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30 July 2019  Ashley S. Miller  Specialist of Customer Service Dept.
 

Summary
If there is a yellow exclamation mark against the USB icon, with a notification saying that “This device cannot start. (Code 10)”, the USB will fail to work. How to solve this problem? The cause analysis and the effective solutions will be shown in this essay.



When you receive the notification “This device cannot start”, you should find out the cause and then select the suitable solution to it.
code 10

What If USB Cannot Start?

Cause analysis:
The fact that a USB device fails to start and generates the error “This device cannot start” may be caused by one of the following aspects:
1. The USB device is faulty.
2. The USB driver software is out of date.
3. The USB driver software has got damaged.
4. There is something wrong with the USB controller.
5. The registry values have been damaged or get invalid.
Quick troubleshoot:
. First, connect the USB device via other USB ports, then check whether it can work.
. If not, try to restart the computer because some driver software only start after the restart. Then repeat the above step.
. You can also connect the USB device to the other computer and check whether it is faulty. If it still fails to work, you should change a new one.
If it is all right, you should check your PC system with methods below:
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Solution 1: Update Driver Software in Device Manager

Steps:
1. Press [Win + R]. Open the [Run] box, then input [devmgmt.msc] and press [Enter] to run.
open device manager
2. In Device Manger, click the down arrow to expand [Universal Serial Bus controllers]. Find out the device with a yellow exclamation mark.
unknow usb device
3. Right-click this USB device; select [Update Driver Software].
update driver software
If this device still cannot start, the driver software may has been damaged. At such situation, you can follow the next solution to reinstall the driver software.

Solution 2: Reinstall Damaged USB Driver Software

Steps:
1. Repeat the step 1 in Solution 1. Select [Device Manger] > [Universal Serial Bus controllers] > the target USB device.
unknow usb device
2. Right-click the device and select [Uninstall]. After the unistallation, restart the computer. The driver software will be reinstalled by itself.
how to repair undetected micro sd card by uninstalling drivers

Solution 3: Reinstall USB Controller

Steps:
1. Repeat the step 1 in Solution 1. Select [Device Manager] > [Universal Serial Bus controllers] > the controller related to the USB device.
disable USB ports in computer's device manager
2. Right-click these USB controllers to uninstall them one by one. Then restart the computer. The driver software will be reinstalled by itself.
how to repair undetected micro sd card by uninstalling drivers
3. Finally, plug in the USB device to check whether it can work.
Lock and Unlock with USB Locker
If you can locate at the faulty USB, right-click the [Disable] option to disable the USB port. Then change it to the other ports.

Solution 4: Delete UpperFilters or LowerFilters Registry Values

Steps:
1. Press [Win + R] to open the [Run] box.
press the keys win+r
2. Input [regedit] and press [Enter].
enter regedit in Windows 7 run
3. Open the registry editor and navigate to this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class.
4. Click the GUID related to the USB device. Then find out the UpperFilters or LowerFilters values at the right side window. Right-click them to delete. After that, close the registry editor and restart the computer.
windows 10 delete upperfilters registry value
These are the specific GUIDs related to different devices:
TypeGUIDDevice
Disc4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc driver
Disc drive4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318Hard disk driver
Display4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318Video adapter
Image6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092FCamera/Scanner
Keyboard4D36E96B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318Keyboard
Mouse4D36E96F-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318Mouse
USB36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000USB host controllers and hubs