Unless you have a camera with built-in Wi-Fi, you likely connect your camera’s SD card (SDHC card) to your PC to back up photos from the memory card to your Windows 10/11 PC.
At times, when you connect your smartphone’s SD card, the camera’s SDHC card, or any other type of memory card, the card doesn’t show up in File Explorer.
If you are also experiencing the same issue, here is how to troubleshoot the issue.
Solution 1 of 5
Check if the SD card has a drive letter
Step 1: Open Disk Management by right-clicking on the Start button and then clicking the Disk Management option.
Step 2: In Disk Management, first make sure that your SD card is showing up. Like other removable devices, an SD card also appears as a removable device. If showing up, check if it has a drive letter. If it lacks a drive letter, follow the next two steps to add a drive letter.
a. Right-click on the SD card in Disk Management and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
b. Click the Add button. Select one of the available drive letters and then click the OK button to add a drive letter to the SD card.
If the SD card was not showing up due to the lack of a drive letter, it should now appear in the File Explorer.
NOTE: If the SD card is not showing up in Disk Management, please refer to the solutions given below.
Solution 2 of 5
Enable the card reader
The card reader is enabled by default settings in Windows 10/11, but it’s a good idea to make sure that it’s not disabled. Here is how to check that.
Step 1: Open the Device Manager. Expand Memory technology devices to see the card reader entry.
If the card reader entry is not appearing or if you cannot see Memory technology devices, it’s likely because the card reader driver is missing or corrupted. Refer to solution number 3 for install/reinstall the driver.
Step 2: Right-click on the card reader entry and then click Enable device. If you see Disable device option, it indicates that the card is enabled. In that case, you don’t need to do anything.
Solution 3 of 5
Reinstall the card reader driver
By default, Windows 10 automatically detects almost all card readers without requiring additional device drivers. But, if the SD or SDHC card is not being detected, it could be because the card reader driver is corrupt or missing. Here is how to install/reinstall the card reader driver.
Step 1: Open Device Manager by right-clicking on the Start button and then clicking the Device Manager option.
Step 2: Expand Memory technology devices to see the card reader entry.
Step 3: Note down the card reader make and model, and then download a fresh copy of the driver from your PC’s or card reader manufacturer’s website. If you cannot see the name and model of the card reader, contact your PC manufacturer.
Step 4: In the Device Manager, right-click on the card reader entry, and click Uninstall device option.
Step 5: Select Delete the driver software for this device checkbox and then click Uninstall button to remove the card reader driver.
After uninstalling the driver, reboot your computer once.
Step 6: Run the downloaded driver setup file and follow the on-screen directions to complete the installation. Restart your PC, if required.
Step 7: Check if the SD or SDHC card is showing up now.
Solution 4 of 5
Run the hardware troubleshooter
Windows 10/11 ships with a built-in hardware troubleshooter. Using this hardware troubleshooter, you might be able to make the SD card show up on your PC.
Navigate to Settings app > Update & security > Troubleshoot. Click on Hardware and Devices troubleshooter and then click Run the troubleshooter. The troubleshooter might be able to identify the problem and fix it automatically.
Solution 5 of 5
Connect the SD card to another PC
If the memory card is still refusing to show up, probably the memory card is not working or corrupt. Try connecting the card to another PC. Alternatively, if you have a spare memory card, connect it to your PC and then check if it shows up.
If the card reader is not working, you can buy an external card reader.
Gary Wohlgeschaffen says
Thanks for these clear instructions. I am on my way to changing my 512GB micro SD card from exfat to fat32 to use in my Samsung Galaxy S10. Lost so many photos because the exfat file system would always cause my SD card to show corrupted photos when it got close to 4GB full, which is so sad!
Read that this is common in Android phones using exfat SD cards. Now that I have changed it to fat32 using the MiniTool Partition Wizard (my Windows 11 laptop still cannot create a partition of more than 32GB using the Windows diskpart in the command prompt!), and you have shown me how to assign a drive letter to the micro SD, I think it should be good to use. Hopefully my Galaxy S10 can write the photo files to it to almost fill it if necessary, and not corrupt the photos.
Emmanuel Uko says
THis was really helpful. superb. Vintage. Thanks.
puti says
thanx
it was very helpfull
high 5
abraham says
thanks for the first solution! awesome!
Lukas says
First solution saved me from getting crazy. Thanks!
frank says
Information is obsolete. There is no “technology devices” option currently shown in the device mgr.