How to Format USB Using CMD in Windows | 2021 Guide

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On this page, you'll learn how to format USB using CMD or an easier CMD alternative in Windows 10/8/7 successfully. Pick up the suitable USB format tool for help now:

• 1. Format USB Using CMD
• 2. Format USB Via CMD Alternative

As formatting will remove all saved data on the USB drive, if your USB is accessible, make sure to back up valuable USB data to another secure location in advance. If you prefer an easy and quick way to format USB or you need to format to Ext 4/3/2, pick up CMD alternative format tool for help.

Let's start to format your USB using CMD or its alternative tool and make the RAW, inaccessible, unreadable, and even corrupted USB flash drive, pen drive, memory stick work normally again.

Part 1. How to Format USB Using CMD (Command Prompt)

USB flash drive is worldwide used for storing data and transferring files. However, sometimes, USB may corrupt or become inaccessible due to RAW or invalid file system, bad sector, or other errors. A quick way to resolve these problems is to formatting USB using CMD.

The following are two detailed guides, illustrating how to format a USB flash drive from Windows Command Prompt that you should strictly follow.

Steps to Format USB (to NTFS or FAT32) Using CMD

#1. Format USB using CMD in Windows 10:

Step 1. Connect USB to your PC and press Windows + R keys.

Step 2. Type cmd in the Search box and hit Enter to bring up Command Prompt.

Step 3. Type the following command lines one by one and hit Enter each time:

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk 2 (Replace 2 with the number of your USB drive.)
• list volume
• select volume 1 (Replace 1 with the volume number of your USB flash drive.)
• format fs=ntfs quick (You can also replace NTFS with FAT32 or exFAT.)
• exit

CMD also works to fix Windows was unable to complete the format error in your computer hard drive, USB, or other storage devices.

#2. Format USB flash drive using Command Prompt in Windows 8/7:

If you are using a Windows 8/7 system, enter Command Prompt and type the following command lines one by one, and hit Enter each time:

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk 2 (Replace 2 with the number of your USB drive.)
• clean
• create partition primary
• format fs=ntfs
• assign

After this, exit DiskPart and you can save data to your USB flash drive again. However, as Linux file system Ext2/3 is not compatible with Windows OS, you can refer to a UBS format tool in Part 2 for help.

Part 2. Format USB Flash Drive Using CMD Alternative in Windows

Although you can format a USB from cmd, however, it's not user-friendly for most Windows beginners. Also, any improper operation may cause data loss on other storage devices. Here, we would like to recommend you try third-party CMD alternative software - Qiling free partition manager.

• Free Download

Qiling Partition Master Free Edition is a perfect CMD alternative tool for USB formatting. With an easy-to-use interface and precise operation, you can use it to format USB easily in only a few clicks. All levels of users can apply this tool to format USB. Here are the detailed steps:

Step 1: Launch Qiling Partition Master. On the Disk management window, select the partition that you want to format and click "Format".

Step 2: Set a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32), and cluster size to the selected partition, and click "Proceed" to continue.

Part 3. Fix Existing Errors While Formatting USB from Command Prompt

According to some USB users, they reported that they encountered some errors while formatting USB from CMD.

Here, we've collected two common errors in formatting USB using CMD, if you get the same errors, don't worry. You can follow the provided solutions to resolve them:

Error 1: Diskpart format fs=ntfs stuck at 0, 10, 11, 12...

If the formatting process gets stuck in DiskPart, as the shown message, don't worry. You have two ways to go:

#1. Just wait for the formatting process to complete.

#2. Close CMD, turn to Qiling Partition Master in Part 2 to format your drive.

• Free Download

Error 2: Diskpart has encountered an error: Access is denied. See the System Event Log for more information.

If you come across this issue, click the link below to get rid of the problem:

The End Line

Due to its portability, flexibility, large storage size, and reasonable price, the USB flash drive is still the No.1 external storage device around the world.

While using USB for data transferring or storage, problems with USB flash drives also increase. Formatting a USB flash drive is one of the top issues.

On this page, we included two USB formatting tools to help you format USB using CMD or CMD alternative - Qiling Partition Master. You may pick up a suitable tool and follow the respective tutorial guide to make your USB flash drive work normally.

For an easy and free formatting resolution, take Qiling Partition Master as your first choice. It's a perfect CMD alternative tool that can help you anytime.

• Free Download

People Also Ask About Format USB Using CMD

Some of you may have more questions about formatting USB. Here we collected some top concerned questions and listed answers below. If you have the same doubts, check out the answers now.

1. Why do you need to format USB flash drive?

Usually, HDDs and SSDs are widely used for OS installation and data storage and removable storage devices like USB flash drives are more used for data transferring and storage. But the USB flash drive may become inaccessible, and you'll need to format it so as to make it work again.

Here is a list of reasons why do you and other USB users need to format the flash drive:

1. RAW, invalid, or unrecognized USB file system

2. USB flash drive corruption

3. Virus infection

4. Change USB file system to NTFS, FAT32, or Ext 2/3/4 by formatting

5. USB is write-protected

2. How to format bootable USB using cmd?

The process of formatting a bootable USB flash drive is almost the same as the process shown on this page. You can apply CMD to format it with the listed steps here:

Step 1. Connect the bootable USB drive to your PC.

Step 2. Open Command Prompt.

Step 3. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 4. Type list disk and hit Enter.

Step 5. Type select disk + number and hit Enter. (Replace 2 with the number of your USB drive.)

Step 6. Type list volume and hit Enter.

Step 7. select volume + number and hit Enter. (Replace 10 with the volume number of your USB flash drive.)

Step 8. Type format fs=ntfs quick and hit Enter. (You can also replace NTFS with FAT32 or exFAT.)

Step 9. Type exit and hit Enter.

3. How to format write-protected USB using cmd?

Here are the steps that you can follow to format a write-protected (read-only) USB using the command lines below:

Step 1. Press "Win + R", type cmd to open "Command Prompt".

Step 2. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 3. Type list disk and hit Enter.

Step 4. Type select disk 2 and hit Enter. (Replace 2 with the write-protected device number) and hit Enter.

Step 5. Type attributes disk clear readonly and hit Enter.

Step 6. Type exit to close the diskpart window.

Once the write protection removing process completes, you can format the USB drive again. You can either apply Qiling Partition Master, Windows File Explorer, or even the CMD command as shown in Part 2 to format the USB drive.

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