxidation.

Virus infection

Nowadays, the issue of storage device security is becoming more and more urgent, because viruses are in full force. You can visit your usual site social network on the Internet and get infected, not to mention downloading files from unverified sources.

Modern computer viruses They can also reproduce, no matter how strange it may sound. They infect files located on your flash drive or computer hard drive, and their number grows exponentially.

Very often, the problem of a flash drive not working is infection with viruses. The drive is detected by the system, you can hear the characteristic sound of connecting the device to the system, but when you try to read the information, you will see the message “” or “ Application not found».

Before solving this problem, you should install anti-virus software on your computer and conduct a full diagnostic of the files. To access the data on the drive, we need to delete the file with the virus and scan it. To do this, go to the “Start” menu and enter the following phrase “” in the search line.

Click on the found element with the left mouse button. You will see an open window called “Folder Options”, here you need to do the following:

• Uncheck the " Hide protected system files»
• Check the box ""

After this, be sure to press the “Apply” button and only after that “Ok”, otherwise the changes will not take effect. It should look like this.

After that, go to “My Computer” and go to the folder of the drive itself. There you will see the “Autorun” file, you need to delete it, and check the flash drive for viruses with one of free antiviruses, the Dr.WEB Cure It utility can handle this perfectly.

Now you can fully use the flash drive and no problems should arise. If nothing has changed, then the problem lies in the lack of drivers; we’ll look at it below.

Drivers failing or using outdated drivers

A very common problem is when the computer does not want to display the flash drive due to outdated drivers or their system failure. The failure may occur due to a power surge or unexpected shutdown of the operating system. Or older computer models may not work with drives with a capacity of 32 GB or more. One thing can be said, the problem can only be solved by updating the drivers.

The first thing you need to do is go to "". You can do this in several ways, for example, through “My Computer" or find this section in the system search, which is what we will do.

We go to this menu, after which we connect the flash drive to the computer, after which we open the “USB controllers” subtab. Select the line " Memory device", right-click to open system menu and click “Delete”.

Such manipulations allow you to remove the drivers installed on the system for your storage device. As soon as you remove it, feel free to remove the flash drive from your computer and connect it again. Then the driver for the flash drive will be installed again and the problem will be solved.

If the problem is not solved, you may need to update the drivers for all USB chipsets; this is quite easy to do. You can use the special disk that came with the motherboard; all the necessary drivers are recorded on it. If you don’t have it, download the DriverPack program, it will automatically select all the drivers for which there is an update and carry out this procedure after your agreement.

Moreover, most users have doubts about the correctness of their actions when they learn about the different USB formats. Don't be scared!

Drivers for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 are installed according to the same principle. And the only difference between the ports is the maximum speed of reading and writing information.

File system errors

The computer may also not recognize your flash device due to file system errors. Let’s check if this is true, go to “”, how to do this was described above. Now you need to open the subtab " Disk devices“If you see your flash drive there, it means it is working, and the file system does not perceive it as it should, and, accordingly, does not display it in Explorer. In my case, the flash drive was displayed, which means it is working.

To fix this problem, you must format your flash drive, but this action has several nuances, so we will consider this process in the next paragraph of the article.

If you don’t see your drive there, then the problem lies in the malfunction of the flash drive itself, which means either the controller is burned out or the contact has become unsoldered. Specialists at service centers can try to bring it back to life. However, this is an expensive exercise; it’s easier to buy a new one, of course, if the faulty one was not recorded important information and you need to recover the data on the flash drive.

File system conflict

Quite often, the contents of a flash drive are not displayed due to a conflict between the file systems on the computer and the removable media itself. For example, if the computer operates on a file NTFS system and the flash drive uses FAT32, a conflict situation is possible. Moreover, this problem is common not only in Windows environment, but also Mac OS. For example, if you format a flash drive on your Mac device to ExFAT or the standard MacBook file system, the flash drive is unlikely to be readable on Windows devices.

The very first thing you need to do is find a computer that uses a different file system, open the flash drive and save the information that is important to you, because after formatting it will be lost.

To solve this problem, we need to carry out the process of formatting the flash drive. First you need to find out what file system is used on your computer. Go to “My computer”, right-click on the hard drive, open the submenu and select “Properties” in it.

In the window that opens, you will see information about the free and used amount of disk space, and also find out what file system is used. In my case, the NTFS system is used.

After you know the file system of the computer, we need to format the flash drive into the same system. To do this, right-click on the flash drive and open the “Format” tab.

In the tab that opens, select the file system into which we will format, check the box next to the “Fast” attribute and click “Start”.

A few words about why we use the “Fast” attribute. Firstly, formatting a flash drive will happen much faster. But there is another side to the coin. If there were any documents on the flash drive, then only with quick formatting can you restore this data using special utilities. If you do not check the box, then the information that was on the flash drive will be lost forever.

The flash drive is not formatted

A fairly common problem is when you insert a flash drive into your computer (usually a new flash drive and its first use), and the operating system gives you a warning that states that the removable drive needs to be formatted before use. And if the flash drive has been used before and there is data recorded on it, then there is no way to access it. Moreover, the volume of the flash drive becomes 0, i.e. as if there was nothing there at all, not even a storage device.

If you have already used a flash drive and this is not the first time you have connected it, then try connecting it to another computer, perhaps the problem will go away and you will be able to save the data. But in any case, the flash drive must be formatted. How to do this was discussed in detail in the “File system conflict” section.

But I want to draw your attention to two points. To avoid problems with the file system (FS) after formatting, find out what FS is used on the computer and install the same one for the drive. And secondly, if the flash drive had the information you needed, then be sure to use the “Quick” attribute, so the flash drive will be formatted only according to the table of contents, and the lost information can be returned using special utilities.

There is a problem with the partition or the flash drive is automatically assigned a busy letter

There are situations when the operating system does not correctly detect your removable media. Everything seems to be fine, the device connection is displayed and a flash drive icon appears in the tray, but there is no way to use it for its intended purpose.

The problem may be that the system has not assigned the partition a letter under which the removable drive will appear, or it has assigned it, but this letter is already occupied, and this results in an address conflict.

The solution to this problem will be to force the assignment of the partition letter that we choose; everything happens manually. So let's get started.

First of all, you need to hold down the key combination “Win ​​+ R", a window will open in front of you with the name “Run".

In the line we need to enter a simple command diskmgmt.msc, which will take us to the disk and storage management section.

In the storage media manager that opens, we need to identify our USB device. This can be done simply, disconnect the flash drive and connect it again, the partition that first disappears and then appears is what we need.

In my case, the flash drive is a drive with the name “20151114_17”, you can also identify it by a special icon. Now you need to right-click on it and select “Change letter” in the menu that opens.

Now another additional window will open in front of us, a smaller one. In it you need to click on the button “Change” and “Ok”.

Now another auxiliary window will open, where you must select any letter of the English alphabet, and after clicking on the “Ok” button, the letter will be assigned to the section.

It is worth paying attention to one important point! When choosing a letter to assign to a partition of your flash drive, look at which letters are already in use by the system. This is very important, because we may not fix the problem, but leave it. This will happen if, for example, you designate a flash drive partition with the letter “D”, which is already assigned to the local disk.

Malfunction of the power supply or excessive current overload of the USB portal

This problem is very common these days. The fact is that the computer may simply not see the flash drive due to a faulty power supply. Let's look at it in order, the power supply consumes electrical energy from the network, and then converts and distributes it to all nodes of the computer. It has a power limit, for example, a 400W power supply will not be able to give you 600W. This means that the consumption of the entire system must be balanced.

This problem may appear if you have recently replaced some important component in the system, let it be the processor. Now it consumes much more energy compared to the past, which means it simply doesn’t reach somewhere, and in this case, that “somewhere” is the computer’s USB network. Accordingly, the energy consumption parameter must be calculated in advance, and if such a situation has already occurred, you will have to replace the power supply with a more powerful one.

Moreover, the problem may lie in a malfunction of the power supply; it may produce much less power potential than stated, and than it produced before. You will not be able to solve this problem, since you risk the performance of the entire computer. The only solution is to replace the power supply.

There is one more feature this issue. Recently, USB devices for computers have become very common; let’s say the following devices are now powered: a cup warming mat, a table lamp, wireless mouse, removable HDD, and in addition, the smartphone is also charging. And you want to connect a flash drive, but bad luck, the computer sees it. The fact is that there was an overcurrent on the USB ports. Those. All your devices already consume the maximum amount of current and you will not be able to connect another one. Therefore, to use a flash drive, you need to disconnect several devices from the computer’s USB ports and then the problem will disappear.

If the computer does not see the flash drive in Windows XP

There are many reasons why a flash drive may not be detected in Windows system XP. Moreover, the problem may lie in the operating system itself, or in a faulty flash drive, or even in the computer hardware.

If the problem is related to the operating system, then it can only be eliminated by making additional changes in the settings; this is best done manually, despite the abundance of special utilities that can help in this matter.

However, if the drive itself is faulty, then the only thing you can do is try to save the data recorded on it. And after that, purchase a new and more reliable device.

If your computer cannot detect the flash drive, it notifies the user with the following signals:

• Your flash drive is inserted and you try to access the data on it, the message “Insert disk” pops up.
• The system notifies you that the drive must be formatted for further use.
• Errors appear about the impossibility of gaining access to data.
• The system may freeze as soon as you plug the USB flash drive into the computer's USB port.

In this section we will look at all the most common reasons for the non-functionality of a flash drive in Windows XP and give practical recommendations by their decision. Carefully read the description of the problem, if it is not similar to yours or its solution did not help you, move on to the next point until the problem goes away. The first thing you need to do is try to determine whether the flash drive is working. This is indicated by a light indicator located on it. If you connect the drive and it blinks or lights up, then the flash drive is working and the problem lies either in the system or hardware of the computer.

Try changing the port into which you connect the flash drive or even the computer; perhaps only the port or the entire system is faulty, but on another PC the flash drive will work properly. For example, if, when connecting a flash drive to a port, you observe a complete system freeze, this means that this port is faulty and it is better not to use it.

If you are using USB hubs or extenders and the flash drive is not displayed, perhaps the problem lies in the device itself, and not the flash drive. If this turns out to be the case, you can take the hub to a service center or try to repair it yourself. To do this you will need a soldering iron, solder and a little experience, because most often you just need to solder one or two contacts and everything will work as expected.

Perhaps the problem lies in the lack electric current in the USB port system. To check this, you need to disconnect all USB devices on the computer (camera, printer, lamp, etc.), leaving only the keyboard and mouse. If after such manipulations the flash drive appears in the system and you can access it, then the problem lies in a weak power supply. This problem can only be solved by replacing the power supply with a more powerful one, but using USB hub with its own energy source.

However, if the problem is not resolved after disconnecting all other devices, it may still be actual problem with insufficient power supply and an outdated USB port. In other words, on older laptops you will not be able to open a flash drive with a capacity of 36 GB or larger. There is no way to solve the problem; you can only buy a more modern laptop or computer.

A very common situation occurs when the user connects a flash drive to the front port of the PC, but the system does not see it. This means that the ports are not connected to the power supply on the motherboard, or too little power is allocated to them. You can connect the front panel yourself using the instructions located above in the section of the same name.

Can't see the flash drive due to Windows XP errors. Troubleshooting

The flash drive may also not be detected due to operating system errors. For example, Windows XP SP2 lacks updates and software packages that provide normal USB operation devices. Moreover, it is possible that only several USB devices can work in one port.

The solution to this issue will be to update the system to SP3 and install necessary updates. Even a new user can do this, since we only need a couple of clicks, and the system will automatically download, install and launch the update. So, let's get started, we can move in two ways - this is the official download from Windows Update or installing SP3 from a disk or flash drive. The first step is to check which package you already have installed.

Click on the “My Computer” icon with the right mouse button and select “Properties”. The following window will open in front of you, where information about your system will be indicated.

To install SP3, we need to allow the operating system to search and update the computer system. To do this, just go from the Control Panel to Windows Update.

As soon as you do this, the system will begin searching for updates, after which it will offer you to update everything at once or select only the ones you need. If you don't understand what update changes what, then it's better to let the system update completely.

After downloading all the updates, the operating system will require you to restart your computer to apply the new settings. Click “Ok” and wait patiently. That's all, now you can connect the flash drive and use it.

If you decide to choose the updates that should be installed, and not download them all automatically, then here is a guideline that will help improve your experience USB drive th system.

Driver conflicts in Windows XP

There is also the problem of driver conflict. The fact is that some outdated drivers can cause errors at the system level, moreover, they can prevent the normal operation of new drivers. A striking example of such a problem is a situation when a user inserts a flash drive into a computer, tries to access the data on it, and the system immediately displays an error message asking to insert the disk. Or, the system simply freezes, and even assigning an existing letter to a flash drive partition is possible.

The reason for such errors is as follows. Let's say you have two flash drives, you connected one of them to the system. In automatic mode, all necessary drivers for this device are immediately installed. You have made the necessary manipulations to write or read files and removed the drive. After that, you insert a second flash drive, which is completely working, and one of the above errors pops up. This means that the system is trying to use the already installed driver from the first flash drive to launch the second, but they are not compatible.

Reinstalling Windows XP drivers for USB devices

This problem can be easily resolved in several ways. Reinstalling drivers automatically or manually. Let's look at a little theory: a driver from one USB device can be mistakenly used by the system to launch another USB device. To eliminate these problems, we need to first remove all existing drivers for USB drives, and then reinstall them.

Such a problem may display the message “USB device not recognized,” or unexplained processes occur at the system level that block access to data or cause the system to freeze.

Remove via DriveCleanup

You can effectively remove all existing drivers for USB devices using the DriveCleanup utility. Its advantage is that it searches the entire system for installed drivers and only after that deletes them.

First of all, turn off the computer and disconnect all USB devices from it in order to avoid conflict situations while the program is running. Turn on the PC, go to the official website of the program and download the executable file. The utility is compatible with any version of Windows, including different bitmaps. When downloading, pay attention to the file version.

Automatic installation

You have removed all drivers from your computer. In order for a device to function normally, the operating system must have drivers for it. Process automatic installation The driver is incredibly simple, you just need to connect the USB flash drive to the USB port, after which the installation will begin immediately. A window will pop up that will display the installation progress; on some systems this may occur in a mode invisible to the user. Within one to two minutes, the installation will be completed and you will be able to use the device.

Manual installation

Under manual installation This means installing drivers not directly from the storage medium itself. We can also install drivers for a flash drive from third-party Internet resources, but to avoid conflict situations, we will install drivers for a flash drive using another computer.

So, we take our problematic flash drive and insert it into another computer, where it is recognized. A necessary condition for this process is coincidence Windows versions on both computers. We use the system search and find two files.

We transfer them to the problem computer by any means, be it sending by mail or using other removable media. You need to place these files in a folder with the same path that was on the first computer and confirm the replacement when the corresponding window pops up. We reboot the computer and enjoy its performance with FLASH disks.

We looked at only the most common reasons why a flash drive is not visible on the computer. In fact, there are many more of them. Moreover, there are problems that are expressed by other system messages, and their solution is already described in the paragraphs of the article.

The “Insert disk” message appears even if the flash drive is already connected to the USB port

This system error occurs when drivers overlap each other and interfere with the normal functioning of USB devices. In order to fix this error, you need to remove all drivers for USB devices and install them again. This process is described step by step in this article.

Message about the need to format the disk

This message appears if you are using a flash drive for the first time or if it has experienced a system failure. In addition to the message, you can make sure that it is not suitable for use, because it does not display either free space or occupied space. The solution to this issue is described in detail in paragraphs 8 and 9.

Data error message

This problem occurs in 3 cases. This is a driver conflict, a file system conflict, and a failure of the flash drive itself. It can be solved by reinstalling the drivers; if that doesn’t help, then do a quick format to preserve the ability to recover data on the flash drive. Step-by-step instructions are above.

Complete system freeze immediately after connecting the flash drive to the computer

This issue has already been discussed in the article, but I would like to point out that this error can occur for two reasons:

1. Driver conflict.
2. Faulty port.

It’s easy to check what problem you have, insert the flash drive into another port, if the freeze continues, it means there’s a problem with the drivers. Instructions and tips for reinstalling them were given as part of this article.

Why does the computer not see the flash drive when the indicator on it is lit?

The contact on the flash drive, which is responsible for transmitting information, may be damaged. A driver conflict and the assignment of a busy letter to a partition cannot be ruled out. If the problem does not go away after connecting the flash drive to another computer, try checking the availability of the partition. If everything is fine here, then reinstall the drivers and the flash drive will work.

Error 43 / Error 43

This error immediately stops reading information from a removable device, which means we won’t be able to immediately access the data. There are several problems that can cause Error 43.

• The malfunction of the device itself is the first of them. Check on another computer to see if this situation happens again.
• Driver conflict - solution described above.
• Updating the hardware configuration - simply roll back the driver version in the Task Manager.

conclusions

We have reviewed in detail the reasons that may prevent a computer from reading a flash drive and the information on it. Described solutions with step by step instructions They will definitely help you get rid of this problem. An unreadable flash drive can be a death sentence only if the flash drive is faulty. In other situations, this is an easily reversible process. If you have any questions or couldn’t find a solution to your problem in the article, leave a comment and we’ll try to clarify the situation together.

Sometimes there are quite unpleasant situations when the operating system crashes. And to restore you need the original disk. If you don’t have one available, you can write the image to a regular flash drive. But here's the problem - what to do when the BIOS does not allow booting from a flash drive? Many users simply do not know what to do and are lost in this matter. Let's try to dot all the i's.

How to enable it in BIOS using the simplest method?

To set these parameters, you must first decide how exactly you will enter the BIOS. The most common way is to use the Del, F2, F12, etc. keys.

However, on the same Sony laptops Vaio is accessed using a special ASSIST button located on the keyboard panel. On some laptops, the BIOS can only be accessed by calling the primary boot menu using the Esc key.

How can I set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive? Yes, very simple. After calling the I/O system, you need to go to the boot section. Here you need to find the boot priority line, which may have different names, depending on the developer and manufacturer of the BIOS ( Boot Device Priority, Boot Sequence, etc.). In any case, something like this will be present. But that's not the point.

What to do if the BIOS does not allow booting from a flash drive?

It also happens that the bootable flash drive is not recognized by the primary I/O system. With what it can be connected? There are usually several reasons for this:

• incorrectly recorded image or installation distribution;
• damage to the USB drive itself.

To make sure that all the steps for booting from a flash drive are completed correctly, there are several steps you need to take. For now, let’s leave the question of how to enable booting from a flash drive in the BIOS in the background, and move on to pressing problems.

Checking in Device Manager

Let's start with the last point. When checking the device itself for its functionality, there can be two options: either it is faulty itself, or the accompanying driver responsible for recognizing the flash drive by the operating system is missing or installed incorrectly.

In case of malfunctions everything is clear. The device will simply have to be replaced. But what to do when it is in working condition (at least detected on another computer or laptop)? We need to check its functionality. And to do this, in the simplest version, you just need to insert it into the appropriate USB 2.0/3.0 port, and then call the standard “Device Manager” through the “Control Panel” or use the devmgmt command in the “Run” menu bar (Win + R).

Let's assume that after inserting it into the port, it may either not be displayed in the manager or be displayed with a yellow icon on which it is present. In the second case, everything is simple: you need to install or re-install the driver. It may very well be that the system itself does not find a suitable driver, although it should do this automatically. But this mostly applies to non-standard devices. Flash drives like Transcend are usually recognized immediately.

If the device is not displayed in the corresponding manager, there may also be two reasons: either the corresponding driver is not installed universal USB controller, or the port itself is faulty. Again, you should install the driver (the controller is indicated in yellow or is not in the manager at all), or try to plug the flash drive into a different port. It is worth considering that if a device is designed exclusively for data transfer with USB 3.0 support, it will not be detected when connected to a standard 2.0 port.

Formatting USB device partitions

Let’s leave aside the question of how to boot from a flash drive in the BIOS for now, and let’s move on to the procedures, without which even recording an image to install the system on the device may be in vain.

First of all, if the device has problems in operation or no action can be taken with it, you should first format it. In this case, it is not advisable to quickly clear the table of contents, but rather complete formatting. Only in this case will the file system contained on it ensure correct data transfer and reading.

This operation is performed in standard Explorer. On the device you just need to right-click and select the appropriate line from the menu. In the new window, be sure to uncheck the “bird” from the line quick formatting, and then activate the start of the process. Depending on the total volume, this may take a long time.

Creating a bootable distribution

If we consider the question of how to set boot from a flash drive in the BIOS even more broadly, we cannot ignore the issue of creating boot image and transferring it to the drive. This can be done using the UltraISO utility or similar.

However, the original installer must be used as the source. Windows disk. Actually, it’s not that difficult, so there’s no point in dwelling on this in detail. And if the BIOS does not allow booting from a flash drive, in the future it all comes down to correctly transferring the image or unpacked distribution files to the drive. Here you will have to tinker a little.

Media preparation

In case of use own funds system, even after formatting the USB device, you need to perform a number of additional actions (it is assumed that the image has already been created with original disc using the same UltraISO programs or even 7-Zip, and the flash drive is in working condition and connected to a computer or laptop).

First, call the command line (cmd in the “Run” menu), always on behalf of the system administrator. In the console that appears, enter and press the enter button.

After this, use the list disk command, again, followed by pressing the Enter key, after which we look through the available disks and remember the USB device number. To accurately check the USB drive number, you can use the diskmgmt.msc command entered in the Run menu.

Now in the console you need to enter select command disk and specify the number of the disk you are looking for, separated by a space. Next, the device should be cleared of its contents using the clean command.

The next step is to create a primary boot partition. This is done using the create partition primary command followed by entering. After confirmation of a successful operation appears on the screen, use the select partition 1 command, then - active (to activate the selected partition) and finally - format fs=ntfs quick for formatting with selection If you need to create a FAT32 file system, use a similar format fs command =fat32 quick.

The next step is to assign a name to the device using the assign command (the name will be assigned automatically). Finally, enter exit and finish the job. The bootable USB device is ready to use. All that remains is to correctly transfer the distribution files to it.

Transferring data to a flash drive

At this stage, no configuration will be required. We don’t yet need a BIOS to boot from a flash drive, but we will need the 7-Zip program. In the very simple version with its help you can correctly copy installation files to the media (roughly speaking, extract them from the image).

We launch the Zip File Manager utility from the standard “Explorer”, then select the installation distribution image previously created or downloaded from the Internet, specify the flash drive as the final device and confirm the actions by pressing the OK button. At the end of the process, the media will be completely ready for use.

Start download

Now let’s move on to the question of how to set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive directly. We reboot the system and at the initial stage press a key or key combination to enter the BIOS settings. Usually these are Del, F2, F12 (for ASUS laptops, BIOS loading from a flash drive is done this way), but other keys or combinations described above can also be used. Depending on the manufacturer of the equipment, you may first need to call up the main menu. This situation is typical for laptops like HP - booting from a flash drive (BIOS) is installed somewhat differently, although the operations themselves are very similar.

In the boot section, look for the Boot Device Priority item and look at the line 1-st Boot Device. By pressing the PgDn key, we select the desired device, after which we exit and save the parameters (as a rule, this is done using the F10 key). This is followed by a reboot, and the installation starts automatically.

However, it is not enough to know how to select boot from a flash drive in the BIOS. It is important to remember that you should call up the settings of the primary I/O system only when a USB device is connected before starting to boot your computer or laptop. Otherwise, the flash drive simply will not be detected.

How to fix problems?

Now let's look at a situation where the device seems to be working, since all the steps described above were supposedly performed correctly, but in fact there is still no boot from a flash drive in the BIOS. What to do in this case?

We use the same command line. Let's assume that the USB device in the system is designated by the letter F, and optical drive- E. Now you need to enter the command E:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 F: (F is a flash drive in our case, and E is a disk drive).

Alternative method

If this does not work, enter the following one by one:

F:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 F:

After this, everything will definitely work as expected.

Compatibility issues

If none of the above methods help, first you should pay attention to the state of the drivers. In the very optimal option You can use programs like Driver Booster, which can update drivers automatically.

If everything is fine with them, the reason may be that the user is trying to install a 32-bit system over a 64-bit one. In addition, the file system on the USB drive and the installation distribution may also differ in terms of bit depth. In fact, the flash drive itself may not support the USB 3.0 ports into which it is plugged in. Here you need to be very careful.

Instead of a total

That, in fact, is all that concerns how to set boot from a flash drive in the BIOS. Of course, many users may have questions about the advisability of using their own system tools for preliminary actions, because automated programs make this much faster and easier. But here I would like to note that such knowledge is extremely important, and programs in case of failures in Internet access are also not always available.

But a prerequisite, as is already clear, is a disk image, which is created based on the original or downloaded from the Internet. You can't go anywhere without him. It remains to add that attention should also be focused on the bit depth of the installed system, since the 32-bit version is on top of the 64-bit version without formatting system partition will not install. This is only due to the fact that OS versions require 32 bits and 64-bit modifications require at least NTFS. And the flash drive itself must contain the appropriate FAT or NTFS file systems, and not UDP, as sometimes happens. As for the volume, 4 GB will be quite enough for any system, including even the increasingly popular tenth modification.

Even the most experienced user at some point may encounter an unpleasant moment when an attempt to start the system from a bootable flash drive (to reinstall Windows, for example) ends in nothing, since the BIOS simply does not see the flash drive. There is a logical explanation for this phenomenon. In this manual you will find a couple of tips that will help solve the problem.

What to do if the BIOS does not see the bootable USB flash drive

First, make sure your USB port is working. Try connecting to a port on the motherboard itself. If you try to solve this problem by rewriting the bootable media, but inserting it into a non-working port in the BIOS or in general, your efforts will be of little use, to put it mildly. If the port is working, move on to the next solution.

Most often, bootable flash drives are not displayed in the BIOS or Boot Menu due to the fact that the image recorded on it does not support booting in the mode installed on the motherboard (by the user or manufacturer). For example, an image for UEFI is recorded on a flash drive, and motherboard works in Legacy mode or vice versa. Many motherboards support hybrid mode, which allows you to boot from both UEFI and Legacy drives. You need to go into the BIOS (UEFI) and find the desired item.

For example, on my motherboard from Gigabyte it is called BootModeSelection and allows you to select two modes at once. It is precisely because of the hybrid mode that when entering the Boot Menu, one drive is displayed twice - one Legacy and one UEFI (if an image is recorded for both systems at once), which allows you to select your preferred boot mode without overwriting the image or changing BIOS settings. On other motherboards, selecting the boot mode may be called differently. Eg, Legacy Support or Compatibility Support Mode(it may be abbreviated CSM). In some cases, it is also called the name of the operating system, such as Windows 10 / 8 for UEFI, and for Legacy Windows 7 or Other OS.

If your motherboard only supports one of the boot types, you will need to either switch the BIOS to Legacy / UEFI or restart it. An error with the image most often occurs among users who have not figured out how to correctly write Windows to a flash drive. Many people simply copy the contents of the image to a removable drive and then try to boot from it. This method will work on a UEFI system, but will not work on Legacy. And yes, you need to copy content image, and not the image itself as a separate file. Copying the image itself will not work even on UEFI. If the BIOS does not see the flash drive, we recommend overwriting the drive, since when trying to install Windows from a Legacy drive on a UEFI system, you may also need to disable Secure Boot.

It is also worth considering that on some motherboards the flash drive must be inserted into the USB port before the computer starts booting. In other words, it will not appear in the boot menu list if you insert the USB flash drive into the port after entering the same Boot Menu. Insert the drive into the port, restart the computer, go to the Boot Menu and boot from the flash drive.

If all else fails, try recording Windows on another flash drive and boot from it. Alternatively, connect the drive to a USB 2.0 port, not USB 3.0.

On older BIOSes, USB flash drives are not displayed as a separate boot menu item at all (USB-HDD does not work). In this case, you need to go into the BIOS and find the priority settings hard drives. Your flash drive with the recorded system should be displayed in the list of connected drives. Install it in the first place, save, reboot, and then in the boot menu select start from HDD. The BIOS will select the flash drive first and start booting from it, which in turn will allow you to install the system.

If all attempts are in vain, you will have to burn Windows to another type of media. If the computer you are trying to install Windows on has a DVD drive, try burning the system to a DVD and booting from it. This advice will cause ridicule for many, but if all else fails (this primarily applies to older computers), booting from a DVD should help solve the situation. You can burn the image to disk using the same Media Creation Tool, but select the target drive not as a USB drive, but as a DVD drive.

- Hello!

- Hello...

- Can you help me, I’ve been fiddling with installing Windows for an hour now and I just can’t get the BIOS to boot from a flash drive - it just doesn’t see it!!!

- Well... try to remove the invisibility cap from her.😊...

I recently had such a dialogue with one of my friends; we, of course, eliminated the problem of invisibility, but the conversation was long.

In general, most often this problem is encountered when transferring Windows installation, and sometimes solving it is far from easy. In fact, there are quite a few reasons for invisibility, but I will highlight the most basic ones in this article. After going through them, I think you can easily configure and install a new Windows...

The main reasons why the BIOS does not see the bootable USB flash drive

1) The bootable USB flash drive with Windows was written incorrectly

This is perhaps the most common reason. Many users create bootable flash drives using one scenario: they simply copy files from a Windows CD/DVD to a flash drive. At the same time, some users say that everything works...

This may be true, but it is not entirely correct. To create bootable flash drives, it is best to use special utilities (especially since there are quite a few of them!).

Example: how to write correctly bootable USB flash drive in Rufus

1) First step: insert the flash drive into the USB port of the computer. We copy all important data from it to the hard drive (if any). After which you can format it (optional).

2) Second step: the Rufus program needs to be launched on behalf of administrator (to do this, just click right click mouse over the executable file “rufus.exe”, in the appeared context menu choose it);

3) Now let’s move on to the Rufus settings (screen below + explanations for each item):

1. graph "Device": select our flash drive for recording;
2. Under number 2 The screenshot shows a button that specifies an ISO image file with Windows OS that you intend to write to a USB flash drive (just specify it);
3. graph "Partition scheme": "GPT for computers with UEFI" (if you have a new PC/laptop, more details about this here: ) ;
4. graph "File system" : select FAT 32 (usually this is installed by default);
5. The last button (“Start”) is to begin the recording process.

Before recording, Rufus, by the way, will warn you that all data on the flash drive will be deleted. If you didn’t have time to save something, save it after formatting the flash drive - restoring the data will not be so easy...

That's all, a flash drive written in this way should work 100% and be visible in almost any modern BIOS version (UEFI) ...

2) Boot priority is not set in BIOS (UEFI)

In order to be able to boot from a flash drive and start installing Windows, you need to configure the BIOS/UEFI correctly (and there are always difficulties with this, especially for novice users).

First you need to enter the BIOS settings.

To help!

BIOS has boot priority(sometimes called the boot queue): for example, the floppy disk is first checked for the presence of boot records, if not, then the hard drive, then the CD drive, etc. As soon as they are found on some media boot records- the computer will boot from it.

Our task: change the boot priority so that first the computer checks the boot records on the USB flash drive, and then on the hard drive.

For this purpose, there is a BOOT section in the BIOS. For example, the screenshot below illustrates the following boot priority:

• CD/DVD discs;
• HDD.

Naturally, with this setup - no matter how many times you insert a flash drive into the USB port - the computer will not see it!

BIOS will not recognize the flash drive

By changing the boot priority to your own - i.e., putting USB first instead of the CD/DVD drive, you can boot from a flash drive (don't forget to save the settings - F10 key, or Exit: Save and Exit) .

Now the BIOS will see the flash drive

Boot section - boot setup (example UEFI settings)

What else I want to note: Different BIOS versions may differ in menus, sections, and overall appearance.

The screenshot below shows the settings " Award Software Advanced BIOS Features" - in it, to boot from a flash drive, you need to opposite the item " First Boot Device" (note: first boot device) - set USB-HDD(this is a flash drive). Next, save the settings (F10 key).

In the BIOS, laptops usually always have a section BOOT. Having entered it, you also need to put the device in first place: USB Storage Device, USB-HDD, USB device, etc. (depending on your laptop model, BIOS version).

3) Secure Boot is not disabled in the BIOS (or the wrong flash drive)

Secure Boot- it's relative new feature, which is designed to prevent unwanted software from launching when the computer is turned on. In all modern laptops and computers this option available (until about 2013 - it was almost never encountered). Secure Boot is supported by Windows 8, 8.1, 10.

There are two solutions:

1. Create a UEFI flash drive, thereby not having to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. How to create such a bootable USB flash drive is described here: ;
2. Disable Secure Boot in Bios and install Windows OS ( By the way, for example, Windows 7 does not support this function at all).

To disable Secure Boot, you need to enter the BIOS and open the partition BOOT (in most cases this is true, but sometimes the "Advanced" section contains this function).

As a rule, you need to change the following in BOOT (using the example of a Dell laptop):

• Boot List Option: change UEFI to Legacy;
• Fast Boot: Change Enabled to Disabled (i.e. turn off “fast” boot);
• do not forget to change the download priority (see screenshot below).

Secure Boot enabled/disabled

4) USB 3.0 or USB 2.0

On new computers and laptops, some of the USB ports are made in the old “format” - USB 2.0, while others are in the new one - USB 3.0. When copying files to a flash drive, there is not much difference which USB to use (well, except for the data transfer speed).

But when installing Windows, the choice of USB port plays a key role! The fact is that Windows 7 does not support installation from USB 3.0! Those. If you insert a bootable USB flash drive into such a port, you will not be able to install Windows 7!

How to distinguish a USB 3.0 port from USB port 2.0

Everything is very simple - USB 3.0 are marked in blue (or dark blue): both plugs and ports are marked. Pay attention to the two photos below - everything is clear from them...

Note: Windows 8, 10 OS can be installed using USB 3.0 (USB 3.1) ports.

5) Is the USB port working...

Without going too far from USB ports, I would also like to dwell on this point: does the USB port even work? If you have an “old” Windows OS installed and it still “somehow” works (and in most cases it does), try booting the computer and checking the port.

I recommend paying special attention to the USB ports that are located on the front panel system unit, on keyboards, adapters, etc. Often, the reason lies precisely in this: for example, one of my friends could not install Windows because he connected a bootable USB flash drive to the USB ports on the keyboard, and these ports started working only after Windows boot.

USB ports on the keyboard

Therefore, simple advice: try connecting the flash drive to another USB port (preferably USB 2.0), on the back of the system unit.

6) "Beastly" collection with Windows

There is nothing special to comment on here - any assemblies can cause anything (I, of course, am exaggerating somewhat, but still...).

To help! How to download ISO image from Windows 10 OS [officially and legally] -

7) "Old"PC, does not support booting from flash drives

If you have old computer- it is quite possible that your system may not support the option of booting from USB flash drives at all (however, in this case you won’t be able to configure the BIOS - it simply won’t have an option to select USB-Flash Drive (i.e. it will be obvious)).

If you have an old PC and want to install from a flash drive, there are several ways:

• update the BIOS version to a newer one that supports booting from a flash drive (If, of course, there is such an update on the website of your equipment manufacturer. Important! Updating the BIOS may cause your PC to not work!);
• use a boot manager such as Plop Boot Manager. In this case, you will first boot into this manager (by the way, it can also be burned to a CD), and then select boot from a USB device in it and continue the installation.

If the computer does not see the flash drive after rebooting the computer, then the first thing to do is check - is the flash drive really bootable? In order to make a bootable flash drive from an ordinary USB drive, it is not enough to simply copy data from the computer there.

Also, even if you have previously used this drive and can confirm that it can be used to install the operating system, this does not solve the problem. Today there are different types of downloads, so even if a flash drive works on one computer, it is not at all a fact that it will work on another. For everything to be successful, the data needs to be rewritten according to a different principle, using different software.

Is there a function to support a bootable USB flash drive in the BIOS? Is it configured correctly?

In some cases, problems arise not with the flash drive, but with the BIOS system itself. There are different versions different types boot: USB_CDRom, USB_FDD, USB_HDD, etc.

After entering the BIOS, you need to go to the boot partition present in each version. The names of the section may vary, but one way or another the word “BOOT” will be present. The line that is important to us is: “Boot priotity order,” that is, the boot order.

You need to keep in mind that the hard drive is loaded first, that is, what is located after it no longer matters - in this case it is a USB HDD, which does not reach the turn after loading hard drive. So you just need to swap these values.

Interestingly, if you turn on the computer after a flash drive has been inserted, it will appear in the BIOS with a name.

When exiting the BIOS, be sure to save all changes made.

The note! on some outdated devices Initially there is no option to select USB. This only means that the BIOS simply does not support such technology. This issue is resolved by firmware.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive for installing Windows

First of all, in order to create an installation disk with the operating system, you need to use a flash drive with overall size memory of 8 gigabytes and above. Why is this volume necessary for installation disk? Simply because today the volume installation files For operating systems varies between two and four gigabytes.

• Windows Seven;
• Windows 8 (8.1);
• Windows 10;
• Ubuntu 15.

Windows 7

Properly preparing a USB drive for use as a Windows 7 installation source will take 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the speed of your computer.

First, download a licensed ISO image of the operating system.

After that, download the program Microsoft Windows USB/DVD Download Tool.

Once downloaded, execute the file and follow the installation wizard.

This free program from Microsoft that works on Windows 7, Winsows 8, Windows 10, Windows Vista and Windows XP. You will first need to format the USB drive and then copy the contents of your Windows ISO file 7 per flash drive.

Step 1. Launch the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool download program, which is most likely located in the Start menu or on your desktop. You will need to choose iso file: Click "Next". Find and select Windows file 7 ISO. Then open it.

Note! Download image Windows is better directly from the official Microsoft website.

Step 2. Click "Next" , returning to the first screen. After this you will be taken to the next window. Click on the "USB Device" button , after which you will be transferred to the USB drive (flash drive) selection screen.

Step 3. When the device is selected, click on the “Begin copying” button. The installation files will start copying to the media. Confirm "Empty USB device" if the "Not enough free space" dialog box pops up ». After this, all files from the drive will be deleted permanently.

Step 4. Then confirm “Yes” to move to the next window.

Step 5. Having selected the required flash drive, click the “Begin copying” button. The process of copying the installation files to the USB flash drive will begin. Also be careful, as all previously stored files on the USB drive will be erased. A notification that formatting has begun will appear for a few seconds, and then files will begin copying. This part can take up to 30 minutes, or even longer, depending on which version of Windows 7 the ISO file belongs to, as well as the power of the computer and the USB drive itself.

On this screen you will see Status: Backup completed, which means that the bootable USB device has been successfully created.

Windows 8 (8.1)

In the case of Windows 8, you will need another utility - it is called Media Creation Tool, and it can be downloaded from the official Microsoft website.

Step 1. When you launch this program, a window will open in which you will need to select the operating system, its language, version, and architecture.

Step 4. Moving on to the next window, you will come across loading screen and a notification that a file is being downloaded. Loading files onto a flash drive can take a long time, and of course the flash drive will be formatted.

Step 5. When the boot is complete, a screen will appear indicating that the bootable USB flash drive is ready. Close the window using the “Done” button.

Windows 10

If you have problems with the drive in Windows 10, then the solution will be similar to the solution with Windows 8/8.1: first download the Media Creation Tool program from the official Microsoft website and carry out the entire above sequence of actions. If you first run the program on Windows Seven or Eight, you will be offered two options: update or create bootable media. Choose the second one.

Create installation media using the same principles as for the G8.

Ubuntu 15

Unlike the same interface different versions Windows, Ubuntu 15 is a completely different operating system, so completely different methods for creating bootable flash drives are used for it.

In the case of Ubuntu, you need to download from Github free program UNetbootin.

Methods for booting from a flash drive to UEFI

Now let's see how to boot devices in the UEFI_BIOS system from a USB drive. The test object will be an ordinary average motherboard MSI-A58M-E33, on which the latter is present existing version UEFI_BIOS.

After rebooting, the computer will automatically boot exactly the specified device. However, if the flash drive is not recognized by the computer even after this, then the problem may be as follows:

• the image was written to the flash drive with errors;
• mode works secure boot“Safe boot” (below we will show you how to disable this mode);
• there is also the possibility that the problem is in the flash drive itself - for example, that since the image was written to it, it has been somehow damaged.

Booting a flash drive on older BIOS versions

Users using older computers can boot from a flash drive in the same way, although the rules may differ.

Save and reboot your laptop. From now on, downloading will be carried out from the specified device. This model BIOS is installed on most older laptops, so it will fit 90% of models.

USB flash drive for UEFI computer

All the latest personal computers support latest versions UEFI_BIOS. This system has a huge number of advantages, so when buying a flash drive, make sure that it is UEFI compatible.

When you create a Windows Seven, 8, or 8.1 installation flash drive using the Media Creation Tool, you can be sure that it will be UEFI compatible. And here Windows program The USB/DVD Download Tool, designed for the “seven”, no longer has such guarantees.

How to create a guaranteed boot drive option for Windows Seven

Rufus is universal program, so it is also applicable for older BIOS versions. Distinctive feature This utility is a fairly high speed of copying and writing ISO files to drives.

So you can create boot disks for any operating systems. Most of the problems will disappear as soon as you correctly load the image onto the USB flash drive.

To disable “Safe boot” you need to do the following:

Most often, the computer stops seeing the bootable USB flash drive due to a lack of synchronization between the flash drive and BIOS (UEFI), due to the specifics of their boot modes.

Almost all modern personal computers have basically two boot modes: UEFI (the mode that is usually the default on most machines) and Legacy.

If you try to create a bootable drive for Legacy mode (Windows Seven), when the BIOS only has UEFI boot— the resulting drive will not be detected by the computer and you will not be able to select it in the BIOS.

To solve this problem, you can enable the appropriate boot mode in the BIOS. In most cases, you need to enable Legacy mode. This can be done by entering the BIOS, in the appropriate boot menu(Boot), and turn on/switch to “Enabled” mode one of the following items:

Also, if you are using an Only Legacy boot drive, you need to turn off “Secure Boot”.

Further, if the image that is written to the flash drive can be loaded in both UEFI and Legacy modes, then it makes sense to write it without changing the BIOS settings (although this does not mean that you will not need to disable “Secure Boot”).

The already mentioned Rufus program is the most convenient device to download in this case. In the settings, you can also select boot types: MBR for machines with BIOS or UEFI_CSM _Legacy, or GPT for machines with UEFI.

Video - BIOS does not see bootable USB flash drive