Solved - USB Devices not Working after Windows 10 Update

You were excited about the new Windows 10 update and wanted to upgrade from your Windows 7 system. After you installed Windows 10 Operating system, your system started experiencing problems. The USB ports which were functioning normally are now not working. You rebooted the system, but there was no difference.

There are many users who experienced the same issue. In this article, we take a look at solutions to overcome USB devices not working on Windows problems and also discuss the way to recover data from USB devices.

How do I Fix Windows 10 not Recognizing my USB?

Here are four ways you try to fix the USB drive not working after Windows 10 update issue. Make sure you follow the procedure carefully.

1. Reinstall all USB controllers

• Press Windows key +X. Now select Device Manager from the list. If you are asked for an admin password, type it for confirmation.

• From the list of hardware devices, click on Universal Serial Bus controllers and expand it.

• Now right-click every device showing under the Universal Serial Bus controllers node.

• After right-clicking, you get the list of options as shown in the image below. Click Uninstall for every device to remove them one by one.

• Restart your computer and let the USB controllers be reinstalled.
• Now plug in your USB device to check if it is working.

2. Install Drivers from Manufacturer's Website

• Click on Start. Type Control Panel in the search box and hit Enter.
• Now click on Programs - > Programs and Features.
• Locate the USB that is not working.
• Right-click USB driver and click Uninstall.
• Restart your system after uninstall is complete.

After following any of the above two methods, go to the manufacturer's website of your USB and install the latest drivers.

3. Using the Power Management tab

• Press Windows key + X. Select Device Manager.
• Now click on Universal Serial Bus controllers and expand it.
• Double-click on the USB Root Hub device.
• Click Power Management

• Uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”
• Click OK.

If there is more than one USB Root Hub device, you have to repeat the above steps for each device.

• Restart your computer. Check if all the ports are functioning normally.

4. Restore usbstor.inf

If the USB port is not recognized by Windows, you cannot access content within it.

• Go to this folder – C:\Windows\inf.
• Find the file usbstor.inf. Cut and paste the file at a different location.
• Now plug in your USB device. It should work normally.
• After the error is fixed, copy the usbstor.inf file back to its original location.
• If you do not have the above files in the directory C:\Windows\inf or if the above method didn’t work, go to C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository and look for the file usbstor.inf_XXXXX (where x will have some values).
• Now copy these files – inf and usbstor.PNF to the folder C:\Windows\inf.

Restart your system and plug in your USB device.

5. Turn Off Fast Startup:

Fast startup is a feature in Windows that will help you restart your PC after a shutdown. This feature will put your PC in the hibernate state. 

Go to the Control Panel from the Search Box, and in the Control Panel select Power options. 

• Now select the option Choose what the power button does.
• Now select the option Change settings that are currently available.
• Navigate to the Shutdown settings and select Turnon Fast Startup (recommended) option and select Save Changes option.

In case your USB is not working, you can disable the fast startup feature. Follow the steps below to do so.

• Go to the Control Panel and navigate to the Power options. 
• Now select Change Plan Settings and click on Change Advanced Power Settings.
• Under USB settings, Disable USB selective suspend settings and finally click on OK.   

6. Modify Registry:

Modifying Registry can sometimes result in errors on Windows computers. Hence it is recommended to take a backup of your important data and registry before modifying the Registry. 

• Click on Windows+R keys and type Regedit in the Run box and click on OK.
• Now in the Registry Editor navigate to the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEMCurrentControl/Set/Control/Class{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}.
• Now delete the files and restart your PC again. 

7. Recover Lost Data using Remo Recover

If you lost data while trying to figure out solutions to solve the "USB device not working" issue, you can still recover it thanks to Remo Recover software.

The data recovery software is designed to recover data from severe data loss scenarios like restoring data from formatted USB, corrupt or damaged USB, or any other external storage devices. The software supports the recovery of more than 500 file types and making it the best choice for your data recovery process.

The USB data recovery process followed by Remo Recover software is extremely simple. All you have to do is install the latest version of the software and follow the on-screen instructions to recover lost or deleted data from a USB drive successfully.

Note that you should not add or modify any files within your USB drive after it stops working. If you do, it leads to overwriting of files, and there would be no chance of data recovery.

Conclusion: 

Hope this article was certainly helpful in fixing the USB Devices not Working after Windows 10 Update. However, if you are still facing the issues, then there might be chance that your USB drive is physically damaged. Hence it is advised to seek technical assistance. 

If you have any queries related to this article, then post them in the comment section box.