[Step-by-Step Guide] How to Format

USB Using CMD

How to Format USB Using CMD in

Windows | 2021 Guide

Applies to: Format corrupted USB, format USB to Ext2, Ext3,

format FAT32 USB to NTFS, format USB to FAT32, etc. on all
Windows OS.

On this page, you'll learn how to format USB using CMD or an

easier CMD alternative in Windows 10/8/7 successfully. Pick
up the suitable USB format tool
(https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/best-usb-format-
tool.html) for help now:

USB Format Tool Pros 

1. Format USB Using CMD

(https://www.easeus.com/partition-
master/format-usb-flash-drive-
using-cmd.html#1)

2. Format USB Via CMD Alternative

(https://www.easeus.com/partition-
master/format-usb-flash-drive-
using-cmd.html#2)

As formatting will remove all saved data on the USB drive, if

your USB is accessible, make sure to back up valuable USB
data to another secure location in advance. If you prefer an
easy and quick way to format USB or you need to format to
Ext 4 (https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/format-
ext4.html)/3/2, pick up CMD alternative format tool for help.
Let's start to format your USB using CMD or its alternative
tool and make the RAW, inaccessible, unreadable, and even
corrupted USB flash drive, pen drive, memory stick work
normally again. 

Part 1. How to Format USB Using CMD

(Command Prompt)

USB flash drive is worldwide used for storing data and

transferring files. However, sometimes, USB may corrupt or
become inaccessible due to RAW or invalid file system, bad
sector, or other errors. A quick way to resolve these problems
is to formatting USB using CMD.

The following are two detailed guides, illustrating how to

format a USB flash drive from Windows Command Prompt
that you should strictly follow.

Steps to Format USB (to NTFS or FAT32) Using CMD

#1. Format USB using CMD in Windows 10:

Step 1. Connect USB to your PC and press Windows + R keys.

Step 2. Type cmd in the Search box and hit Enter to bring up

Command Prompt.
Step 3. Type the following command lines one by one and hit
Enter each time:

diskpart

list disk

select disk + number (Replace 2 with the number of your USB

drive.)

list volume

select volume + number (Replace 10 with the volume number

of your USB flash drive.)

format fs=ntfs quick (You can also replace NTFS with FAT32
or exFAT.)

exit

CMD also works to fix Windows was unable to complete the

format (https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-
software/windows-was-unable-to-complete-the-format-sd-
usb.html) error in your computer hard drive, USB, or other
storage devices.

#2. Format USB flash drive using Command Prompt in

Windows 8/7:

If you are using a Windows 8/7 system, enter Command

Prompt and type the following command lines one by one, and
hit Enter each time:

diskpart

list disk

select disk 2 (Replace 2 with the number of your USB drive.)

clean

create partition primary

format fs=ntfs

assign

After this, exit DiskPart and you can save data to your USB
flash drive again. However, as Linux file system Ext2/3 is not
compatible with Windows OS, you can refer to a UBS format
tool in Part 2 for help.

Part 2. Format USB Flash Drive Using CMD

Alternative in Windows

Although you can format a USB from cmd, however, it's not

user-friendly for most Windows beginners. Also, any improper
operation may cause data loss on other storage devices. Here,
we would like to recommend you try third-party CMD
alternative software - EaseUS free partition manager
(https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/epm-free.html). 
EaseUS Partition Master Free

Manage Your Partition in Simple Clicks

2. How to format bootable USB using cmd ？

The process of formatting a bootable USB flash drive is
almost the same as the process shown on this page. You can
apply CMD to format it with the listed steps here:

1. Step 3. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

2. Step 4. Type list disk and hit Enter.

3. Step 5.Type select disk + number and hit Enter. (Replace 2

with the number of your USB drive.)

4. Step 6. Type list volume and hit Enter.

5. Step 7. select volume + number and hit Enter. (Replace 10

with the volume number of your USB flash drive.)

6. Step 8. Type format fs=ntfs quick and hit Enter. (You can also

replace NTFS with FAT32 or exFAT.)

7. Step 9. Type exit and hit Enter.

3. How to format write-protected USB using cmd?

Here are the steps that you can follow to format a write-
protected (read-only) USB (https://www.easeus.com/partition-
master/format-a-write-protected-usb-flash-drive.html) using
the command lines below:

1. Step 2. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

2. Step 3. Type list disk and hit Enter.

 3. Step 4. Type select disk 2 and hit Enter. (Replace 2 with the
write-protected device number) and hit Enter.

4. Step 5. Type attributes disk clear readonly and hit Enter.

5. Step 6. Type exit to close the diskpart window.

Once the write protection removing process completes, you

can format the USB drive again. You can either apply EaseUS
Partition Master, Windows File Explorer, or even the CMD
command as shown in Part 2
(https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/format-usb-flash-
drive-using-cmd.html#2) to format the USB drive.

4. Windows was unable to complete the format, how to fix it?

When you use File Explorer to format the USB flash drive, it
warns you that 'Windows was unable to complete the format',
don't worry. Here are 7 ways that you can try to fix this error:

Note that you can try the above two tutorials to format your
USB flash drive and resolve this issue. 

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Updated by Tracy King

(https://www.easeus.com/author/tracy-king.html) 
(https://www.facebook.com/tracykingeaseus)

Tracy joined in EaseUS in 2013 and has been working with

EaseUS content team for over 7 years. Being enthusiastic in
computing and technology, she writes tech how-to articles
and share technical solutions about Windows & Mac data
recovery, file/system backup and recovery, partition
management and iOS/Android data recovery.