Cannot reformat bootable usb drive on windows
So I made this linux live usb and I'm having trooble returning it to being a regular storage drive. I'm using windows 7, by using compmgmt.msc I can see the drive but I can't format it. usually when right clicking you can format but here I can only click on "help", chich does not help by the way.
what could I do?
Thanks.
Use another formatting tool, Windows sucks at this part. As it seems you have partitioned this drive. Use this http://www.pendrivelinux.com/restoring-your-usb-key-partition/
After having tooled around with a USB Linux version using your image overwritten or multi partitioned flash pen drive, you might find it necessary to revert it back to a single fat partition (restore the flash pen drive to it's original state) that can again be read by all computers.
Also giving this a try would be a nice experience.
http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/removable-device-partitioning.htm
You can use the utilities that come with Windows to do this without downloading anything else. DISKPART from the command line as Administrative user will do what you need.
Once inside of the diskpart utility type in list disk
, select the USB disk by typing select disk (x)
and then clean
, this should now wipe the USB stick, you can now create a new partition and format the UBS stick. To create a new partition table on the USB type in create partition primary
, then select partition 1
, then format fs=fat32 quick
. Your USB stick should now be ready to use.
For Windows users: (Without any third-party application)
-
Open
Run
and typeCmd
to openCommand Prompt
or if you are familiar with Windows, then open theCommand Prompt
Run as Administrator. -
On
Command Prompt
typediskpart
and press Enter. ( Grant the UAC permission if asked). -
Type
list disk
and press Enter. It will show you all available disks. -
Now select your disk with
select disk N
, hereN
is the disk number.
-
Now create a partition for your USB flash device by using
create partition primary
command. -
Now select your partition by using
select partition N
, hereN
is the partition/disk number. You can check the partition/disk by checking again thelist disk
command. -
Now format your Flash/USB device by using
format fs=fat32 quick
command. Herequick
refers to quick format.
For more details visit https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/300415.
I did not have luck with the other methods (diskpart
got stuck in the "On computer" part for some reason) mentioned here, but this program worked perfectly and fast:
SD Card Formatter (which, despite the name, works for USB sticks too): https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
It took all of 5 seconds to format it back to normal state after having a bootable Linux on it, which I created in Linux Mint.
The steps:
- Install the program
- Select the drive of the USB stick
- Keep the default "Quick Format" option selected
- Click "Format" in the program
- Done!
I found the program in the same guide mentioned in TechLife's answer: https://www.pendrivelinux.com/restoring-your-usb-key-partition/
In Windows: Go to Disk Management. Find your disk. It should be a blue and black partition (just like your image). On the BLUE partition, right-click and delete partition. After that, the deleted partition will merge with the black partition and it will be UNPARTITIONED. You should be able to format the unpartitioned space to whatever system you like.