How To Fix SD Card Not Showing Up Windows 10, 11

Are you facing trouble in accessing your SD card on your PC? SD cards not showing up on Windows is a common problem several users encounter. There are multiple ways you can try to fix the issues. However, it is important to know what exactly is causing it in the first place. SD cards help carry data and expand the storage of your PC. But things can get tricky when you have saved your crucial files on an SD card, and it stops popping up when you connect it.

What are the possible reasons behind the error? More importantly, how can you fix this issue? We aim to answer these questions by the end of this post. If you have similar concerns, read this until the very end.

Let’s begin!

Why is My SD Card Not Showing Up on Windows? Possible Reasons

If you are connecting the card regularly, and it has stopped appearing in the computer library, chances are that it has gone corrupt. However, that is not the only thing causing the issue. Some of the known reasons why your SD card may not be working properly are –

SD Card is not connected properly.
SD Card you are using is damaged or corrupt.
SD Card drivers are missing from the PC.
SD Card has a virus stopping it from working properly.
The SD Card driver letter is missing from the system.

Other than these situations, one of the major reasons why your SD card is not showing on Windows is that it is no longer working properly and has faced hardware issues. Keep in mind that not all these issues are only limited to PC users. If the card is damaged or has a virus, it might also not work on other devices.

Now that you are aware of possible reasons causing issues between your SD card and the PC let’s move on to the next section, where we have curated a bunch of fixes just for you.

4 Ways to Resolve SD Card Not Showing Up on Windows

Fix 1 – Try Using a Different Card Reader

If your PC’s SD card slot cannot process the card, try using a different SD card reader. This will help you understand whether the card or the port is the issue. If you can open the SD card using the card reader, you know that the port has stopped working. This way, it clears your troubleshooting path.

Similarly, if an external card reader cannot read the SD card, it is clear that the problem is with the SD card. In that case, try troubleshooting the card by connecting it to another system or keeping it plugged in to try the fixes.

Fix 2 – Scan and Fix Your SD Card

In case your SD card is connected properly but the card is not showing up in the File Explorer, there are chances that something is affecting the process. Scanning your SD card drive using your PC can help you recover it.

It is easy to check a disk on Windows for errors and fix them. All you have to do is –

Step 1 – Go to the Start Menu and search for CMD.

Step 2- The CMD search will take you to Command Prompt. Click on Run as Administrator to open the tool.

Step 3 – In the Command Prompt, use the CHKDSK F: /F /R command, where F is your SD Card’s drive letter that you need to replace it with the drive letter of your drive.

Step 4 – The above command will look for affected files and bad sectors on your SD card and try to fix them. This will take some time, so make sure your SD card is connected properly and not disconnected intentionally or unintentionally when scanning is in progress.

Once the process ends, your SD card should appear as an external storage device in File Explorer. If it does not, do not worry; we have other fixes.

Fix 3 – Update Device Drivers

Drivers play a crucial role in any external device connected to the PC. It becomes crucial when you have connected a storage device as now there are both the connector drivers and the device drivers that need to be proper. Even if a single driver is unavailable or outdated, the SD Card won’t appear on Windows.

One of the most confusing tasks is determining which port drivers and device drivers require attention. If you go for the manual way of updating drivers, you might need to spend a lot of time testing different drivers for updates.

The ideal way to handle the situation is to rely on a driver updater tool. We recommend that you go for Advanced Driver Updater. It highlights all the outdated drivers in a single scan, saving you the time and effort of doing the same manually. The tool has a vast database of drivers that ensures that all your drivers can be compared and updated regularly.

Here’s how the tool can help –

Step 1 – Download and install the application via the link below.

Step 2 – Run a scan using the Start Scan Now button to initiate a search for outdated drivers on the PC.

Step 3 – Once the scan is over, check the list of outdated drivers and update them individually, or click on Update All to initiate updates for all.

After choosing either of the methods, you can get rid of the outdated driver issue that may be causing your SD card to malfunction on your PC. You can also set a timer for the scan so that the Advanced Driver Updater keeps track of the drivers and keeps them from getting outdated.

Fix 4 – Update the Letter for the SD Card Drive

If you have not used the SD card slot on your PC for a while, a conflict may have arisen with the drive letter. The Drive letter is the identity of any connected storage device. If there’s a conflict with the same, you should try changing the letter for the SD card drive.

Simply follow these steps –

Step 1 – Press Windows+X to find the Disk Management option and click on it.

Step 2 – Spot your SD card drive and right-click on it to find the Change Drive Letter option.

Step 3 – Choose from the available options and ensure the letter is unique and does not match any other drive on your computer.

Make the changes and ensure that you have saved all the progress.

By the time you finish all 4 fixes, you will observe that the SD card is now showing up in the Explorer and is working properly.

Other than these fixes, you always have the option to scan the drive for viruses and errors. Use your antivirus program or run a Defender scan to discover possible SD Card issues.

That brings us to the end of this post, these fixes will help you resolve the issues that you are facing. Thanks for reading. If you have any doubts about the steps shared, please drop us a line!

Good luck.

Dishank Sharma

A creative tech-writer who loves to explore latest tech-trends & convey them to his readers in the simplest way possible. He loves to blend the crispness of technology with a pinch of creativity while curating best practices for the readers. In his free time, he likes to scribble poetry, listen to rap & travel.