How to Fix Micro SD Card not Showing up on Windows 10/11

If your PC is not detecting your Micro SD card inserted in the SD slot, I will show you in this article what you can do to fix your Micro SD Card not showing up on Windows 10/11.

Before starting the steps below, try your Micro SD Card on another device (a PC or android device) to know if the problem lies with the Micro SD Card.

Follow the steps below to make your Micro SD card show up on Windows:

1. Check whether your Micro SD Card shows up on Disk Management.
2. Remove write protection from Micro SD Card.
3. Enable your Micro SD Card in the Device Manager.
4. Update your Micro SD Card driver.
5. Use Windows Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter.

Do not be intimidated by the number of steps; it won’t take long to get through them. It is very quick.

(If you have Bluetooth issues, check my article on how to quickly fix Windows 10 Bluetooth turn On button missing.)

Now let’s see how to follow each of these steps in detail.

Check Whether your Micro SD Card Shows Up on Windows Disk Management

Your Micro SD Card will only work if it has a drive letter (like E: or F:), so we need to go to Disk Management on Windows and add a driver letter to it if there is none.

(This step will only work if your SD card is showing up in disk management. If not, skip this step.)

Here is how to do it:

1. Enter create and format hard disk partitions on Windows Search and click Open.
2. Your Micro SD Card will show up as a removable disk. Check if there is a drive letter assigned to it, like in the picture below:
   
3. If not, right-click on your Micro SD card and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
4. Click on Add, then on Assign the following drive letter, and select a drive letter.

Your Micro SD Card should appear on Windows Explorer under the drive letter you assigned.
If this doesn’t fix your problem, proceed to the next step.

Remove write protection from Micro SD Card

Write protected SD Cards prevent other devices, except the original one, from adding or deleting data. This will often make these write-protected SD cards not show up on other devices.

So, if you added write protection on your Micro SD Card, remove it and then try to connect it to your computer again.

Follow the video below to check how to remove the write protection from your Micro SD Card:

If your Micro SD Card is not write-protected, go to the next step.

Enable your Micro SD Card in the Device Manager.

As with any other hardware device, your Micro SD Card will only work if it is enabled in the Device Manager.

You can check this very quickly:

1. Enter Device Manager on Windows Search, then click Open:
   
2. On the Device Manager, expand Disk drives to find your Micro SD Card:
   
3. Right-click on it and check whether there is the option Enable Device. If so, click on it.

(If you see only the option Disable Device, it logically means your device is already enabled)

If your device was already enabled, do not close the Device Manager yet; let´s try updating its driver.

Update your Micro SD Card driver.

Hardware issues are, more often than not, the result of outdated or missing drivers. To update your Micro SD Card driver on the Device Manager, follow the steps below:

1. Enter Device Manager on Windows Search, then click Open.
2. On the Device Manager, expand Disk drives to find your Micro SD Card.
3. Right-click on it and select Update driver.
   
4. Then, select Search automatically for drivers.
5. Now, wait while Windows check for new drivers.

If Windows cannot find a better driver for your Micro SD Card, it does not necessarily mean you have the latest driver installed.

This happens because Windows is not very reliable when finding the latest drivers.

I recommend you use a reliable third-party driver updater like Driver Booster to make sure you have the latest drivers. This program also allows you to update all outdated drivers at once.

Use Windows Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter

The Windows Hardware and Device Troubleshooter is a built-in tool to help users fix all sorts of hardware issues.

Try to run it to make your Micro SD Card appear on Windows.

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Enter the command msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic next to Open, then press Enter:
   
3. Now press the Next button to run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter.
   

Conclusion

There are a few steps that you can take to fix this issue where the Micro SD Card is now showing on Windows.

First, try your Micro SD Card on other devices to ensure it is not damaged or broken. Also, make sure your Micro SD Card is not write-protected.

Check whether your Micro SD Card also has a drive letter on Disk Management. On the device manager, check if your Micro SD Card is enabled and try to update its driver.

Finally, you can also run Windows Hardware and Device troubleshooter and let Windows help you fix this issue.

If you are missing power options for your Bluetooth device, read this article on how to fix Bluetooth Power Management Tab Missing on Windows.