The main reasons why a computer does not see a USB flash drive can be divided into two broad categories: a USB flash drive malfunction or a malfunction of your computer's USB port itself. However, sometimes the reasons run deeper.
Searching for a reason
So, first you need to check what is wrong. To do this, you need to insert it into the USB flash drive and check if the light on the flash drive itself is blinking. If the indicator is blinking, then there are no problems with the USB connector and with the flash drive itself. In this case, most likely, the reason lies in the failure of the operating system of your personal computer. If the indicator does not flash, then the flash drive or USB connector is faulty.
Faulty USB connector
If you insert a USB flash drive into the USB connector located on the front panel of the system unit, then it is worth checking if the power cable of this connector is connected. Also, there are often times when the ports on the front panel simply do not have enough power. To check this, you need to plug the flash drive into the USB ports on the back. If that doesn't work, then it's worth checking to see if the rear USB ports have enough power. They are usually heavily loaded with various devices such as mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, etc. Disconnect some of these devices and check the functionality again.
If this procedure does not help, then this means that the reason is, most likely, a malfunction of the flash drive. Whether this is so, you can check by connecting it to another personal computer or laptop. If other computers do not display the connection of the flash drive, then you should think about repairing or replacing the flash drive.
OS malfunction
If it turns out that both the flash drive and the USB connector are functional, then the problem is most likely in the operating system settings. For example, USB support may be disabled in the BIOS. If this is not the case, then when the USB flash drive is connected, an error message should appear about the impossibility of recognizing the USB device. There may be several reasons for this. One of the possible - when the operating system assigns the USB flash drive the letter of the already connected drive. Then it will be enough to change the drive letter of the flash drive in the "Disk Management" section of the control panel to resolve the conflict.
Another reason may be outdated or missing USB flash drive drivers. It's also worth updating your motherboard drivers. A common reason that a computer does not see a USB flash drive is the presence of viruses in the computer. Then you need to scan your computer for viruses, and then delete all infected files. By the way, one of the reasons for a non-working flash drive may also be the incompatibility of the file system of the flash drive and the computer. Better to format the USB flash drive with the FAT32 or NTFS file system. This may help fix the problem.
