Formatting a USB stick under Windows - how to do it

It can happen from time to time that a USB stick is no longer recognized correctly under Windows and must be formatted for this reason. If formatting does not work, the stick is locked or there is a software error.

How to properly format a USB flash drive under Windows?

To format a USB flash drive under Windows, simply open Explorer and right-click on the USB flash drive. Then select "Format" from the menu that appears. Set the formatting settings as you like and click "Format" to have the USB flash drive formatted. In case of errors, proceed as follows:

1. If formatting is not possible, it may be because the USB stick is locked. Many USB sticks now have, similar to SD cards, a lock switch. If this is set to §Lock§, no data can be deleted from the stick. Ergo, it can not be formatted.
2. Possibly there is also a software error. You can easily find this out by right-clicking on the USB stick and then select the sub-item "Properties". Here you will find in the tab "Tools" the option "Check".

You can also format the stick via the command prompt. To do this, use the commands "diskpart" and "list disks" to display all disks. Dann wählen Sie den USB-Stick mit „select disk <Nummer des USB Sticks>“ aus und geben den Befehl „clean“ ein. Danach müssen Sie nur noch „create partition primary“ ausführen.