7 Ways to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In Windows 11

Are you having issues with external hard drives not showing up in Windows 11? Don’t worry, this article will introduce 7 ways to fix external hard drive not showing up in Windows 11.

External hard drives not showing up in Windows 11 can be due to hard drive failures, incompatible drivers, failed USB drives, and various other reasons. So, if your hard drive doesn’t show up in Windows 11, chances are it’s not the hard drive that’s faulty, but a driver conflict or incompatibility or something else. Let’s take a look at the solution.

How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows 11?

This isn’t a new issue with Windows 11, as Windows 10 users have experienced this issue as well. Let’s take a look at the detailed steps to fix external hard drive not showing up in Windows 11.

Basic fixes

First, make sure the drive is turned on. Check to see if some of the external hard drive’s LEDs are turned on. And if you hear the fan spinning. If there are no such signs, switch ports and cables. If the hard drive still doesn’t show up in Windows 11, it means there is something wrong with it. If the hard drive turns on after switching ports or cables, there is a problem with the ports or cables.

If these checks are OK, continue reading the steps below.

Check Disk Management

If your hard drive doesn’t appear in File Explorer, it may appear in Disk Management. With unallocated space, your hard drive may not show up in File Explorer. So check if your hard drive appears in Disk Management below. Press Windows + X and select Disk Management from the menu. If your disk is in Disk Management but not showing up in File Explorer, continue to the next step.

Format an external hard drive

Follow the steps below to format an external hard drive using Disk Management:

Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.

Type diskmgmt.msc and click OK to open Disk Management.

Right-click the problematic disk and click Format.

Enter the volume label, file system, allocation unit size, and select whether a quick format is required. When done, click OK to continue.

After completing the above steps, check if the problem of external hard drive not showing up in Windows 11 is resolved. If not, read on.

Create new volume

Press Windows + X and choose Disk Management from the menu.

In Disk Management, check if the drive is already unallocated space or a primary partition. Unallocated space will have a black bar on top of it, while the primary partition will have a blue bar. If the drive is a primary partition, it must be made unallocated. If the drive is unallocated, then you can proceed to the next step.

Right-click the problematic volume/drive and click Delete Volume to delete it. You will see a black bar on top of the drive, which means the drive has been successfully marked as unallocated space. Next create a new simple space volume.

Right-click Unallocated Space and click New Simple Volume. Click Next.

Enter a simple volume size in MB. The size cannot exceed the maximum disk space. Click Next.

There are two options here: assign a drive letter or mount it in an empty NTFS folder. Select Assign the following drive letter, and then select the drive letter. Click Next.

Choose Format this volume with the following settings option. Then, set up the file system, allocation unit size, and label the volume. Click Next.

Click Finish.

Check if the drive can be opened in File Explorer.

Check drive status

You can check the drive status using Device Manager.

In the Start menu, search for and open Device Manager.
Double-click to expand the Disk Drives section.
Right-click the drive with the error and click Properties.
On the General tab of Properties, view Device Status.

If an error is displayed then you can search for it and fix it. If the display device is working properly, it is recommended that you update or reinstall the driver.