Dec 21, 2010

Disk Management Console View is not Up to Date

This problem occur often in windows 7 when you insert card reader or other storage (USB) in your computer.
In this post i will describe:

1. Overview : some information regarding the problems
2. Solution: To overcome the problem


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1. OVERVIEW
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Normally this happen when you insert CARD READER or Other storage (2ndary storage) and your computer failed to detect it. This normally happen in Windows 7 and may occur in other Operating system. Regardless of 32 bit and 64 bit the solution is still the same if you having the problems which i describe above.

So to see if the storage detected or not we open disk management to check the devices. for those who don't know how to open disk management, click start and type in DISKMGMT.MSC



After that the disk management windows will open and you can see your storage appear but when you right click you can't format, change driver letter or path or even select properties:




Here is the error you will get when you try to format or select properties.

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2. Solution
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1. Open device manager by click start and type DEVMGMT.MSC

2. A device manager windows will open, click VIEW and click at the SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES.

3. After that look for UNKNOWN DEVICES devices list, if you can't find it, expand the storage volumes list.


4. Right click on the Unknown devices, select uninstall.
5. Then right click again on any place there, select scan for hardware change.
6. A new hardware Wizard will appear, follow the on screen instruction.

Your PC will detect the card reader after the installation finish.

If you have any question or suggestion to improve this post, please leave your comments.


FAQ:

1. I got an unknown device but this method didn't worked, what to do?
-Get the hardware ID for the unknown device and post it here. The hardware ID will determine what type of drivers/firmware your computer need in order to identify the hardware. You also can read my posts about unknown devices here.

2. There is no unknown device (even after selecting "show hidden device")
- Normally happen to new external hard disk, every notebook/laptop/desktop have disk size limitation. This mean if the disk size is larger than what your notebook can read it will not recognize by your computer. What you have to do is plug it into other computer to configure it for the first time use. This include formatting new drive (if not yet formatted) and give a specific drive letter and path.
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89 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 19, 2011 at 11:20 AM

    this worked! thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BlackMarch 19, 2011 at 12:37 PM

    welcome =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prashanth C VMay 27, 2011 at 2:08 AM

    It worked well.... thanx a lot, probably this is the best solution

    ReplyDelete
  4. GaryAugust 4, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    Could use commands at command prompt to fix it ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. BlackAugust 5, 2011 at 4:21 AM

    @Gary
    Well, this the only way i know to fix it, Im not sure about using CMD

    ps: If u have something to share, why not post it here

    ReplyDelete
  6. benboiSeptember 21, 2011 at 8:04 PM

    There is no Unknown device in my Device manager what will i do?

    ReplyDelete
  7. BlackSeptember 22, 2011 at 6:28 AM

    hi benboi,
    is there any devices marked with yellow?

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousOctober 22, 2011 at 5:17 PM

    Finally, something that worked!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 11:43 AM

    Thank you very much for this help post, I'm certainly no newcomer to win7 or laptops or usb drives, never ran into this problem till today, all i can figure is some default setting based on internal components it's not a windows fault although for something thats so broken it should have been fixed long ago ;) thanks much.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousNovember 10, 2011 at 12:01 PM

    i also have the same problem as benboi :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. BlackNovember 10, 2011 at 2:11 PM

    There is many possibilities, first i want to make sure that is there any yellow mark on it?

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousNovember 11, 2011 at 5:10 AM

    thanks thanks

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousNovember 20, 2011 at 8:37 AM

    no. there is no yellow mark

    ReplyDelete
  14. UnknownJanuary 5, 2012 at 5:09 AM

    EXCELLENT......RESULT......ITS WORKED

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2012 at 5:22 AM

    Thanks a lot dude :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2012 at 2:42 PM

    THANK YOU! GREAT WORK!

    ReplyDelete
  17. BlackFebruary 6, 2012 at 3:51 PM

    u r welcome guys and thanks for the feedback

    ReplyDelete
  18. Raymund A. DigsayFebruary 24, 2012 at 7:11 AM

    THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! I have been having non-stop mini heart attacks because my 1TB External HDD doesnt show up. THANK YOU SO MUCH! :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousMarch 19, 2012 at 8:26 PM

    I had previously tried every one of your suggested steps except "Show Hidden Devices." Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousMarch 31, 2012 at 11:37 PM

    hello Black,

    it didn't work on my pc...
    my usb drive is still not showing in "my computer"

    no yellow marks/question marks in devmgmt.

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousApril 19, 2012 at 3:15 AM

    thanks man.. problem solved..

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousMay 10, 2012 at 4:25 PM

    The only thing that has worked. Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousJune 1, 2012 at 2:08 PM

    you are the king. Finally it worked for me!! Thank you very much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. UnknownJune 3, 2012 at 5:35 PM

    what is the solution if this problem occurred in any local drive .. i have a problem where one drive of 50GB is not accessible, and if i try to access same error message will appear, what can i do??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackJune 4, 2012 at 5:24 PM

      first of all did u try the method above, this error normally happen to external storage devices, btw on disk management did u see the 50Gb appear but there are no driver letter/path on it?

      Delete
  25. AnonymousJuly 14, 2012 at 3:47 AM

    THANKS a MILLION

    ReplyDelete
  26. Andrew LevinAugust 11, 2012 at 7:30 AM

    You sir made my day! After 3 hours of searching for answer, I finally got it! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  27. SKSeptember 6, 2012 at 2:49 PM

    marry me pls

    ReplyDelete
  28. UnknownSeptember 14, 2012 at 1:12 AM

    not worked

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackSeptember 14, 2012 at 2:27 AM

      did the unknown device appear in device manager?

      Delete
  29. AnonymousNovember 5, 2012 at 4:12 AM

    NO unknown device in device manager
    pls help

    ReplyDelete
  30. ranaandmyworldNovember 21, 2012 at 6:10 AM

    its happend on my 2 local drive. All drives are shown on Disk management but it cannot accessable.
    I follow the step given above but it not works.
    on Disk management 3 drives are marks as Extended partition, one of them are works and another 2 is not shown on My computer and I cannot change Drive path letter. It always message, disk management console is not up to date.
    What can I do now, please inform me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackNovember 21, 2012 at 10:33 PM

      For now i suggest run windows update first, and reboot, after finish the update check disk management what options is enabled, report back the progress

      Delete
  31. AnonymousNovember 28, 2012 at 10:45 AM

    thanks man it worked,

    how did u manage to pull that one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackNovember 28, 2012 at 12:29 PM

      it was a discussion between me and someone that need my help on this, than we discussed and tried some steps till found out this method worked

      Delete
  32. AnonymousDecember 27, 2012 at 9:21 AM

    Thank you very much. I have been looking for this solution many times.

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2013 at 8:04 AM

    i also had same problem.but i cannot find unkonwn device...so hat i have 2 do:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackMarch 8, 2013 at 5:40 PM

      test the card reader on other computer, newer card reader normally incompatible with older laptop

      Delete
  34. SCMarch 13, 2013 at 4:47 PM

    Hi, I uninstalled unknown device, scanned but it says can't find driver. It's a plug and play external hard disk that works fine on other computers. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackMarch 13, 2013 at 9:17 PM

      First try disable card reader in device manager (right click and select disable)then plug in the external.
      What is your pc model? sometimes pc with non-intel board need to install usb drivers such as VIA mainboard

      Delete
  35. SCMarch 16, 2013 at 8:10 PM

    Do you mean disabling USB card reader then plugging in the external? I did that and it still doesn't detect the driver. I'm using a Dell Precision m4300 on Vista.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackMarch 16, 2013 at 11:31 PM

      maybe there are component missing on your system, check on the device manager if there any device marked with yellow, then get the hardware ID and post it here.
      Do post the hardware ID for the unknown device here.

      To get the hardware id you can refer to my tutorial here:
      http://laptop-driver.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-check-hardware-id.html

      for now i recommend to install the chipset driver:
      Download link (win xp)

      Delete
  36. fenApril 11, 2013 at 8:50 AM

    hey black... i facing the same problem.... i have unknown device with yellow mark....
    and i follow the step...
    I uninstalled it then right click on any place scan for hardware... what should i do next?
    hhmmm... still remain same... when i replug my pendrive, Again,the unknown device appears with yellow mark....
    so, what is the problem?

    ReplyDelete
  37. AnonymousMay 4, 2013 at 5:08 AM

    thank you thank you thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Cakes!June 2, 2013 at 6:44 PM

    I just spent 3 hours trying to fix this problem on my neighbors computer.. after finally hitting just the right keywords in google, I found this post.

    Thank you very very much for this, it worked great!

    ReplyDelete
  39. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2013 at 7:44 AM

    this worked thanx SO much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  40. AnonymousOctober 3, 2013 at 1:25 PM

    Cool article.. its saved me from alot of hassle

    ReplyDelete
  41. UnknownMay 30, 2014 at 2:57 PM

    Thank you so much. This has had me on the brink of taking my device to a computer repair shop until I read this. Major headache solved.

    ReplyDelete
  42. AnonymousJune 9, 2014 at 3:39 PM

    hi, cannot express how pleased i am your instructions worked. i have been trying for the last 5 hours looking at various forums to help install a verbatim external hard drive, i even contacted a computer geek who concluded the hard drive must be faulty! being a complete novice, cannot thank you enough for resolving this....

    ReplyDelete
  43. AnonymousJuly 14, 2014 at 1:31 PM

    was of gr8 help..............thnx

    ReplyDelete
  44. AnonymousAugust 3, 2014 at 6:15 AM

    Worked like a charm! Thanks alot!

    ReplyDelete
  45. UnknownOctober 8, 2014 at 1:26 AM

    It worked perfectly,thanks. alot

    ReplyDelete
  46. AnonymousNovember 25, 2014 at 6:33 AM

    Wowwwww, i love u, guy. Thanks so much :)

    ReplyDelete
  47. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2015 at 6:33 AM

    hey dude i m facing the same problem and when i expand storage volumes it shows 3 generic volume but no "unknown device".The pen drive doesn't gets detected only in my pc ,please reply a.s.a.p.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Last ArcherJanuary 10, 2015 at 12:51 AM

    I m very glad to say thanks

    ReplyDelete
  49. AnonymousMarch 15, 2015 at 9:24 AM

    Thank u very much..............

    ReplyDelete
  50. AnonymousMarch 15, 2015 at 9:24 AM

    Thank uuuuuuuuu..............

    ReplyDelete
  51. AnonymousMarch 25, 2015 at 1:24 PM

    hi..please I need the answer fast...
    I get the same message but here is no unknown device in my device manager so please let me know what should I do...I m waiting anyone please

    ReplyDelete
  52. AnonymousMarch 25, 2015 at 2:10 PM

    no reply from anyone...admin how will I come to know your reply..please contact me on fb here is my profile link
    www.facebook.com/tanveer.hussain123..please contact me must I will be waiting there

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackMarch 26, 2015 at 5:50 AM

      did you already select show hidden device?
      After that what type of storage you are using (card reader or USB flash drive).

      Delete
  53. AnonymousJuly 7, 2015 at 8:36 AM

    Thanks dude.. Its working. Nice Job.
    Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  54. UnknownAugust 7, 2015 at 2:01 PM

    100000 thanks

    ReplyDelete
  55. AnonymousAugust 7, 2015 at 9:21 PM

    I have a 2TB external hard drive, partition 1TB FAT32, 1TB NTFS. I couldn't get Windows 7 to recognise the FAT32 side, but the NTFS came up everytime. Then I followed the instructions above by emoving the device and searching for hardware changes - IT WORKED!!! Thank you so much, I was in fear of losing all of my data from the FAT32 side.

    ReplyDelete
  56. ginyanJanuary 21, 2016 at 5:47 AM

    Wizard did not appear so I could not continue with your instructions!! I am trying to assign a letter to new Seagate external hard drive. Very frustrating!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlackJanuary 22, 2016 at 1:17 AM

      How about try using easus partition manager. It is free and it will guide you to setup your new disk
      http://filehippo.com/download_easeus_partition_master_home/

      Delete
  57. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2016 at 1:51 AM

    After a half day search, the solution presented in this article really worked for me...thanks a million.

    ReplyDelete
  58. UnknownFebruary 24, 2016 at 4:12 AM

    this is the hardware id

    ACPI\TPSACPI01
    *TPSACPI01

    ReplyDelete
  59. UnknownApril 23, 2016 at 10:09 AM

    This really worked. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  60. UnknownOctober 21, 2016 at 8:26 PM

    WHEN i uninstall the unknown disk so data will lost or not

    ReplyDelete
  61. UnknownOctober 21, 2016 at 8:28 PM

    WHEN i uninstall the unknown disk so data will lost or not

    ReplyDelete
  62. UnknownOctober 28, 2016 at 10:05 AM

    OMG.. its works .. thank you a lot man .. u save my hard disk ..

    ReplyDelete
  63. UnknownNovember 28, 2016 at 11:07 PM

    this is Awesome Thanks....

    ReplyDelete
  64. Yasir IjazDecember 21, 2016 at 7:05 PM

    love u

    ReplyDelete
  65. AnonymousJanuary 16, 2017 at 10:32 PM

    Worked like a magic...Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  66. Aman RajJuly 12, 2017 at 9:54 PM

    Thank You very much for the solution..

    ReplyDelete
  67. UnknownAugust 17, 2017 at 9:39 PM

    THANKS!! ! :)

    ReplyDelete
  68. UnknownSeptember 5, 2017 at 12:47 AM

    Your're a rock-star!! thank you soooo much. It worked!!!

    ReplyDelete
  69. autieOctober 2, 2017 at 12:33 AM

    Wooow thanks so much...
    It worked ... good

    ReplyDelete

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