Windows Vista does not recognise my USB flash drive.
Some users are experiencing problems with their USB flash drive even when they have been guaranteedthat they are compatible with Windows Vista. This is usually due to the wrong software drivers beinginstalled. When you plug in your USB flash drive for the first time you may be required to install the driversfor it, however most USB flash drives do not come with a CD containing their drivers. The majority of driversfor USB flash drives will already have been installed with Windows Vista, so when you are asked to installthe driver software for your USB flash drive select
Locate and install driver software
and then on the nextscreen choose
I don’t have the disc. Show me other options
, unless you do have a disc with the driver software on it, in which case allow Windows Vista to search the CD for the correct driver. Assuming that youdo not have a CD with the software on it, choose
Browse my computer for driver software
and theninstruct Windows Vista to look for the driver software on the hard drive where you installed Windows Vista.Make sure that the
Include subfolders
checkbox has been checked and then press
Next
to search your hard drive for the driver software. Once the software has been found a window may appear telling you thatWindows cannot verify the publisher of the software, and as long as you are confident that the drivers arecorrect, select
Install this driver software anyway
. You may need to repeat these steps two or three timesas new USB devices are found and it is important that you complete these steps for every device, otherwiseyour USB flash drive will continue to not be recognised.If you plug in your USB flash drive and you are not prompted to install a driver for the new hardware thendrivers may already be installed, however they may be the wrong drivers or out of date. To delete the driversso that you can install the most recent and correct version open the
Start
menu and right-click on
Computer
and select
Properties
. Click on
Device Manager
and then expand
Universal Serial Buscontrollers
todisplay all the USB devices connected to your computer. Right-click on your USB flash drive (it must beplugged into your computer to show up here) and then select
Uninstall
. You may need to uninstall andreinstall
Genetic USB Hub
and other USB controllers as well to fix the problem. Once the device has beenuninstalled right-click on
Universal Serial Bus controllers
and then select
Scan for hardware changes
and this will begin the new driver installation process described at the beginning of this article. It is worthchecking the web site of your USB flash drive manufacturer, as the latest software driver may be availablethere for download.If your USB flash drive is still not working correctly make sure that the file usbstor.inf is in the C:\Windows\inf folder. If it is not then open the
Start
menu and type
cmd
in
Start Search
to bring up the command prompt.Type in
cd\
to get to the C:\ drive and then type in
dir usbstor.inf /s
and make a note of where usbstor.inf islocated. Open up a window and navigate to the location of the file and then copy and paste it into theC:\Windows\inf folder and then restart your computer. Your USB flash drive should now work correctly.
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