Computer Freezes when USB Is Plugged in
Before connecting to a USB drive, your computer just runs smoothly. But everything changes after a USB is plugged in: the computer completely freezes. This issue can happen on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. The USB drive can be an external hard drive, SSD, USB flash drive, or other data storage drive that uses a USB port to connect to a PC.
We believe that many users have been troubled by this problem or are suffering from this problem currently. Why does USB freeze Windows 10 or 11? Here are various reasons.
Main Reasons for Computer Freezes when USB Is Plugged in
USB Drive Reasons
- There are viruses or malware on your USB drive.
- There are corrupt data on your USB drive.
- The USB drive is not formatted correctly.
- The USB drive is failing for some reason.
Computer Reasons
- The USB port is damaged.
- The USB driver is damaged or outdated.
- Your computer is attacked by viruses or malware.
- Internal components are damaged on your PC.
You see, there are many reasons for this issue. Sometimes, it is difficult to tell which is the real cause. But fortunately, the solutions are simple if it’s just a logical issue. You can follow this article to locate the cause and implement the easy solutions when USB freezes Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Quick Fix: Restart the PC and Re-Connect the USB Drive
If the connected USB freezes the computer, the first thing you’d better do is unplug the USB drive, restart the computer, then re-connect the USB drive and check if the computer keeps freezing when connecting to a USB drive.
If the issue persists or the USB is not showing up after restarting, you will need to take further operations to fix it.
Case 1: The Problem Is with the USB
You can connect the USB drive to another PC and check if it freezes that computer or is showing up in File Explorer. If the issue continues, it usually means the problem is with the USB drive.
Preparation: Recover Your Data from the USB Drive
If your computer keeps freezing when connecting to a USB drive even after your restart the PC, you should consider rescuing your files on the USB drive before you take measures to fix the drive. This can guarantee data safety on the USB drive.
How can you recover data from a USB drive? We have an idea: you can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery to rescue your files in advance.
About MiniTool Power Data Recovery
This MiniTool data recovery software is specially designed to recover data from various kinds of data storage devices under different situations. The USB drive is included in the supported devices.
- It can help you recover deleted files from the USB drive when your PC can run normally.
- If your PC freezes or crashes due to some reason, you can boot your PC from the bootable edition of this software to rescue both existing and deleted files from your drive.
What If the USB Drive Is Not Showing Up after Restarting Your Computer
If the USB drive is not showing up but your PC can run normally after you restart your computer, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free Edition to scan the drive and recover data. With the free edition, you can recover up to 1 GB of files without paying any cent.
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Step 1: Download and install this software on your device.
Step 2: Launch the software to enter its home page.
Step 3: This software should display the USB drive under Logical Drives. If you have partitioned the USB drive into multiple partitions, this software will show these partitions. However, the drive is displayed as an entire drive under the Devices tab. You can switch to the Devices tab and select the whole drive to scan.
Step 4: The scanning process will last for a while depending on the size of the drive and the data size on the drive. You should wait patiently until the whole scanning ends to get the best data recovery effect.
After scanning, you will see the scan results, which are categorized by the path by default. You can open the paths one by one to find your needed files and select them.
If there are millions of results, it will be difficult to quickly find your needed files. If so, you can use the features of Type, Filter, and Search to simplify the search process:
- Type: After you click Type next to Path, this software will list the scan results by the file types. Then, you can find your needed files under specific data types.
- Filter: The Filter function can filter files by file type, date modified, file size, and file category. You can choose to use it according to your needs.
- Search: If you know the name of the file you want to recover, you can type the filename into the search box and press Enter to directly locate that file.
You can choose one or more functions according to your own situation, and find out the files you need from the scanning results.
In this step, you are allowed to select files from different folders at the same time for further data recovery.
Step 5: Click the Save button and choose a proper location to save the selected files. The destination location should not be the USB drive because the issue is not solved.
You see: it is easy to use this data restore tool to rescue files from a USB drive that cannot be recognized by your computer.
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If you want to use this software to recover more data, you need to use an advanced edition of this software. You can go to MiniTool’s official store to select a suitable edition. If you are a personal user, the Personal Ultimate edition is the most cost-effective option.
What If the USB Drive Keeps Freezing Your Computer
How can you recover data from the drive if the USB drive keeps freezing the computer?
You can use the WinPE media builder in MiniTool Power Data Recovery to create a MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable disk, then boot your PC from the bootable disk, run into MiniTool Power Data Recovery bootable edition, and recover data from the USB drive.
Here you need to know the WinPE media builder is not included in the free edition of this software. You need to get an advanced edition that contains a built-in WinPE media builder.
After recovering data from the USB drive, you can feel free to fix the problematic USB drive.
Fix 1: Check and Block Bad Sectors on the USB Drive
You can run CHKDSK on your USB drive to fix the problem.
If your computer can run normally after restarting, you can run Command Prompt as administrator, then run “chkdsk /f /r *:” (replace * with the drive letter of your USB drive. This will scan your USB drive for errors and bad sectors, then fix found errors and block bad sectors.
What can you do to run the command if USB keeps freezing the computer? You can boot your computer into WinRE, then go to Advanced options > Command Prompt to run “chkdsk /f /r *:”.
Fix 2: Format the USB Drive to Normal
If the above method cannot help you solve the problem, you can choose to format the USB drive to normal. If USB freezes Windows 10 or Windows 11, you can boot your PC into WinRE, then go to Advanced options > Command Prompt to run special commands to format the USB drive.
Case 2: The Problem Is with the Computer
You can connect the USB drive to another computer and see if the issue disappears. If the USB drive can work with another PC, it usually means the first computer is the cause. You can try the following ways to fix your computer.
Fix 1: Scan Your Computer for Viruses and Malware
Virus and malware attacks could be the cause of computer freezing when a USB drive is connected. You can use the Windows built-in Windows Security to scan your computer and remove the found viruses and malware.
Step 1: Type Windows Security into the search box and select Windows Security from the search result to open it.
Step 2: Select Virus & threat protection, then click the Quick scan button to start scanning your PC.
You can also click Scan options and select another scan option to scan your PC.
If you have third-party anti-virus software installed, you can also run it to help you find and kill viruses and malware.
Fix 2: Check if the USB Port Is Damaged
If your computer has more than one USB port, you can unplug the USB drive and re-connect your USB drive to the PC using another USB port. If the USB drive works normally, it means the first USB port is damaged.
You can also read this post to learn more information about USB port not working: If Your USB Port Not Working, These Solutions Are Available.
Fix 3: Update or Re-Install the USB Drivers
Outdated or corrupt USB drivers can also be the cause of the computer keeps freezing when connecting to a USB drive. If the above methods don’t work for you, you can try updating or re-installing the USB drivers to solve the problem.
Step 1: Press Windows + X to open the WinX menu. You can also right-click Start to open the WInX menu. Then, select Device Manager to open it.
Step 2: Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers, right-click the USB driver, and select Update driver. Then follow the instructions to update the USB driver to the latest version.
If you want to re-install the USB drivers, you can click Uninstall device after right-clicking the USB driver, then click Uninstall on the pop-up window to confirm the operation.
Step 3: Restart your computer. If you choose to uninstall the USB device, the latest USB driver will be installed after restarting.
These are the methods to fix your computer issues to make it successfully read the connected USB drive. You should find a useful method here.
Bottom Line
If the USB freezes your computer or your computer keeps freezing when a USB drive is connected, you can the methods introduced in this post to solve the problem. Here we need to remind you: if you suspect your USB drive is the cause, you’d better use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover files on it. Then, you can fix the USB issues without data loss.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
We hope these are the things you are looking for. If you encounter issues when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].