Did your Windows 10 computer not detect a micro SD card inserted in the slot or the sd card not showing in disk management? The issue could be hardware or software problems such as an outdated device driver, corrupted or unsupported SD card file system, bad computer USB port, the write protection of SD card and more. Here in this post, we have few simple tips that help fix SD card not detected or SD card not showing up problems on Windows 10.
SD card not showing up Windows 10
Let’s first check if the issue is caused by hardware problems:
- Remove and insert the SD card reader to another USB port on your computer
- Just connect your SD card to another computer or Android phone.
- Alternatively, insert another SD card (If you have one) to your computer USB port check the if interface causing the problem.
- Try to clean the SD card or SD card reader to remove the dust and insert it again to check its status.
- And most importantly, check if the lock switch is present on your SD card, if yes then make sure it’s in the Unlock status.
Disable and then enable your card reader
Several Windows users report, this simple fix “Disable and then enable SD card reader” help them fix the problem SD card not showing up on windows 10.
- Open device manager using devmgmt.msc
- Expand disk drives, Locate your card reader (Note if didn’t find SD card under disk drives then locate and expand SD Host Adapters or Memory Technology Devices)
- Right-click on the installed SD card reader driver From the menu, choose Disable device. (When it will ask for confirmation select Yes to continue)
Wait for a while, then right-click the card reader again and select Enable device. And see if you can use your SD card now.
Check SD Card in Disk Management
Let’s open Disk Management, and check whether there is a drive letter assigned for the card. If not then add or Change your SD card drive letter by following the steps below.
- Press Windows key + R, type diskmgmt.msc and click ok,
- This will open the Windows disk management utility where you can view and manage the disk drives installed on your computer.
- In Disk Management, your SD card will appear as a removable disk. Check if it has a drive letter like D or E.
- If not, right-click the SD card and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths”.
- Click “Add” and select a drive letter, then click “OK”.
- Your SD card would be working in the File System along with local disks.
Update or Reinstall SD Card Reader Driver
Most of the time, SD card readers automatically install required drivers when you plug them into your computer for the first time. If a corrupted or outdated SD card reader driver causes SD card not showing up problem Update or Reinstall SD Card Reader Driver by following the steps below.
- Press Windows key + R, type devmgmt.msc and click ok,
- This will open the device manager and display all installed device driver lists,
- locate and expand disk drives, right-click your SD card device and choose Update driver
- Select “Search automatically for updated drive software” and follow on-screen instructions to allow Windows update download and install the latest driver software.
If there is no new driver, try to look for one on the manufacturer’s website and follow the installation wizard.
You can also choose Uninstall device, and then click Action -> Scan for hardware changes to reinstall the SD card reader driver.
Remove Write Protection on the SD Card
Again if the SD card is write-protected, then you might experience SD card not showing up in Windows 10. Follow the steps below to remove the write protection of the SD card using Diskpart command.
- Open the command prompt as administrator,
- Type diskpart and press Enter to open the Diskpart window.
- Next type command list disk and press Enter.
- Type select disk *, please replace “*” with the exact drive letter of the SD card. Press Enter.
- Type attributes disk clear readonly and press Enter.
that’s all remove and re-insert the SD card into your computer and check the status.
Run check disk command
In addition, run the check disk utility that helps fix the unreadable micro SD card problem attached to your computer.
- Open the command prompt as administrator,
- type command chkdsk e: /f /r /s and press enter key, (Replace drive letter e: with your SD card drive letter)
Here chkdks represent to check the disk drive for errors, /F parameter fixes errors on the disk, /r locates bad sectors and recovers readable information and /X forces the volume to dismount first
- Type Y and press enter when ask for schedule run check disk command on next reboot and restart your PC.
Here a video on how to repair damaged sd card with chkdsk.
Format your SD card
Still, need help? This step might be painful since applying the following steps below erase all data on your SD card. If the above solutions don’t fix the problem, before buying a new SD card this is the last step we recommend.
Here is how to format an SD card:
- Connect the damaged SD card to your computer.
- Then open Device Management using devmgmt.msc
- Locate your SD card Right-click on it and choose Format.
- Click Yes when you see the message warning you about your losing all the data on the chosen partition.
- Choose to Perform a quick format and click OK to proceed.
Now check the status of the SD card it’s showing up on your computer.