WD My Passport Ultra Not Showing Up in Windows – What to Do

WD My Passport Ultra is a popular choice for choosing a portable hard drive and saving data. Several users take their backup in this easy-to-carry drive and always keep it with them. While the convenience is at par, it can become frustrating when you connect your drive to the PC, and it says Device Not Detected!

The issue is typical to understand as the PC sounds when you connect the drive, but it does not appear in the Explorer. WD My Passport Ultra not being detected on Windows is a serious issue that should be resolved instantly; otherwise, a little delay can lead to severe data loss. 

In this post, let us understand what is causing the issue and then move on to the fixes. You can try to eliminate the issue and get your WD drive to work again.

Let’s get started!

Why is WD My Passport Ultra Not Detected in Windows

If you cannot see your connected drive in the Explorer, there can be several factors causing the issue. Especially with the WD My Passport Ultra, you have to be careful with compatibility issues.

Some of the core reasons that may be causing the not-detected issue are – 

1. Incompatible Connection of the Drive
2. Missing Necessary Drivers
3. Issues with the Port of Connection
4. Driver Letter Error

Eventually, if the PC cannot identify the drive, it is either not corrected properly or incompatible with the system. Both types of issues are resolvable; the best part is we have the perfect list of fixes for you! Find them in the next section.

WD My Passport Ultra Not Showing/Detected on PC? Here’s What to Do!

The first thing you should do is restart your PC after connecting the drive. There are times when, due to a glitch, the drive is not shown to be connected. It is better to restart and be assured that a temporary glitch is not causing the issue. 

Read Also: Fix – Computer Stuck on Restarting

Also, let the drive stay connected as the PC boots up so that the PC is familiar with the drive. If that resolves the issue, good for you. If not, you can try the following fixes – 

Fix 1 – Ensure There is No Drive Letter Conflict

Sometimes, the drive is connected, but it does not appear on the Explorer due to drive letter conflicts. If any of your internal partitions have the same letter as the drive, you might not be able to see the drive. 

To ensure that no such conflict is causing the WD My Passport Ultra not detected issue, try assigning a new letter with the following steps – 

Step 1 – Press Win+X to open the quick-access menu.
Step 2 – From there, open the Disk Management tool.

Step 3 – Spot the WD drive from the list of drives and right-click to find the Change Drive Letter option.

Step 4 – In the Change Drive Letter option, click on Change.

Step 5 – In the change Windows, click on the dropdown menu and select the drive that you do not choose a drive already in use.

Click on OK and save the changes. Open Windows Explorer and refresh it to check if the drive is now detected. You can also restart your PC to be 100% sure. 

Fix 2 – Check the Connectivity of Your Drive

When the drive is not detected on your PC, it is mainly due to incompatibility issues and connection errors. To ensure you are not facing similar problems, you should try the following checks – 

1. Ensure that your cable is the original one that came with the drive. Using a third-party cable can cause compatibility issues with the drive.
2. Try changing the port while connecting the drive. If one port is not detecting it, switch to another port and check if that does the trick for you.
3. If there is wear and tear on the drive, ensure you take care of that, especially with the cable.
4. Check the connection twice to ensure that there is no lag or looseness in the connection.

After all these checks, if nothing works, you should try connecting the drive to another PC. This will help you identify if the issue lies in the drive or the PC that you are connected to.

Fix 3 – Update Drivers for Drive & PC

The WD My Passport Ultra requires dedicated drivers to work. Similarly, the PC’s USB controller drivers also detect your drive. If either of these is not working, you may face issues. 

You will need a lot of time up your sleeves to update these drivers, as the traditional method takes multiple steps to finish a driver update. And the same will be done for all the outdated drivers. 

If you are looking for a better method, we recommend the automatic driver updater. The best one available is Advanced Driver Updater. It works in 3 easy steps – 

Step 1 – Finish the installation of the app via the link below.

Step 2 – Use the Start Scan Now button and find out what outdated drivers are running on your PC.

Step 3 – You can easily update the drivers using the Update All option after the scan. 

After the USB controller and WD drivers are installed and updated, plug in the drive, and you should be able to access it easily. 

Other than these, the only thing that may cause the WD My Passport Ultra not detected issue on your PC is the hardware error with the drive. If you drop it and the error appears, we recommend you take it to the store and get it checked by a professional for issues. 

That will be all for this post. Hope these fixes get your WD My Passport Ultra worked up. Thanks for reading. Good luck!

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