The “USB Device not Recognized” error in Windows can come on without warning or apparent reason. It can happen to a brand new machine or an old computer and doesn’t appear to discriminate amongst Windows versions; the error can manifest on any Windows version.
You may get a “USB Device not Recognized” error when you are using a USB flash drive, Apple iPod or external hard disk. In essence, the computer fails to detect the attached device. When this happens, you will see a ‘balloon’ in the system tray displaying an error message as shown in the screen cap below.
When you go to the device manager, you will notice that device comes up as an unknown device.
Causes for the error “USB Device not Recognized”
This error is caused by incorrect or corrupted keys in the registry. When this happens, your USB ports can stop working suddenly with no obvious reason for the problem.
Resolving the Problem
There are two ways you can resolve this error. Both are quite simple and straightforward. The simplicity of the first fix will actually surprise you.
Solution No:1
Believe it or not, switching off your computer and completely unplugging it from the power supply fixes this problem.
If the computer affected is a desktop, shut it down from the start menu and then unplug the power cable. Wait for five minutes and then restart the computer. Reconnect the devices you wanted to use and the problem should have cleared.
If the machine involved is a laptop, shut it down from the start menu, unplug the power cable and then remove the battery. Wait for five minutes, return the battery, reattach the power cable and start the laptop. The problem should have cleared.
You might wonder why something as simple as turning off the computer fixes this problem. It’s quite simple, rebooting the computer causes the computer to reload all the USB drivers hence fixing any corruption.
Solution No:2
If you would like a more technical solution, you can download the Microsoft Fix It tool and run it. The tool fixes the “USB Device not Recognized” error automatically.
Simply click the “run now” button and then follow the screen prompts to launch the application.
So the next time you find yourself faced with the error “USB Device not Recognized” you can be sure that any of these fixes will correct the problem.
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