Test different USB drives and ports to rule out hardware issues. 2. Update or reinstall USB drivers via Device Manager, including uninstalling and restarting to force clean reinstallation. 3. Disable USB selective suspend in Power Options to prevent power-saving related freezes. 4. Temporarily disable antivirus or third-party software that may conflict with USB device scanning. 5. Check Event Viewer for USB or system errors, run sfc /scannow, and update chipset drivers and BIOS. 6. Disable AutoPlay to prevent Explorer hangs from corrupted or slow drives. Following these steps typically resolves the freezing issue by addressing driver, power, or software conflicts, with most cases fixed by driver updates and power setting adjustments.
If your Windows 10 PC freezes every time you plug in a USB drive, it’s likely due to a combination of hardware, driver, or system-level issues. This is a common but frustrating problem — the good news is, it’s usually fixable. Here’s a breakdown of the most likely causes and practical steps to resolve them.

1. Check the USB Port and Drive First
Before diving into system settings, rule out the simplest possibilities:
- Try a different USB drive — some faulty or poorly formatted drives can cause system hangs.
- Plug the drive into a different USB port on your PC.
- Test the same drive on another computer to see if it causes issues there too.
- Avoid using USB hubs or extension cables — plug directly into the PC.
If the freeze only happens with one specific drive or port, the problem is likely isolated to that hardware.

2. Update or Reinstall USB Drivers
Outdated, corrupt, or incompatible USB drivers are a common culprit.
Steps:

- Press
Win X
and select Device Manager. - Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
- Right-click each USB root hub (especially those labeled with "USB 3.0" or "xHCI") and choose Update driver.
- Select Search automatically for updated driver software.
- If that doesn’t help, right-click and choose Uninstall device, then unplug the drive, restart your PC, and let Windows reinstall the drivers automatically.
? Tip: After uninstalling, reboot before plugging the drive back in. This forces Windows to detect and reinstall the USB stack cleanly.
3. Disable USB Selective Suspend (Power Saving Feature)
Windows sometimes freezes when waking up USB devices from power-saving mode.
To disable:
- Go to Control Panel > Power Options.
- Click Change plan settings for your current plan.
- Click Change advanced power settings.
- Expand USB settings > USB selective suspend setting.
- Set both On battery and Plugged in to Disabled.
- Click Apply > OK.
This stops Windows from turning off USB ports to save power — which can occasionally cause hangs when reactivating.
4. Check for Conflicts with Antivirus or Third-Party Software
Some antivirus tools (especially older or third-party ones) aggressively scan USB devices upon insertion, which can freeze the system.
- Temporarily disable your antivirus or security suite.
- Try plugging in the USB drive again.
- If it works fine, re-enable the antivirus and adjust its auto-scan on USB insertion settings, or consider updating or replacing it.
Also, check for:
- Backup software (like Acronis)
- Encryption tools (like BitLocker or third-party encryption)
- Auto-launch software on the USB drive (malware or poorly coded autorun)
5. Run Hardware and System Diagnostics
- Open Event Viewer (
eventvwr.msc
) and look under Windows Logs > System around the time of the freeze. Look for errors related toUSB
,disk
, orkernel
. - Run
sfc /scannow
in Command Prompt (as admin) to check for corrupted system files. - Update your motherboard chipset drivers and BIOS/UEFI — outdated firmware can cause USB instability.
6. Disable AutoPlay (Sometimes Helps)
Though less common, AutoPlay trying to read a corrupted or slow drive can hang Explorer.
- Press
Win R
, typegpedit.msc
(if you have Pro edition) or use Registry Editor (regedit
). - Or go to Settings > Devices > AutoPlay and turn off AutoPlay for all media and devices.
Summary of What to Try (Quick List):
- ? Test different USB drives and ports
- ? Update or reinstall USB controllers in Device Manager
- ? Disable USB selective suspend in Power Options
- ? Temporarily disable antivirus or security software
- ? Check Event Viewer for error clues
- ? Run
sfc /scannow
and update system drivers/firmware
If the problem persists across multiple drives and ports, it could point to a deeper motherboard or power delivery issue — but in most cases, updating drivers and disabling power-saving features resolves it.
Basically, it’s not usually the USB drive itself — it’s how Windows is handling it. Tweak the settings above, and your PC should stop freezing.
The above is the detailed content of my win 10 pc freezes when i plug in a usb drive. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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