# Windows was not able to complete the format - USB drive



## amjath (Oct 22, 2013)

Hi,
I had a infected USB drive. Forgot its infected, used rufus to make usb boot for XP. When rufus tried formatting, the operation did not complete. So i tried formatting directly it pops this error
"Windows was not able to complete the format"
Tried formatting via disk management same issues.
Used HP USB Disk Format tool, but
*i.imgur.com/wt72xPw.png
tried deleting StorageDevicePolicies Key from registry, same issue
help


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## bssunilreddy (Oct 22, 2013)

amjath said:


> Hi,
> I had a infected USB drive. Forgot its infected, used rufus to make usb boot for XP. When rufus tried formatting, the operation did not complete. So i tried formatting directly it pops this error
> "Windows was not able to complete the format"
> Tried formatting via disk management same issues.
> ...



First, connect your USB device to your computer. Then right-click on My Computer from the desktop and choose Manage. 

Next click on Device Manager and then expand out Disk Drives. You  should see your USB drive listed there as "Generic USB 2.0 USB Drive" or  something similar. 

Now right-click on the USB drive under Disk Drives and choose Properties. Then go to the Policies tab. 

Now you will see two options, the "Optimize for quick removal"  selected by default. Go ahead and change that by selecting the "Optimize  for performance" option. This enables writing caching on the drive and  therefore allows you to format it as NTFS! Sweet. 

That's it. Now click OK and then go to My Computer. Right click on  the drive in My Computer and choose Format. In the File System drop down  you will now see the option for NTFS!


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## amjath (Oct 22, 2013)

^tried em too same issues


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## bssunilreddy (Oct 22, 2013)

amjath said:


> ^tried em too same issues


Taken from ServerComputing
[FONT=&amp]Sometimes  you cannot (actually Windows cannot) format a USB Pendrive or to a  particular File system (eg: NTFS, Fat32, etc) in GUI mode. But still you  can try format by using command prompt in Windows operating systems.

[/FONT][FONT=&amp]Format the Pendrive to Fat32 file system using command prompt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Login as an administrator powered user and go to "Command prompt" and run  the below command. In the below command "g" is the drive letter of the  USB flash drive. The command will format the Pendrive to Fat32 file  system.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]C:\>format g: /q /fs:fat32
[/FONT]
Format the Pendrive to NTFS file system using command prompt.
[FONT=&amp]Before  formating your USB flash drive to NTFS file system, you need to enable  the "Removal policy" of the Pendrive to "Better performance" option.  Otherwise windows cannot format to NTFS filesystem.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]For doing this, go to _"Properties"_ of the pendrive and select _"Hardware"_ tab and select the Pendrive from the listed disks then click on _"Properties"_. Then click on _"Policies"_ tab and enable the option _"Better performance"_ and click _"OK"_. Now run the below command in command prompt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]In the below command "g" is the drive letter of the USB flash drive.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]C:\>[/FONT][FONT=&amp]format g: /q /fs:ntfs[/FONT]


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## amjath (Oct 22, 2013)

^ tried cmd too forgot to mention in op. I get *error in IOCTL *
well gonna try ubuntu to format

I think my pen drive is dead finally, In disk management it is showing 3.73 GB but its 8GB drive
any help


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## TheMost (Oct 22, 2013)

Try doing asus partition manager or minitool partition manager


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## amjath (Oct 22, 2013)

Will try

update: minitool partition manager keeps quitting i think it is the issue with the usb


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## TheHumanBot (Oct 23, 2013)

dude remove the quick format.


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## amjath (Oct 23, 2013)

same error


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## TheHumanBot (Oct 23, 2013)

_*try one by one*_

*www.transcendusa.com/Support/DLCenter/Software/OnLineRecovery.exe

*Start -> Run… -> gpedit.msc -> OK
**Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Removable Storage Access*
 In here I disabled all of the “Deny read access/write access”  options; you may only want to disable the ones relating directly to the  type of media that you want to access.
 Here are the ones I changed:
*Removable Disks:  Deny execute access*
* Removable Disks:  Deny read access*
* Removable Disks:  Deny write access*
 Double-click each one and select the ‘*Disabled*‘ radio button.



To remove write protection:  

Open Start Menu >> Run, type regedit and press Enter. This will open the registry editor. 
Navigate to the following path: 
 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies  

Double click the key WriteProtect in the right pane and set the value to 0 
In the Data Value Box, press OK 
Exit Registry, restart your computer and then re-connect your USB pen drive to your computer.


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## amjath (Oct 23, 2013)

All 3 methods


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## lywyre (Oct 23, 2013)

Try a different machine.

Or try diskpart (Vista/Win7, not available in XP or less)


Run cmd as administrator

diskpart

list disk

select disk # (where, in place of #, type the corresponding number of your pendrive. If you have one hdd and this pendrive, then your hdd number should be 0, and pendrive should be 1. Careful, you could wipe out a different drive if you enter wrong number)

clean

create partition primary

active

format fs=ntfs quick

assign

exit
Now you can exit cmd also. Hope this helps.


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## Zangetsu (Oct 23, 2013)

Try low level formatting


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## amjath (Oct 23, 2013)

lywyre said:


> Try a different machine.
> 
> Or try diskpart (Vista/Win7, not available in XP or less)
> 
> ...


*i.imgur.com/pKUcgSN.png


Zangetsu said:


> Try low level formatting


tried hddguru low level format not working
*i.imgur.com/VsutrGw.png


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## Zangetsu (Oct 23, 2013)

^^device was unplugged error
is USB port working fine?

try to create a new partition using a new partition manager

after N number of tries if still it doesn't work than it has gone kaput :eeksign: goodbye


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## amjath (Oct 23, 2013)

Zangetsu said:


> ^^device was unplugged error
> is USB port working fine?
> 
> try to create a new partition using a new partition manager
> ...



officially 
port is working fine tool says unplugged but explorer and safe remove still shows


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## lywyre (Oct 24, 2013)

Did you try on a different machine yet?


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## amjath (Oct 24, 2013)

I used live cd for open Solaris and ubuntu, but keyboard and mouse is not working  Will try installing ubuntu today


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## TheHumanBot (Oct 24, 2013)

i feel like OP is trolling us.  or it's hardware problem of pendrive or USB port. do formatting on friends PC as mentioned methods.


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## amjath (Oct 24, 2013)

not trolling bro, I have tried all the methods before coming here, everything failed. I wanted to get different method/personal experience may be to help resolve my issue


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## dashing.sujay (Oct 24, 2013)

There is no solution to this problem. I've been probing it since 6 months.


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## amjath (Oct 24, 2013)

dashing.sujay said:


> There is no solution to this problem. I've been probing it since 6 months.



So mera pen drive ko bacha nahi sakte lol


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## sling-shot (Oct 24, 2013)

Have you tried using it in another computer? At a friends place perhaps.


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## arvindrao15 (Oct 24, 2013)

Usually this is the virus that has blocked these functions and if I am not wrong it will block some of your computer's functionality pretty soon.
Try finding a computer from friends or family using Linux (red hat preferable).
Use this to format  your pen drive this should work as this is the best.
Also is the pendrive opening not for formatting I mean can you view the files in it.
Try this as well if it doesn't work in Linux.
Open the pendrive and then delete individual files select show hidden folders as well and delete them as well.
One of the file will not get deleted that your black sheep so don't open it and now use the terminal and format it again.

Good luck


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## amjath (Oct 24, 2013)

@arvindrao15


amjath said:


> Hi,
> I had a infected USB drive.* Forgot its infected, used rufus to make usb boot for XP. When rufus tried formatting, the operation did not complete. *So i tried formatting directly it pops this error
> p


@slingshot: yes


Used ubuntu to format, i got this error
sdc: unknown partition table

I read somewhere that it means *USB is dead* 

~End of story~


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## sling-shot (Oct 24, 2013)

Were you using any USB hubs? I have lost 3 USB drives after using them on iBall 4-port USB hub. Initially, they started disappearing occasionally from My Computer display even though they were plugged in. Later I started to get "Delayed write failed." or some such errors because Windows failed to write properly. At this stage, the drives could be repaired if connected to the back USB port of my desktop direct instead of through the hub. That HP tool which you have mentioned above could correct the drives even when Windows itself could not format them.

After a few days, even a direct connection refused to work. Sometimes format would seemingly work, but the drive itself would not have been actually touched. After a few more days the drives became undetectable by Windows or Linux.

Strangely, one such HP 8 GB drive, has been functioning properly as a backup storage media while connected to the USB port of my router 

Life is really strange !

-------------------------

My experience with different local brand USB hubs has been disastrous with most of them failing to work properly. (I have tried 5 - 6 in an effort to increase the number of USB ports for my desktop.)
However a Belkin 4-port mini hub which I bought for my laptop 2 years back is functioning perfectly even today.


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## amjath (Oct 24, 2013)

I dont use USB hubs bro, I got good experience with that HP tool it saved my memory card twice but not my USB


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## Zangetsu (Oct 25, 2013)

now the only option left is googling for "Uses dead pendrives...."


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## TheHumanBot (Oct 28, 2013)

long shot but try formatting it through Virtual Machine


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## amjath (Oct 28, 2013)

TheHumanBot said:


> long shot but try formatting it through Virtual Machine



I lost my pen drive and didnt care to search for it


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