How To Fix ‘Windows Was Unable To Complete Format’ Issue – Guide

When we perform formatting on a removable disk, sometimes Windows gives us a message saying “Windows was unable to complete formatting”, as shown in the figure below. Formatting a Micro SD card, USB flash drive, thumb drive, hard drive or SSD is a quick process for ordinary users to change the device’s file system and restore its full capacity.

This computer has four drives connected to it: a removable drive, an internal hard drive, and two external hard drives. The removable drive is the primary storage device on this computer. The internal hard drive is the secondary storage device. The two external hard drives are for backup purposes only and do not store any data on this computer.

Using the command prompt

The Windows Command Prompt can help you format a hard drive. ..

To launch the command prompt from the Windows menu, open the Start menu and select “cmd.”

To format a drive as NTFS, type the following command: format C: /fs:ntfs ..

Windows 10 defaults to using the “NTFS” file system on the “C” drive. ..

That’s why I typed the specific command. I chose it because, in my case, this unit is problematic. It doesn’t have to be your case.

If you don’t want your C drive to be formatted, you can choose to leave it as is. You can change the C drive letter to the drive letter you want to format. ..

Formatting a drive letter in the Command Prompt window: To format a drive letter in the Command Prompt window, you would use the following command: format J: /fs:FAT32

Using Disk Management

One of the relatively easy ways to do this is to turn to the Windows disk management tool. It can help you manage the different drives on your computer.

In Disk Management, open the left pane and select the hard drive you want to format. In the right pane, select the Format option. The Format dialog box will appear. In the General tab, select the Use Extended Attributes check box and click OK. The Formatting dialog box will close.

Windows was unable to complete the format operation.

Final note

Windows was unable to complete format issue If you have a Windows 10 computer and it is unable to format the drive, you may have a Windows 10 computer problem. This problem can be caused by a number of things, but the most common cause is that the drive is not working properly. If you have any questions or concerns about this problem, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We would be more than happy to help you out.