If you have to format multiple USB Pen drives at once, the GUI way is a time-consuming one. So, decided to show how to format a USB Pen Drive using the Command Prompt on Windows 11/10 computer.
Format USB Pen Drive using CMD
To format a USB Pen Drive using the Command Prompt, you can opt for either of the two methods.
- Using Format Command
- Using Diskpart tool.
When using the Diskpart tool, you will need admin privileges. You can also use PowerShell instead of CMD.
1] Using Format Command
Plug in the USB drive you want to format, and open File Explorer. Identify the exact drive name of the USB drive. Make sure not to make any mistakes here. If you use an incorrect drive letter, you will end up formatting another partition and lose all the data.
- Make sure no copy process is in progress, and the drive is not open in Explorer.
- Type CMD in the Run Prompt, and hit enter to open the Command Prompt.
- Type FORMAT <Driveletter>: and hit the Enter key.
- It will prompt you to enter a new disk for Drive I. Just hit the Enter key again.
- If you get a prompt saying:
Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first.
ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID.
Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N)
- Enter Y, and it will dismount the volume to format it. It’s because some process is still accessing it. Unmounting will make sure all the processes accessing the drive will stop.
If you want to format with your choice of options, we suggest you read everything about the Format command here.
Read: Bad sectors were encountered during the format; How to remove?
2] Using Diskpart Tool
DISKPART is a powerful tool that you can use to manage all the partitions from the command line. Before running this tool, make sure to remove the USB drive.
- Type diskpart in the Run Prompt, and hit enter
- After the UAC, it will open the Command Prompt which is running this tool
- Type LIST DISK to list all the drives connected to the computer.
- Now insert the USB drive, and then rerun the command.
- This time you will notice an extra drive that you need to format. In my case, it is DISK 2
- Next type SELECT DISK 2, and you will get a prompt Disk 2 is now the selected disk.
- Type CLEAN, and hit the Enter key
- Then type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY and hit enter
- Type Format fs=NTFS Quick and hit enter
- Type Assign and hit the Enter key to assign a letter to the newly formatted drive.
Post completion of all the tasks, the USB drive will be formatted, and it will be empty. DISKPART tool works differently compared to the standard format option in Windows.
Read: How to format External Hard Drive or USB drive using PowerShell.
How to format pendrive using CMD in Windows 11?
In the Command Prompt on a Windows 11 computer, you can either use the Diskpart command or the Format command to clear out a pen drive. To know how to do the same, check out the instructions mentioned earlier.
