# Thumb Drive does not show up on "My Computer"



## jleake (Dec 12, 2007)

For some reason, my various thumb/flash drives do not show up like they used to do in the "My Computer - Devices with Removable Storage" window when I plug them in to any of the USB ports on my Dell Lattitude D610 laptop while it is running. I have to restart the computer with the thumb drive in place for it to show up. Please help. Thanks, Joe


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

welcome
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=20070905225512AAi01Gx


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## jleake (Dec 12, 2007)

Thanks for your response, but it did not work. One note: if I go into Control Panel - Portable Media Devices, the thumb drive is there, and when clicked on, its contents/files do show up. But when you click on a file, the message comes up: "Files cannot be opened directly form this device. Please copy the file to a local folder and open the copy." Any ideas? Thanks so much!


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## boredom (Dec 14, 2007)

jleake said:


> Thanks for your response, but it did not work. One note: if I go into Control Panel - Portable Media Devices, the thumb drive is there, and when clicked on, its contents/files do show up. But when you click on a file, the message comes up: "Files cannot be opened directly form this device. Please copy the file to a local folder and open the copy." Any ideas? Thanks so much!


what kind of flashdrive is it, some flash/thumb drives have a switch on them to prevent people from gaining access to them, its a read-only switch. if you have one of those on there then that could be blocking your system from seeing the drive or letting you access the files.


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## jleake (Dec 12, 2007)

Thanks for your input. I have four flash drives, some with and without the lock switches. My laptop (Dell Latitude D610) has three USB ports. None of the ports work with any of my flash drives.

Joe


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## boredom (Dec 14, 2007)

jleake said:


> Thanks for your input. I have four flash drives, some with and without the lock switches. My laptop (Dell Latitude D610) has three USB ports. None of the ports work with any of my flash drives.
> 
> Joe


ok, so the laptop cant see any of them at all? if you hook one up and go to device manager can you see them there? if you dont know how to get to device manager, right click my computer->manage->device manager->and look through there to see if you have a big ? or ! it will be yellow. your flashdrive, if its recognized, will be under the Disk drives right below computer. take a look there and let me know. i have another way that may work, but let me know about that first part first.
-Scott


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## jleake (Dec 12, 2007)

Hi,
Yes, it appears in Storage Volume>Generic Volume, but there is no yellow ? or !.

I don't know if it's important or not, but I also see it in Control Panel>Portable Media Devices. Here, I can open it and peruse the files. But If I click on a file, I get the Properties Screen which tells me "Files cannot be directly opened from this device. Please copy the file to a local folder and open the copy."

Thanks,
Joe


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