[USB Flash Drive-Not Shown As A Drive Though plug-n-play]

Current USB Flash Drives are truly 'plug and play' on Windows XP and Mac OS X - no additional software is required - the device automatically becomes visible as a new drive (if not showing as a drive see the instructions below for help to fix this problem) and users can unplug at any time (even though OS X may give an error message unless EJECT is selected first). However users on Windows 2000, Mac OS 9 or earlier systems should only unplug after a request to the system. Earlier systems (e.g. Win 98) usually also require installation of driver software before the USB flash drive can be used on that computer.

(if not showing as a drive see the instructions below for help to fix this problem)

the USB Drive will normally appear automatically as a new drive - however on Windows computers with many existing drive or network mappings it may not show automatically - to fix this right click on My Computer, choose Manage, wait, choose Disk Management - the removable drive will typically be visible below any hard drives (e.g. C) and CD/DVD drives (e.g. D), click on the removable drive, choose Change Drive Letter or Paths..., select Change, choose a new unused drive letter (e.g. X) and confirm - your files will then appear automatically. If still not visible other possible reasons could include Service Pack 2 support for write protection of external drives (may require changes to StorageDevicePolicies), the drive may be hidden (check if NoDrives value exists in registry or download software such as TweakUI to make hidden drives visible again) or a user profile problem (e.g. corrupt ntuser.dat file - do not rebuild until after you have backed up data from individual folders such as Local Settings, Favorites, My Documents, etc).