How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10 and Recover Data

Sometimes you may encounter “SD card is not showing up Windows 10” while injecting your SD card into your computer. Why does it show? Have you ever think why your SD card not showing up? If not, today’s article is for you.

I will tell you how to fix the SD card not showing up in Windows 10 on this topic. Also, you will get to know how to recover data from your SD card in today’s discussion.

How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10

If you try to access your SD Card but find the SD card not showing up on Windows 10, here are some of the possible causes of the SD card not showing up. Later, I have told about the solutions regarding the SD card not showing up issue.

The Possible Causes for SD Card Not Showing Up

  • Loose connection of the SD card reader on Windows 10.
  • The SD card reader is not working well.
  • The computer USB port is corrupt.
  • Improper ejection of the SD card.
  • The SD card device driver is outdated or corrupted.
  • The SD card file system is not supported.
  • The SD card is write-protected.
  • Your SD card may be infected by malware or virus.
  • The SD card is logically or physically damaged.

Steps to How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10

If the SD card is not recognized by your Windows 10 computer, you can try the given solutions to see whether these fixes can solve the problem or not.

  • Plug the SD card reader into another USB port on your Windows 10 PC. Try all USB ports on your computer one by one.
  • Eject the SD card and insert it into the SD card reader again.
  • Try to connect the SD card to another computer to see if it shows up.
  • Try another SD card reader to read the SD card if you have one.
  • Insert another SD card into the SD card reader to see if it can be recognized.
  • Clean the SD card reader and the SD card to remove dust.
  • If the micro SD card has a lock switch, you can check if the lock switch is unlocked.
  • Restart your Windows 10 computer, How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10 and this sometimes fixes many issues for you.
  • Run Windows Defender or any third-party antivirus software to perform a malware/virus scan.

How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10

If the actions above don’t help you fix the SD card not showing up error in Windows 10, then try the advanced measures stated below.

Run Windows 10 Hardware Trouble-shooter

  • Press “Windows + I” to open Windows Settings.
  • Click “Update & Security” and go for “Troubleshoot.”
  • Find “Hardware and Devices” in the right window, click it and click the “Run the troubleshooter” button.

Update or Reinstall SD Card Reader Driver

  • Press “Windows + X”, and click “Device Manager” to open it.
  • Click “Disk drives” in the list and right-click your SD card device. Now, click “Update driver” to update the outdated SD card driver.
  • Otherwise, you can choose “Uninstall device” and uninstall the driver. Then, click “Action” and “Scan” for hardware changes to reinstall the SD card reader driver.
update the SD card reader to fix SD card not showing up

Remove the Write Protection of the SD Card

  • Press “Windows + R”, type “Regedit”, and click “OK” to open “Registry Editor” on Windows 10.
  • Go to serially “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” to “SYSTEM” to “Current Control Set” to “Control” to “Storage Device Policies.”
  • There is a Write Protect key in the right window, double-tap on it and set the Value 0.

Assign a Drive Letter for Your SD Card

  • You can get the free disk partition manager MiniTool Partition Wizard, and install it on your Windows 10 computer. Launch it.
  • Right-click the target ‘How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10’ SD card partition and choose Change Letter. Choose a drive letter for the SD card. Click Apply button on the main UI to run the operation.

Repair SD Card Errors with Windows CHKDSK

  • Press “Windows + R”, type “cmd”, and press “Ctrl + Shift + Enter” to open an elevated Command Prompt.
  • Next type the “chkdsk /f /r” command with the drive letter of the SD card.
  • Then, press “Enter” to execute the command. The Windows CHKDSK utility will fix logical errors on the disk and select bad sectors to identify why your SD card not showing up.
CHKDSK to fix SD card not showing up windows 10

How to Recover Data from Corrupted SD Card

The micro SD card not showing up or recognizing Windows 10 error may indicate that the SD card has some corruption. If the SD card is corrupted, you may lose some data. You can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to easily recover lost data from SD cards, and format it. This professional data recovery software allows you to easily recover any deleted/lost files from your external SD card, hard drive, and SSD, on a Windows computer.

  • You can connect your SD card to your Windows computer
  • Launch Mini-Tool Power Data Recovery, select Removable Disk Drive on the left and select your SD card in the right window.
  • Click the Scan button to let it finish the data scan.

Find your deleted/lost files, check them and click the ‘Save’ button to store them in a new place. After you recover data on the SD card, you can try to reformat the SD card to FAT32 for free with Mini-Tool Partition Wizard to see if it can work well again.

Last Words

That’s all about fixes of the SD card not showing up and if your SD card is corrupted then data recovering tips and tricks. I hope you have a clear idea of it and whenever your SD card not showing up in Windows, you can fix the issue by yourself easily. If you have faced such an issue recently then try the fixes to solve out. Suggest to your friends and others how to fix SD cards not showing up by sharing this article.

Suppose you have already faced such an issue and solved it out except for the given fixes, share that method with us in the comment section. Also, comment and let us know how these fixes work in a real face-off. Thank you for reading. I will be back with another topic soon, till then stay safe and stay tuned with us Techvaio.

FAQs

1) Does an SD card need to activate?

No. not at all. SD card is a storage device that doesn’t need an activation.

2) Can the SD card be recovered?

Yes, you can recover the data stored in the SD card until it’s not damaged. In the above passage, I have already told you how you can recover data from an SD card. So, go and read it.

3) Can an SD card go bad?

SD card is a compact and robust storage device. But, undergoing excessive writing and erasing, heavy usage, operating a flash memory system on an SD card may hamper your SD card.