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duplicate usb drives in windows 10 file explorer

I recently installed Windows 10 via Windows Update.  All is fine however when I plugged in a usb flash drive I noticed 2 entries for it when I clicked to expand My PC.   This is happening for all the USB's that I plug in irrelevant of the drive letter that is assigned to it.  However it does not happen to my 2 external hard drives which are plugged into my PC permanently.  When I click My PC they show 1 entry each and clicking on them expands what is on them.  There are no problems with working with the USB flash drives but why 2 entries giving the same information when opened?

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Hi,

　

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Well this is unusual, back up the data in the USB drive and format the drive and check.

Also change the file system from NTFS to FAT. Also open “Device Manager” press “Windows Logo” + “X” keys on the keyboard and then select “Device Manager” from the menu. 

Plug into to different USB slot. Update the USB drivers and check.

Hope this helps. 

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Did as you suggested but no difference.  This is happening with all my usb flash drives and SD card which are all formatted to FAT32.  I have 2 external hard drives connected which are no problem and show 1 entry.  There were a couple of occasions after I formatted a usb flash to FAT32 again that the file explorer side bar changed to show only 1 entry.  This was ok until I ejected the drive and inserted it again and it then showed 2 entries.  It matters not into which usb slot I plug them the results are still the same.  I have tried updating drivers but it makes no difference as they show latest drivers installed. 

I had a problem the other day with a new Sandisk 64gb flash which I formatted to default FAT (FAT32 option did not show) which then would not show on my Samsung smart tv.  It showed on my Panasonic smart tv and also on the PC.  It also showed 2 entries.  To resolve this I downloaded HPUSBDisk.exe and formatted it with this.  It now works fine in everything except it still shows 2 entries.  Don't know if this is related to the problem.

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Perhaps I am misreading this then again maybe not.  When "This PC" is not expanded then it shows only 1 entry for flash drives.  When I expand "This PC" then it shows 2.  It looks like a sub folder.  When I switch on my Iomega hard drive it does not show at all unless I click on expand this PC.  It shows 1 entry and clicking to expand the hard drive shows what is stored on it.  No second entries.  The strange thing is that the Iomega entry which is "F"wedges itself between the 2 Flash drive entries which are "E".  I can to some degree get used to the flash drive double entries but why would the Iomega "F" drive wedge between the 2 "E" drive entries?  Unless of course that 1 of the flash drive entries is a ghost and should not be there.

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Similar problem: USB flash drive shows in This PC (in expected alphabetical order), but also shows at same hierarchical level as This PC.

In addition my Bitcasa drive also shows the same way, so under Desktop I have One Drive, This PC (which includes as sub-folders USB drive and Bitcasa), Libraries, USB flash drive, Bitcasa Drive, Network, etc.

I cannot find an option to delete the removable disk entries from the desktop.

Any ideas?

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I have the same problem - duplicate entries of my sd card on my tablet since upgrading to W10.

Looking carefully reveals that one is on a sub level of "This PC" while the second entry is at the same level as "This PC".

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It is so irritating when you may have a couple of flash drives showing 4 entries plugged into the pc.  Hope this can be sorted out with a future update.  

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Same problems here.  This is a Windows 10 Retail USB drive which shows up as drive (I:).  Other USB sticks do the same.

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Exactly- your picture shows the sub level entry and the main level entry that I have with my micro SD card

There must be enough emails about this now for MS to at least say - Ok we are working on a fix.

It would be nice to hear this.

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Try this tweak to remove that behaviour:

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4675-drives-navigation-pane-add-remove-windows-10-a.html

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Not sure this is the answer.  Haven't tried it as I think I will see what others think first.  The point is that it is only 1 drive with duplicate sub folder entry not separate drives to remove from the navigation pane.  Removing 1 will remove them both?  Thanks but I am not as experienced as some so will wait on other views.

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Last updated May 4, 2024 Views 51,227 Applies to: