This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Original Title: 3.5 disks
I have a external floppy drive for my 3.5 disks (which I have lots of) and I can't get it to work with Windows 7. Why will it not work? I have alot of information on 3.5 disks that I need to upload and since I went to 7 I can't. Are you working on a update or something?
Thank you.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Answer accepted by question author
Try the drive on another computer to verify that it is OK. I have Windows 7 on a box with a floppy and it is recognized and reads from and writes to floppies. It has Windows 7 Pro. My laptop has Windows 7 Home Premium. An Imation external USB floppy is connected and recognized. The OS reads and writes floppies. I, too have lots of them.
New drives are getting hard to find so test it and run out quiclky to find a new one if needed. <g>
Tom Ferguson
Hello PauletteB,
This thread was created in the Windows 7 Install, Upgrade and Activate forum; the Microsoft Moderation team has moved this thread to the Windows 7 Hardware and Drivers forum.
How can Windows 7 not support an external floppy disk drive when it supports all manner of other removable storage devices?
@PauletteB: Does your floppy disk drive connect using a USB connector or some other type of connector? If it's USB, does Windows recognize that you connected a device and that it's a floppy disk drive when you plug it in? How many of your USB ports have you tried plugging it into? Does the drive's manual or CD (if it came with one) mention the need to install a driver in recent versions of Windows, such as XP or Vista?
Not all floppy drives require virtual winxp, the one I have doesnt.
You might need to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional and download the free Windows XP Mode and attach the external floppy device to that then attempt copying over your files:
Running Windows XP Mode requires:
Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx
Windows XP Mode now accessible to more PCs
Get started with Windows Virtual PC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/get-started.aspx
http://www.notebooks.com/2009/11/23/using-windows-virtual-pc-with-windows-xp-mode/
Windows 7 - Anytime Upgrade features:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-anytime-upgrade
