My USB drive is intermittently missing in Windows 11. When I try to format it, Windows says the drive is write-protected, and safely ejecting it reports that the device is still in use. The drive itself seems fine because I was able to format it on another computer. I also tested a brand-new USB drive, every available USB port, and a USB-C adapter, with the same results. Malwarebytes found nothing, while booting Ubuntu on the same Dell Latitude 5510 with an Intel i5 and 16 GB of RAM allowed the drive to format normally. Could a Windows 11 issue, background process, or recent update be causing this?
3 Answers
Since the same behavior happens with a new drive and every port, the USB drive itself is probably not the problem. The fact that Ubuntu can format it normally also points toward Windows software, such as a process holding the volume open, rather than the laptop hardware or BIOS. Check for file-manager windows, antivirus scans, indexing, backup tools, and other background applications that may be accessing the drive.
The additional tests narrow it down quite a bit: another drive, all USB ports, a USB-C adapter, and a malware scan produced the same result, while Ubuntu had no trouble formatting the devices. That makes a hardware or UEFI problem unlikely. I’d focus on Windows 11 itself—restart the computer, install any pending updates, check USB and storage-related drivers, and try formatting from Disk Management or DiskPart after closing all programs that might access the volume.
A failing flash drive can cause write-protection and ejection errors, so backing up the data and replacing an old drive is a sensible precaution. However, because a brand-new USB drive behaves the same way and Ubuntu works correctly on this machine, drive failure is unlikely to explain the whole problem.
I couldn’t find any obvious process using the drive, but the issue happens with multiple USB drives, so I agree it appears to be specific to Windows.