Tag: usb devices

Vista SP2 RTM Crashes on Repeated Hot-Unplugs of USB Devices

June 09, 2009 by Jason

Windows Vista, even before the advent of SP1, namely as RTM, while it had its sins when it came down to compatibility and support, was extremely stable in comparison to Windows XP. However, given the necessary amount of abuse and the right triggers, Vista reliability can suffer just as much as its precursors. It is the case of repeated hot-unplugs of USB devices, which can easily lead to Vista Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2 crashing. A hot unplug refers to the action of disconnecting a USB device from a machine without turning to the Safely Remove Hardware feature.

Windows Server 2008 RTM and SP2 are also affected by this problem, the Redmond company revealed. The software giant indicated that it is sufficient to surprise remove a USB device several times in order to cause a crash of the operating system.

“After you plug the USB device into the USB port in this scenario, the device does not appear in Device Manager. Read More»

Vista does not recognise my USB flash drive

August 24, 2008 by Jason

Some users are experiencing problems with their USB flash drive even when they have been guaranteed that they are compatible with Windows Vista. This is usually due to the wrong software drivers being installed. When you plug in your USB flash drive for the first time you may be required to install the drivers for it, however most USB flash drives do not come with a CD containing their drivers. The majority of drivers for USB flash drives will already have been installed with Windows Vista, so when you are asked to install the driver software for your USB flash drive select Locate and install driver software and then on the next screen choose I don’t have the disc. Show me other options, unless you do have a disc with the driver software on it, in which case allow Windows Vista to search the CD for the correct driver. Assuming that you do not have a CD with the software on it, choose Browse my computer for driver software and then instruct Windows Vista to look for the driver software on the hard drive where you installed Windows Vista. Make sure that the Include subfolders checkbox has been checked and then press Next to search your hard drive for the driver software. Once the software has been found a window may appear telling you that Windows cannot verify the publisher of the software, and as long as you are confident that the drivers are correct, select Install this driver software anyway. You may need to repeat these steps two or three times as new USB devices are found and it is important that you complete these steps for every device, otherwise your USB flash drive will continue to not be recognised. Read More»