[Fixed] Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format on Windows 10

Why Windows was unable to complete the format?

When you are trying to format a removable drive such as an SD card, USB drive or external hard drive, you might get the error message “Windows was unable to complete the format”.

This may result in many reasons, but it is not that different to solve. Here is a list of the possible reasons:

• The device contains the file system error.
• The device suffers from virus or malware infection.
• The USB or SD card has bad sectors.
• The device is physically damaged.
• The device is write protected.

This guide will walk you through the best solutions to overcome Windows 10 was unable to complete the format. Please keep on reading.

How to fix Windows was unable to complete the format

In the next part, you will be provided with 4 most likely working solutions to fix Windows 10 was unable to complete the format. Try them until you get rid of this issue.

• Fix 1. Scan your computer for virus and malware
• Fix 2. Format use Disk Management
• Fix 3. Check for disk errors
• Fix 4. Remove write protection
• An easier way to completely wipe drives than format

Fix 1. Scan your computer for virus and malware

To solve this issue, you should first check for the viruses or malware on the device to ensure that the data is safe.

1. Press Windows+S to open the search box and type in Windows Security.

2. In the Windows Security window, tap Virus and Threat Protection.

3. In the Current threats section, tap the Scan option, select Quick scan, and click the Scan now button. You may also set a Full scan and a Custom scan.

4. Wait for this process to complete, restart your computer and see if the problem has been solved, if not go to the next method.

Fix 2. Format use Disk Management

If you find that Windows was unable to complete the format on SD card or other devices, you can use Disk Management to recreate the partition for the device and then format it.

1. Right click Start menu and select Disk Management.

2. Right-click on the drive you want to format, then select Format from the context menu.

3. Pick a Volume label and the desired File System, and set the Allocation unit size as Default.

4. To check for any drive issues, uncheck the Perform a quick format option. Note that this will make the process significantly slower.

Fix 3. Check for disk errors

If there are some bad sectors on the drive you want to format, it can also cause the device fail to format. Here are the steps on how to repair bad sectors by using the drive error checking feature.

1. Connect your device to your PC. Open your computer This PC, right-click your device under your computer > Properties.

2. Click on the Tools and then click on Check. Then it will begin the error checking process. This may take a while, and when it is finished, you need to restart your computer.

Fix 4. Remove write protection

If the device is write protected, you can only read and can do nothing on it. To format the device, you must remove its write-protected attributes. Follow the steps to enable that.

1. Open the command prompt window by typing cmd in the search box.

2. When the window pops up, input Diskpart and hit Enter to open Diskpart.

3. Then input the following commands and press Enter.

●list disk

●select disk #: replace # with the device you want to format.

●attributes disk clear readonly: to remove its write protection properties.

Now that there's no write protection, try formatting your disk again. To format it, just execute the commands listed as below.

●clean

●create partition primary

●format fs=ntfs quick

After the formatting process is finished, you can type exit to close the window.

An easier way to completely wipe drives than format

Although the Windows tools enable you to effectively format a device, they can sometimes prompt errors just like the one in this article. If you want a more secure and professional tool to help you completely clean the drive, you can try AOMEI Backupper Professional. It can help you clean up all data from the device easily and safely.

⚡ You can choose to erase the entire disk, selected partitions or unallocated space according to your needs, and you can guarantee that the data after erasing will not be restored again.
⚡ It allows you to wipe any kind of disk, internal/external hard drive, USB drive, SSD/HDD (WD, Crucial, Samsung, Seagate, etc.), and SD card, etc., whether they are data drives or system drives.
⚡ It provides 4 erasing methods, including fill sectors with 0, fill sectors with random data, DoD 52220.22-M (with 7 passes) and Gutmann (with 35 passes).
⚡ In addition to the disk wipe function, it also provides you with backup, restore, clone, sync as well. You can backup important files before erasing the device.
⚡ It can run on all Windows operating systems, including Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP, etc.

Then follow the graphic tutorial below to completely wipe the device with AOMEI Backupper:

Preparation:

• You can make a backup of the secondary hard drive before erasing, as the files will not be recoverable after this process is completed.
• Download and install this reliable disk-wiping software on your PC.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Backupper Professional, click Tools > Disk Wipe.

Step 2. Select Wipe disk to delete all partitions and erase all sectors on the device and click Next.

Step 3. Select the device you want to wipe and click Next to continue.

Step 4. On the Wiping Method page, choose Fill sectors with Zero. Then click Start to begin the zero filling process.

Step 5. You will then be taken to the erase process page. If you want to stop the process, you can click Cancel in the right corner. When the operation is complete, click Finish.

Notes✍:

📌 This function does not support wiping dynamic disks.
📌 If you are wiping system disk of the current computer, this software will create Windows PE environment automatically and restart your computer to complete this task. Please don’t stop it during the process.
📌 As the best alternative to Samsung SSD secure erase, you can also completely wipe other brands of SSDs such as Crucial, WD, and Seagate, etc.

Your turn

To solve Windows was unable to complete the format on Windows 10, this article can help you a lot. Besides the fixes, you can also try an easier way to completely wipe the hard drive with AOMEI Backupper. Thus the wiped drive cannot be recovered.

If you have need to burn Windows Server 2019 ISO to USB, AOMEI can also help you create bootable media to enable the task. As the best data protection tool, it comes with backup and restore, sync, clone and other tools, which is worth your try.