Solved: Can't Format Drive in Disk Management

When we need to empty an internal hard drive or external disk, most people today employ the disk formatting technique to clear out disk partition files.

However, some people experience difficulties during the procedure. When users try to format a disk, Windows offers a prompting that reads "Windows was unable to finish the format" or "Windows was unable to complete the format".

If you also meet this issue, then this post will give you a hand to solve the problem.

4 ways to format drives in Windows 10/11

Although Disk Management is a handy tool, many other ways to format a drive exist. In this part, we’ll show you some other ways to format a drive.

Way 1. Perform drive formatting​ using CMD

The Command prompt service is the backdoor platform on which your Windows operating system runs, and it also allows you to execute complicated administrative activities that are not available in a typical setting. The command prompt has the complete ability to format any disk. When Disk Management cannot format a disk ordinarily, use these instructions to force format it using Command Prompt.

Step 1. Enter cmd prompt in the search bar of the taskbar and run it as an administrator.

Step 2. Type “diskpart” from the keyboard and hit the Enter key. The Diskpart mode will open. 

Now, please type the correct commands in the Diskpart to format your drive, press "Enter" after each command:

• List Disk
• Select Disk x (X is the number of the target drive)
• Clean
• create partition primary
• format fs=fat32 quick” or “format fs=ntfs quick”
• assign letter X:

Your drive will be formatted, now exit MS-DOS and use the freshly minted drive.

Way 2. Format drive via Windows File Explorer

File Explorer can also assist you format storage devices. If the Disk Management format fails, try using this program to finish the procedure.

Step 1. Open File Explorer by clicking Windows and E keys.

Step 2. Click This PC in the left pane, and then move to the right section of the window. Right-click on the target drive and tap Format.

Step 3. In the prompted window, choose a file system from the given options and click Start.

Way 3. Remove write-protection and format drive

You can remove write protection at first, then try Disk Management to format the drive again.

Step 1. Run Command Prompt as an administrator in the search box.

Step 2. Then type and execute the commands below.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk n
• attributes disk clear readonly

Way 4. Fix Disk Management can't format drive via an alternative tool

Another choice to format drive is to turn to Disk Management alternative tool AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. It’s a free disk and drive manager for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7 system. The disk format feature in this tool supports FAT32, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, and exFAT file systems, so you can not only format your PC drive, but other drives can also be formatted according to your needs.

What’s more, it has many other practical features to help you manage your drives like wiping partitions, resizing partitions, test drive speed, defragging HDD…

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

Step 1. Download this freeware, install and run it. In the main interface, right-click the target drive and select “Format Partition”.

Step 2. In this small window, specify the file system of the drive based on your own demand and click “OK”.

Step 3. Preview the operation. Then, click “Apply” and “Proceed” to perform it.

Tip: This tool can also format BitLocker drive without password.

Why can’t format drive in Disk Management?

Normally, users will open Disk Management to change the partition settings, and formatting is almost the most frequently-used option in the menu. Why Windows won't format hard drive? When you try to format the hard disk and get the "Windows Cannot Format This Drive" error, you can't pinpoint a single symptom. Many unresolved faults accumulate and finally harm the hard disk, rendering it unreadable and unformattable.

1. Your drive is infected with virus or malware
A virus is likely causing your hard drive to act strangely. This could damage the drive and your data, making it impossible to format. USB flash drives, often used on multiple computers, can easily pick up viruses and harm both the USB and your PC’s internal disk if infected.

2. Physical damage
If the drive sustains physical damage, it is likely to stop working properly, abort the formatting operation, or not turn on at all.

3. There are bad sectors on your drive
A drive sector is a part that holds a set amount of data. It’s where the operating system manages data blocks spread across multiple sectors. If sectors get damaged, the disk can act up and may cause the "Windows was unable to complete the format" error. Bad sectors can come from a stiff hard disk, excessive defragmentation, or frequent use on different PCs.

4. Write-protected drive
Formatting is a type of writing operation, hence Windows cannot format a write-protected drive. As a result, you must first remove the write protection before formatting the disk.

Ending

If you find you can't format drive in Disk Management, then there are 4 other solutions for you. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a reliable tool for Windows users, if you upgrade to the Professional Edition, you’ll unlock more useful utilities, such as moving apps and folders to release more space, cloning disk, converting partition type without data loss, etc. And there is the Server Edition for Windows Server users to conveniently manage Server devices.