PC doesn’t see USB device? Try these steps

Check if the external drive or USB stick is assigned a drive letter. To do this, open Disk Management. Press combination on Windows 10/11 Windows key+X and click Disk Management. You can also use the taskbar search box. diskmgmt.msc typing and To enter suppress.

Disk Management looks the same on both operating systems. If the external drive is assigned a drive letter, it will be listed here next to the drive name. If there is no drive letter, perform the next step.

Right click on the external drive you want to see in Windows Explorer and select the command Change drive letter and paths. In the dialog that opens, use the button To add. In the next window, you can add a new drive letter to the device.

Normally, Windows automatically assigns a drive letter to the selected drive, but you can also choose your own by clicking the arrow next to the drive letter. click OK to confirm the drive letter

There is an option to hide an empty USB drive in Windows Explorer. This setting could also be the culprit. For Windows 10, click Explorer in the top right. Options on the arrow pointing down. This is how you get to the task Change folder and search options. at the window File options select tab view. Check for a checkmark Hide empty stations. You can remove this check so you will now also see a blank USB stick as a disk in Explorer.

in Windows 11, File options also still accessible via File Explorer. Click the button with the three dots at the top and select from this menu Options. After that you will see the same window as in Windows 10 and you can click on it. view uncheck Hide empty stations.

If the external drive still doesn’t show up after doing these steps, try connecting it to another PC to see if it shows up there.