How to Fix Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format Error

Pendrives or thumb drives are very useful pieces of hardware. They can be used to transfer files very conveniently when compared to CDs and DVDs. Since they...

Rahul Verma

Last updated on January 8, 2021

Rahul Verma

Author

Rahul is a Computer Science student with a massive interest in the field of Tech and cryptocurrency topics. He spends most of his time either writing or listening to music or traveling un-seen places. He believes that chocolate is the solution to all his problems. Life happens, and coffee helps.

How to fix Windows was unable to complete the format error?

This error means that Windows cannot complete formatting the drive because of some issues. This could be caused by corrupt partition details or any other physical damage to the drive.

Most of the time, this error occurs when you accidentally remove the pen drive while Windows is transferring files or formatting the drive. So whatever your case is, we are going to give you some solutions that you can try to fix this issue.

Warning

If your drive contains valuable data, it’s best to visit a data recovery service before attempting anything by yourself.

Now the Utility will format the pen drive, and the drive should show up in the Explorer. If this fails again, you can try the next method.

Method 3: Format using Diskpart

Diskpart is a command-line utility for managing disks and partitions in windows. You can format your drive using diskpart by following these steps:

Open a command prompt (or PowerShell) as admin. (Key shortcut: Win+X, press A.)
Type diskpart and hit enter.
Under diskpart, type List Disk.
This will show all your available disks. Find your disk(Pendrive) by recognizing its size.
Now type select Disk x (Here replace Disk x with the disk no. for your Pendrive for example, Disk 1)
Note: Selecting the wrong disk will result in data loss. Make sure you selected the correct disk. Type in List disk again to make sure the right disk is selected. The selected disk will have a * symbol before it.
Now type the following one by one:
Clean
Create partition primary
Active
format fs=fat32 quick (note you can choose NTFS and also remove quickly to perform full format)
Assign
That’s it your device will be formatted, and a drive letter will be assigned to it.

So, now you should be able to see the drive in the File Explorer.

Method 4: Using a third party, Disk or partition managers

Although Diskpart and Disk management utility are very powerful tools, there are some other third-party tools available to do the task. But these partition managers offer more tools and features. For instance, these tools can perform certain operations without data loss that the Disk manager couldn’t do otherwise.

EaseUS Partition Manager

For example, we can use the Ease US partition master. However, you can use any of your preferred tools for this task. EaseUS provides a similar interface to the one found in the Disk manager. So you can simply right click on the disk you wish to format and select Format.

How to Fix Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format Error

Get from Here.

Rufus

Rufus is a free and brilliant tool that can create a bootable installation medium using iso files. The tool can also be used to format USB sticks. Just click on the format without selecting any iso files. Rufus will simply format the drive for you.

Although there is an advantage in using this software. This software only shows USB Drives. So you eliminate the risk of selecting other disks or Drives by mistake.

Conclusion

These were the solutions for Windows was unable to complete the format error issue. These solutions will work on all versions of windows. Although if you cannot format even after using these steps, this means that the drive itself is corrupted. At that point, you cannot do anything except to replace it with a new one.

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How to Fix Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format Error