PCs and Flash Drives
PC Does Not See Your Flash Drive…
On occasion you may plug your flash drive (sometimes called a thumb drive) into a computer and the computer will not recognize it. The most common cause is a conflict with another drive. For example, your computer may try to assign the flash drive to the H drive. Since this is already assigned to your home directory on the network, the PC does not “see” the flash drive.
Here is how to change the drive letter.
- Right click on “My computer”. Choose manage.
Figure 1
- Choose “Disk management”. Look for your Flash Drive. Note the drive letter assigned to it. Very likely, it is the same as another drive letter you use. Example: H drive.
- In Figure 2 below the flash device (kanguru) has been assigned the drive letter X.
Figure 2
- To change the drive letter, right click on the drive and choose “change drive letter”.
Figure 3
- Click on Change (see Figure 3). You will notice a drop list of all drive letters (see Figure 4).
Figure 4
- Choose a drive letter not in use from the drop down list. Click OK and OK again.