Windows can't complete formatting

File systems come in several different types. However, the Windows operating system, which is installed on most computers in the world, cannot work with media that is formatted in file systems other than FAT or NTFS. These file systems are the most common, all due to the same great popularity of the operating system from Microsoft. What actions to take if the flash drive cannot be formatted using system methods?
Most likely, most users have encountered in their practice formatting error, which reads: "Windows cannot complete formatting." It also happens that a flash drive is defined as unallocated space. The reasons can be both simple to solve and complex. And some problems simply cannot be resolved, as they can be physical in nature.

The very first action in such cases should be a basic check of the device for errors, as well as correcting them, if of course this is still possible.

This should be done according to the following algorithm:
1. The storage device must be connected to the computer.

2. Now you should open the “My Computer” window, right-click on the icon of the desired device and select “Properties”.

3. In the “Properties” window that opens, go to the “Service” tab and click on the “Run check” button. In the window that appears, mark both available items, after which you can click the “Run” button and the scan will begin. You should be patient as it may take quite a long time.

If the problem does not disappear after the check is completed, then you should try lower-level formatting.

This can be done using the following methods:
1. Using specialized utilities that exist under Windows OS.
2. Using a utility built into the Linux OS called dd. Practice shows that the second option is more effective, but it is somewhat more complicated (not for everyone Linux installed, and it’s not so easy to find a computer with this operating system). Thanks to the dd utility, you can format not only flash drives, but also hard drives of any size.