To remove the write protection, see How to format a write-protected USB flash drive with cmd.Ĭause 5: The USB drive is physically damaged Since formatting is a write operation, you need to remove write protection before formatting.

The drive cannot be formatted while Windows is write protected. Here is how to check and repair bad sectors on a USB drive.Ĭause 4: The USB drive is write protected For more information, see: How to scan USB drives withAvast Free Antivirus.Ī bad sector means the sector is corrupt and can not be read or written, thus bad sectors can corrupt formatting operations and file recovery. To resolve this issue, use an antivirus program to scan the USB. When the USB drive is infected with a virus that can stop the USB drive from working. If you plug a USB drive into a public computer, the file is more likely to be damaged or infected. Windows will try to reinstall the driver. Right-click on the device name and select Uninstall.Ĥ. In the search box on the taskbar, enter Device Manager and hit Enter to open Device Manager.Ģ. If the problem is with a Windows disk driver, such as a USB driver expiration or a USB driver corruption during a system crash, you can usually resolve this issue by reinstalling the USB driver. This issue can be caused if any of the following situations exist: Option 1: Format USB drive in Disk ManagementĬauses of Windows Failed to Format USB Driveīefore you begin, let's learn about the possible reason why Windows fialed to format USB drives.There are two quick options to solve this problem. 'Windows cannot complete format'error or other similar error 'Format not completed successfully' may occur due to Windows or USB drive itself, such as virus infection, bad sectors, disk write protection, storage device corruption, etc. Do you know any other options that can help me format my USB drive? When I try to format my USB drive in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on it and selecting Format, I get an error message that Windows cannot finish formatting. Fix Windows Failed to Format USB Flash Drive - 2 Easy Solutions

How to format usb drive with diskpart