Connecting hard drive on USB 3.2 freezes File Explorer & Disk Management

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Not sure if this is a Windows 11 24H2 problem, but it seems to date approx from when I updated to 24H2 earlier this year:

I could not get my external HDD (used mainly for backup) to work. It is mounted in an external dock and connected to a USB 3.2 port on my desktop PC. Any attempt to access the disk would freeze File Explorer and my backup program and even System – Disk Manager could not find the disk. Tried a different dock and USB cable and different USB ports on PC, all with same result.

I located the USB details in Device Manager and found the Intel USB 3.2 eXtensible Host Controller – 1.20 (Microsoft) entry. Under Events for this it was reporting ‘Device Settings for SCSI were not migrated from previous OS installation due to partial of ambiguous device match.’ Choosing Scan for Hardware Changes ran and sometimes resolves the problem (it tends to recur after Restart).

Other folk seem to have had similar problems with UHD external disks. This did not occur for me prior to updating to 24H2.

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I don’t have any experience of Windows 11 but perhaps try:

• another USB port
• another device
• watching with Nir Sofer’s USBDeview to see if the external USB device is recognised/instantiated by the OS, even if not assigned a (temporary) drive letter.

Or use PowerShell in an elevated console to query your device’s USB endpoints. Something like the following will probably do the job:

Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object { $_.InstanceId -match ‘^USB’ } | Out-GridView -Title “USB Endpoints”

It should give you a grid output similar to this:

Maybe the Status column (which you can sort on, by clicking on the column header itself) will show the non-responding USB device.

(I wrote Maybe because the Microsoft documentation does not make it clear whether instantiation includes presentation at the (File) Explorer level, just connection at a hardware level. They’re different states, IMO.)

Whilst my experience is only Windows 10, I know that when a USB device instantiates, it writes entries to two areas in Windows’ registry – a record of its existence, if you will – even if Windows’ File Explorer cannot display the device. (Any assigned drive letter is recorded in yet another registry location, seperate from the device’s hardware/connection records. Never let it be said that the registry database(s) are easy to follow.)

This is usually due to a Windows limit/bug about USB instantiation but can also be due to hardware failure, i.e. the device can no longer present itself effectively for inspection by the OS.

The (temporary) cure (except for hardware failure) is to use Nir Sofer’s USBDeview (using the right-click Run as administrator option), select ALL devices except currently connected mouse/keyboard entries then uninstall the lot:

This clears the Windows’ Registry Editor‘s history of previous USB connections. (They come back the moment you reconnect a USB device.)

Note: It will probably happen again for you some time in the future… AFAIK Microsoft has never addressed this USB instantiation limit/bug since it was first introduced (in Vista, if I remember correctly).

Hope this helps…

2 users thanked author for this post.

RetiredGeek, WSJMGatehouse

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WSJMGatehouse wrote:

It is mounted in an external dock and connected to a USB 3.2 port on my desktop PC.

Besides testing with a different port that Rick Corbett suggested above, ensure the USB cord you are using is also rated USB 3.2.

Desktop mobo Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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WSJMGatehouse, satrow

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TechTango wrote:

ensure the USB cord you are using is also rated USB 3.2

A good point… thank you, @TechTango.

(In my experience this applies across the range, not just USB 3… the quality of USB cables is, unfortunately, very variable – I’m looking at you, Apple, in particular – and these days I try to buy thicker certified cables, preferably encased with braided metal.)

I’ve had a number of USB connection cables fail – they continue to pass power but not data reliably.

Surprisingly, ‘Amazon Basics’ range appear fairly resilient in my experience, but this isn’t a recommendation, just an observation. I’ve also learned that ‘shorter is better’… and ‘thicker is better’.

I’ve replaced the original tiny shoestring cables to my multiple WD My Passport drives with much thicker (Amazon Basics) ones… and they now instantiate within the OS quicker and transfer data much faster than the originals.

(Left: replacement cable; Right: original cable)

Hope this helps…

2 users thanked author for this post.

WSJMGatehouse, satrow

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Thanks to both for very helpful suggestions.

I’ve ordered a new USB cable (3.2 Type A to B which is the type supported by the external dock). Downloaded USBDeview, which identifies the drive, when attached, even when Windows doesn’t. Will experiment further. I’ve discovered, strangely, that if I sign out of Windows (no need to restart), turn on the external dock, then sign in again, the dock is recognised, drive letter assigned and I can read and write from the hard drive without problems.

 

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Rick Corbett wrote:

I’ve also learned that ‘shorter is better’… and ‘thicker is better’.

Rick Corbett wrote:

I try to buy thicker certified cables, preferably encased with braided metal.

Some great points. Over the years I’ve collected a mishmash of USB cables. It’s high time I sorted them out!

Desktop mobo Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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WSJMGatehouse

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As recommended, I ordered a new high quality USB cable and fitted it. However, it makes no difference to the problem: Windows or my Dell PC are unable to correctly mount an external disk on a USB 3.2 port unless it is already switched on before booting into or signing into Windows. Surely this must be a driver problem?

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With Windows fully booted, attach the drive and open Disk Management (Win+R, diskmgmt.msc, press Return).

Does it display the drive but without a drive letter?

If so, that means Windows recognizes it’s connected but didn’t “automatically” assign it a drive letter.

To check Windows auto-assign drive letters function, open a cmd prompt, enter diskpart, and enter automount.

It should display Automatic mounting of new volumes enabled.

If it doesn’t, enter automount enable.

Disconnect the drive, restart Windows, and reconnect it.

Did this fix the problem?

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Another option would be to force Windows to rediscover & install the drive from scratch.

Get Windows to a state where it can access the drive.

Open Device Manager (Win+R, devmgmt.msc, press Return).

Expand Disk Drives and select the external drive.

Right-click and select Uninstall device.

On the confirm removal dialog, select the Delete the driver software for this device option.

Disconnect the drive and reboot Windows.

Once Windows is fully loaded, reconnect the drive so Windows detects it as new hardware and installs a driver.

Did this fix the problem?

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Thanks so much for the advice. Sadly, it hasn’t solved the problem. If I switch on the external drive after booting into Windows, it’s not just a question of no drive letter: Disk Management itself and File Explorer don’t launch correctly or stall and cannot display any of the drives. I have to switch off the external drive and reboot.

I tried the second solution (Uninstall Device). But  the confirm removal dialog, doesn’t offer the ‘Delete the driver software for this device’ option. The device does ‘uninstall’, but after rebooting, it doesn’t detect new hardware, and the original problem recurs.

I’m going to contact Dell, to ask if there is anything they know about the implementation of USB on my (Inspiron) PC which would explain this behaviour. I have applied all the system, driver and BIOS updates that Dell’s own Dell Update app recommends.

I’m not holding my breath!

 

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I found two posts elsewhere that throw some light on this problem. It concerns problems with many drive enclosures/devices which use older BOT protocols and are not designed to support the newer UASP which Windows implements by default. Arguably the UASP driver in Windows should detect and cope with this, but it doesn’t.

See: https://winaero.com/check-if-your-usb-3-0-device-supports-usb-attached-scsi-uas-protocol/

There’s a hack to get around the problem, by renaming the UASPstor.sys driver and then copying the USBStor.sys driver to UASPstor.sys. It’s only a temporary solution and may have to be repeated after each Windows update.

See: https://www.valueweb.gr/external-uasp-usb-enclosures-windows-10-errors-how-to-fix-them/

I would guess lots of other users of external drives may encounter the same problem and be mystified? Time for Microsoft to fix?

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