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- HP Community
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- Help with allowing PC to recognize external hard drive

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09-06-2019 07:59 AM
My PC is not reading the files on my external hard drive. The light of the hard drive goes on as usual and it appears under device and printers however the only options available is to create shortcut, remove device, troubleshoot, properties. I have tried it in another laptop and as soon as its plugged in a pop up window appears with the option to view files.
Please help, Thanks.
09-10-2019 06:27 PM
Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.
- Did this happen after a recent window or software update?
While you respond to that, let's try these steps:
Hard Reset: Follow steps from the link: https://hp.care/2GnkMa8.
BIOS default:
- Turn off the computer and wait five seconds.
- Press the Power button to start the computer and repeatedly press the F10 key to enter the BIOS setup menu.
- On the BIOS Setup screen, press F9 to select and load the BIOS Setup Default settings.
- Press F10 to Save and Exit.
- Use the arrow keys to select Yes, then press Enter when asked Exit Saving Changes?
- Follow the prompts to restart your computer.
Next, uninstall battery device from device manager.
- Type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. Device Manager opens. Note You might have to scroll down the list to find this item. Right-click the first USB controller under Universal Serial Bus controllers, and then click Uninstall to remove it. You may need to check the option Delete the driver software for this device, and then click the Uninstall button. Reboot the computer.
Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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I am an HP Employee