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When trying to completely delete files from a MicroSD card, the user may encounter the “Windows cannot complete formatting” notification. Why you can’t format a MicroSD memory card and how to deal with this problem, read this manual.

Why Windows Can't Complete Formatting

Most likely, the “SD card will not format” problem is not caused by a problem with the memory card itself, so it can be solved using Windows components. You can also find a lot of programs for working with drives on the Internet.

Advice! Perhaps the memory card has write protection, which prohibits the user from making any changes. To remove protection, read these instructions.

What to do if you can’t format a flash drive

To fix the problem, we will go in two ways: we will use the capabilities of Windows 10 itself or we will turn to third-party software.

To open the required utility:

If the flash drive is not write-protected and data deletion fails, the cause may be an unknown operating system process. There is no desire to understand what kind of process this is? then move on to the next point.

Command line

Third party programs

The utility can handle the task of formatting not only MicroSD, but also flash drives. In general, a simple and free program can fix errors on a memory card while saving the data or further formatting the MicroSD.

The Flashnul utility can also help with diagnosing and eliminating errors when checking flash drives.

Unfortunately, the official websites of these programs are not advertised (or there are none), so when downloading from third-party resources, check the installation .exe files for viruses (Dr.Web CureIt! can help you).

In the modern world, flash drives for PCs are quite popular, and microSD memory cards for mobile devices. The popularity of the devices is due to their low price, the ability to store large amounts of data, and at the same time easily transfer all this data to other devices.

But these devices also have drawbacks - this is a formatting problem. Users of these storage devices are perplexed that the SD card is not formatted. At the same time, the following questions are often asked: The memory card is not formatted, what should I do? And the SD card is damaged Android how to fix it? Let's answer these questions, and also find out what to do if the memory card is not formatted.

Flash storage devices are an essential part of the modern world, so it is important to know how to properly operate and maintain these devices so as not to run into problems at the most inopportune moment.

If your SD card cannot be formatted, that is, you have problems formatting the flash drive and you are unable to complete this action, then you need to either take the device to a service center or throw it away. But there are also other ways to “save a flash drive.” One of them is a way to format a flash drive through the console.

In the Windows system, there is one feature when deleting files - if the file itself is occupied by some processes, then it will not be possible to delete it. And through the console we can destroy everything without any problems. So, here's what we do in the console if the micro SD card is not formatted:

We use the key combination Win + R
The Run window appears. Enter the command there - diskmgmt.msc.
Click “Ok” and the “Disk Management” window appears in front of us. We look for our flash drive, right-click on it and select “Format”.

If everything went well for you and without errors, then you’re doing great. If it doesn’t work, then don’t close the article - we have a couple more ways.

If your microSD memory card cannot be formatted, then the SNDFormatter utility will help you. The program is free and easy to download on the Internet, and we will tell you how to use this utility.

Let's launch the program.
In the “Drive” tab, select our flash drive.
In the “Format Type” tab, select “Full” or “Erase”. “Format Size Adjustment” set to “On”.
And click “Format”.

If the program did not work, then try this one - Apacer USB 3.0 Repair tool. The utility is similar to SDFormatter, but it is supplemented with the following functions:

low-level formatting;
disabling protection for flash drives.

You can download the program on the Internet.

Open the standard Windows utility “Command Prompt” using the Win+X key combination, or look for it in the Start menu.
In the new window we enter “diskpart”
In the next window that opens, write “list disk”. The window will show us all available data recording disks on the computer, including our flash drive. We find our flash drive (usually it is at the very bottom of the list).
We enter the data in the “select disk 1” window. Your flash drive may have a different name than “disk 1”.
Next, clear the write protection attribute using the command – “attributes disk clear readonly”. To check disk attributes, use the command – “attributes disk”.
We exit the utility using the “Exit” command, and again try to format the flash drive.

If the above methods did not help you, then the next one is for you.

Download the Flashnul program. The utility is designed for testing and in-depth work with removable drives on your computer. Therefore, use it carefully and try not to “click” anything unnecessary. Otherwise, you will damage your data and recording disks.

We unpack/install the program on one of the main drives on our computer. For example, let’s take drive C. The path to the program will be – C:\flashnul.
Launch the command line via Win+X or through the start menu and enter this command:

cd С:\\flashnul

Next, we see a directory with a utility folder where we need to identify our flash drive. We write this command: flashnul –p
In the list that opens, we look for the name of our flash drive (number or letter). Let's remember it. For example, you have a flash drive with the name N. In this case, we write a command to completely clear the data: flashnul N: –F
We run a test for controller errors, and all data will be destroyed along with it: flashnul N: –l
Upon completion of the test, we launch formatting through the management console. After the completed actions, there should be no errors.

Problems with the program

There are numerous problems that can occur with Flashnul. One of the important problems is the appearance of this type of error, in which flashnul itself cannot work with internal and external commands.

To solve the problem you need:

Open a command line and go to the directory where our program is unpacked. Let's take drive C as an example.
On the command line we write “ C:».
Next, you need to go to the Flashnul utility directory. Enter in the line cd flashnul that's all.

Use the Usbflashinfo utility. After launching the program, click on the “get information about the flash drive” tab. Finding the lines VID, PID. Copy the values found in these lines into a search engine. Most likely, there are special formatting programs for this flash drive.

On the website flashboot.ru you will find an incredible variety of programs, utilities and useful information for flash drives and microSD memory cards from all popular manufacturers. Perhaps this is where you will find the program you need that will help your formatting problem.

We hope that the article helped you fully and now you know what to do if your SD card cannot be formatted or other problems arise with formatting other storage media. Now you can not only safely work with flash drives for yourself, but also help your friends and acquaintances, who will thank you more than once for your efforts.

Why Windows Can't Complete Formatting

Advice! Perhaps the memory card has write protection, which prohibits the user from making any changes. To remove protection, .

What to do if you can’t format a flash drive

To fix the problem, we will go in two ways: we will use the capabilities of Windows 10 itself or we will turn to third-party software.

To open the required utility:

Command line

Third party programs

The Flashnul utility can also help with diagnosing and eliminating errors when checking flash drives.

The formatting process only involves changing the labels (addresses) of files located on the device’s workspace. That is, it is not the files themselves that are erased, but only the access paths to them. After formatting, the new information that is transferred to the media is written over the old one.

The easiest way to format it is in a few steps:

Settings information

NTFS gives access to saving large files to the device, but on the Mac operating system it will not be possible to write new data, that is, only viewing will be allowed;
FAT32 is the default and is the most suitable option for the formatting process, since your drive will fully interact with different operating systems, but the size of the files that will be stored on the flash drive should not exceed 4096 MB;
exFAT facilitates recording data of any size, and the flash device will not let you down in future use when working with different operating systems. However, the disadvantage of such a file system is that most USB devices (game consoles, TV, etc.) will not be in contact with your drive.

Another important setting option is “Cluster Size”. It is better not to change this function, since it is responsible for the size of the allocated memory for one file, thus, by setting a large value, you can limit the free area of the device.

Once you have sorted out the settings, you can begin the process itself by clicking the “Start” button.

What to do if the device cannot be formatted

If you cannot format the device, then it is possible on a flash drive, which can be disabled through the registry in a few simple steps.

Step 1. Press and hold the “Windows” button on your keyboard, which is marked with the “Microsoft” logo, and the English “R” key. This will open the “Run” window.

Step 2. In the window that appears, you need to enter the “regedit” command, which is responsible for further register changes. Left-click on the “OK” action option.

Advice! If User Account Control asks for permission to perform an operation, then you can safely agree.

Step 3. You will see a list of directories where the one you need is stored under the name LOCAL_MACHINE. Next, the address “SYSTEM” / “CurrentControlSet” will take you to the “Control” folder.

Step 4. In the open folder, find the “StorageDevicePolicies” directive and double-click on the “WriteProtect” file located inside, change “1” to “0” in the “value” column.

If this directive does not exist, then you can solve this problem by creating your own folder with the same name. Right-click on the “Control” folder and create a “Partition” in the “New” option. The section name must exactly match the name “StorageDevicePolicies”. Then in this directory you need to create a “DWORD” or “QWORD” parameter, depending on the bit depth of the system, and name it “WriteProtect”.

Step 5. The final step is to disconnect the flash drive and reboot the system.

Formatting a device through a console utility

Another solution to the problem without using additional software is to use the command line; to format the device, just take a number of actions:

Using the keyboard shortcut “Windows + R”, you go to the “Run” window that you already know. Now you need to write the “diskpart” command and, if required, agree to User Account Control.
In the console window, enter the command “list disk”, which will display a list of available disks.
Next write “select disk disk number”. Instead of the inscription “Disk number” you need to enter the number of your flash drive.
Afterwards you need to enter a command that is responsible for the formatting process itself. This is the command "attributes disk clear readonly".
The final step is to close the console, but if you want to make sure the formatting is complete, enter the command “attributes disk”. Thus, all information about the edited disk will be displayed.

Video - How to format a flash drive if it cannot be formatted

A memory card is a universal storage device that works great on a wide variety of devices. But users may encounter situations where a computer, smartphone or other devices do not accept the memory card. There may also be cases when it is necessary to quickly delete all data from the card. Then you can solve the problem by formatting the memory card.

Such measures will eliminate damage to the file system and erase all information from the disk. Some smartphones and cameras have a built-in formatting function. You can use it or carry out the procedure by connecting the card to a PC via a card reader. But sometimes it happens that the gadget gives an error "Memory card is faulty" when trying to reformat. And on the PC an error message appears: "Windows can't complete formatting".

We have already written about how to solve the problem with the above-mentioned Windows error. But in this guide we will look at what to do if other messages occur when working with microSD/SD.

Most often, problems with a memory card begin if there were power problems when using a flash drive. It is also possible that programs for working with disk partitions were used incorrectly. In addition, the drive could suddenly turn off while working with it.

The reason for the errors may also be that the card itself has write protection enabled. In order to remove it, you need to move the mechanical switch to the position "unlock". Viruses can also affect the performance of a memory card. So it’s better to scan microSD/SD with an antivirus just in case if there are malfunctions.

If formatting is clearly necessary, then it is worth remembering that during this procedure all information from the media will be automatically deleted! Therefore, it is necessary to make a copy of important data stored on a removable storage device. To format microSD/SD, you can use both built-in Windows tools and third-party software.

Method 1: D-Soft Flash Doctor

The program has a simple interface that is easy to understand. Its functionality includes the ability to create a disk image, scan the disk for errors and restore the media. To work with it, do this:

After this, the program will very quickly split the media memory according to the configuration.

Method 2: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

With this proven program, you can force format flash memory, create a bootable drive, or check the disk for errors.

To force formatting, do the following:

To check the disk for errors (this will also be useful after a forced format):

Check the box next to "Correct errors". This way you can correct file system errors that the program detects.
For a more thorough media scan, select "Scan drive".
If the media is not displayed on the PC, you can use the item "Check if dirty". This will return microSD/SD "visibility".
After that click "Check disk".

If you are unable to use this program, perhaps our instructions for using it will help you.

Method 3: EzRecover

Method 6: Windows Tools

Insert the memory card into the card reader and connect it to the computer. If you do not have a card reader, you can connect your phone via USB to your PC in data transfer mode (USB storage). Then Windows will be able to recognize the memory card. To use Windows tools, do this:

Visual video on solving the problem

If the deletion still fails, then it is possible that some Windows process is using the drive and therefore cannot access the file system and it will not be formatted. In this case, a method associated with the use of special programs can help.

Method 7: Windows Command Prompt

This method involves the following steps:

Or use the command line to clean up the disk. In this case, do this:

If this command is executed successfully, the following message will appear: "Disk cleanup completed successfully". The memory should now be available for repair. Then proceed as originally intended.

If the diskpart command does not find the disk, then most likely the memory card has mechanical damage and cannot be repaired. Most of the time this command works fine.

If none of the options we suggested helped solve the problem, then again the problem is mechanical damage, so it is no longer possible to restore the drive yourself. The last option is to contact a service center for help. You can also write about your problem in the comments below. We will try to help you or recommend other ways to correct errors.