Share via

Flash drive works on Mac but not PC

Anonymous
2011-04-18T05:44:31+00:00

I got this new flash drive. It's a generic brand. The first thing I did was plugged it into my Mac OS Leopard, saved a few files, and renamed the drive. However, when I plug it into a PC, essentiallly any version of Windows, it won't show up. On Windows XP, it'll try to recognize it when I first put it into the port, then it'll say that it failed to recognize it. After that, it just won't bother with it anymore. On Windows 7 Ultimate, it does nothing. Haven't tried Vista.

I thought that it was a problem with the Windows OS, so I tried looking for the drive in Disk Management. It just doesn't show up at all, anywhere. Plugging it into a Windows is like doing nothing.

It works perfectly fine on Mac, it reads, writes, copies, everything. So I reformatted the drive with Disk Utility using FAT32, even partitioned it, all MS-DOS (FAT). I actually did this several times and tried plugging it into both the XP and 7, but still nothing happens. I just don't understand what could possibly be wrong with it.

I saw reviews on it and every single person says they have had no problem with it on their PC. One even said it works just fine between PC and Mac.

Is mine just defective or is there something I haven't done?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Anonymous
    2011-04-19T04:59:16+00:00

    Hi flashdriveruser,

    -       Do the other USB devices work fine on your computer?

    I’d suggest you to disable and re-enable all the USB controllers.

    This lets the controllers recover the USB port from its unresponsive condition. The USB controllers represent the USB ports in Device Manager.

    To disable and re-enable the USB controllers, follow these steps:

    a.     Open Device Manager.

    b.     Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.

    Note You might have to scroll down the list to find this item.

    c.     Right-click the first USB controller under Universal Serial Bus controllers, and then click Uninstall to remove it.

    d.     Repeat the above step for each USB controller that is listed under Universal Serial Bus controllers.

    e.     Restart the computer. After the computer starts, Windows will automatically scan for hardware changes and reinstall all the USB controllers that you uninstalled.

    If the issue does not get fixed, I’d suggest you to get in touch with the reseller/retailer for a replacement.

    0 comments

1 additional answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-28T12:11:18+00:00

    (NOTE - Ref to W8 & W7, but related to the problem in the thread)

    I`ve had almost exactly the same problem.

    Scenario;

    2x SanDisk Ultra 8GB drives.

    1 unit works perfectly with the W8 Pro machine, and every other machine.

    The other unit was not recognised by the W8 machine so I thought it was dead. But after plugging it into a Mac and formatting it then the W8 machine could read it.

    It spent a day in my bag, then would not work in the W8 machine again. Same problem once again. All other flash drives & peripherals work fine on the W8 machine.

    Even more interesting - the flash drive in question works in W7!

    Conclusion - there is something awry with W8!!

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments