The drive f: is not formatted. Do you want to format it now? (WIN XP)

Did it ever happen to you, that you lost your access to external usb storage medias, such as USB dongles, external hard drives, different memory cards and other devices, capable of storing data?

It happened to me this monday. Suddenly my computer didn't recognise any USB storages I had. Before that I scanned my computer with Avast antivirus and it found some infected files which it couldn't repair, so I deleted them. First I thought something is wrong with my USB dongle, but after some testing on other computer everything was working normally. I tried with another USB dongle with no success. The computer recognises the drive and assignes the drive letter (for example f:), but the content cannot be accessed and "Disk not formatted" error occurs. Of course I clicked "cancel" not to format it.

Since I didn't know any solution, i went searching the Internet to find a solution. Unfortunatly noone form dozens of forums gave me the solution that would work, which seemed quite strange to me. I tried System restore without any success also. What ever I tried, nothing worked. Since I didn't want to format the computer and install a fresh version of Windows XP, I was thinkig about what did Avast delete? I checked in windows/system32 folder and the file ntdll.dll was there, so I decided to replace it. Of course Windows doesn't let you replace the file, so I had to go by steps, which wil most probably help you too.

- Find the file ntdll.dll on a computer with healthy Windows XP and copy it to your USB dongle
  (c:/windows/system32/ntdll.dll) 
- Download Hiren's boot CD on this link
- Unzip and burn ISO to a CD
- Insert the CD v you drive and restart your computer
  (CD boot must be enabled before booting from hard drive)
- Choose "Mini Windows XP" from the menu
- When the system loads, insert USB key in your computer
- Copy (and replace) the file ntdll.dll to folder c:/windows/system32/
- Take the CD from your drive and restart the computer

That's it. The computer should work normally in all aspects now, including your USB drives.

I hope this post saved some minutes of your time. Feel free to leave a comment with your exoeriences.

Yours Lucky.

Disk v pogonu F: ni formatiran. Ali ga želite formatirati zdaj? (WIN XP)

Se vam je že kdaj zgodilo, da ste na lepem izgubili dostop do svojih zunanjih USB shramb, kot so USB ključki, zunanji trdi diski, razne pomnilniške kartice in ostale naprave za shranjevanje podatkov?

Meni se je to zgodilo v ponedeljek. Kar naenkrat mi računalnik ni več spoznal nobene USB enote za shranjevanje. Pred tem pa sem računalnik pregledal s protivirusnim programom Avast, ki nekaterih datotek ni mogel popraviti ampak jih je zbrisal. Najprej sem pomislil, da je nekaj narobe z USB ključkom, ampak, ko sem ga preizkusil na drugem računalniku je delal normalno. Poskusim drugi USB ključ in zadeva se ne spremeni. Računalnik sicer zazna USB napravo, dodeli mu črko pogona (npr. F:), vendar vsebine ne moremo videti in raziskovalec nam javi "Disk v pogonu X: ni formatiran. Ali ga želite formatirati zdaj?". Seveda sem kliknil prekliči.

Ker sam nisem vedel rešitve, sem se lotil iskati informacije po internetu. Na desetine forumov razlaga o tej težavi, nihče pa nima rešitve, ki bi delovala. Format in ponovna postavitev sistema se mi je zdela predolgotrajna, zato sem poskusil z obnovitvijo sistema. Žal neuspešno. Kar koli sem naredil, nič ni pomagalo. Potem sem se spomnil, da mi je avast brisal nekaj v mapi WINDOWS/SYSTEM32 in to je bila datoteka ntdll.dll. Vendar ta datoteka je bila v mapi, zato sem se odločil, da jo zamenjam. Seveda se to ne da narediti, ko windows teče, ker ne pusti dostopa do teh datotek. Zato sem storil naslednje korake, ki vam bodo povrnili funkcionalnost zunanjih shramb.

- Na računalniku z zdravimi Windowsi XP najdi datoteko ntdll.dll
  (c:/windows/system32/ntdll.dll) in jo skopiraj na USB ključ
- Prenesi Hiren's boot CD na tem linku
- Odzipaj in zapeci ISO na CD
- Vstavi CD v pogon in ponovno zaženi računalnik
  (V BIOS-u mora biti omogočen boot s CD-ja pred bootom iz diska)
- V meniju, ki se pojavi med bootom izberi "Mini Windows XP"
- Ko se sistem postavi, vstavi USB ključ v USB vtičnico
- Prekopiraj (in zamenjaj) datoteko ntdll.dll v mapo c:/windows/system32/
- Vzemi CD iz pogona in ponovno zaženi računalnik

To je to. Računalnik bi znova moral prepoznavati vaše zunanje USB shrambe.

Upam, da vam je tale post pomagal prihraniti nekaj dragocenega časa.

Vaš Lucky.