Windows 10 & 11 · open source · MIT
Your drive isn't dead. Windows just stopped seeing it.
iUSB is a small recovery tool for USB sticks that vanish after a bad unplug, a failed format, or a fight with Disk Management. It rescans the bus, restarts the device node and re-attaches the volume in a loop — until the drive shows up again.
Zip, no installer, no service, no telemetry. Needs administrator rights.
[16:42:07] iUSB · elevated [16:42:07] watching 2 USB devices [16:42:09] attempt 1 · rescan bus [16:42:11] attempt 2 · device in error, code 43 [16:42:11] → USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_SANDISK&PROD_ULTRA [16:42:16] attempt 3 · volume has no drive letter [16:42:16] → mounted as E: [16:42:17] E: is back · 28.6 GB · exFAT
How it works
Small, boring steps — repeated until they work
Windows caches what it thinks is plugged in. When that cache is wrong, plugging the drive in again doesn't help, because nothing on the bus actually changed. iUSB forces the change: each pass escalates one step further, then starts over.
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01
Rescan the bus
Runs
pnputil /scan-devicesand refreshes the storage cache, so Windows re-reads the hardware instead of trusting its own idea of it. -
02
Restart the device node
Anything sitting at Code 10, 28 or 43 gets its driver stack disabled and enabled again — what you'd do by hand in Device Manager, done every few seconds.
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03
Re-attach the volume
If the disk is back but its partition lost the drive letter, iUSB binds the next free one. It never formats and never writes to the stick.
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04
Clear stale device records
Optional. Ghost USBSTOR entries left behind by old ports and hubs can make Windows load the wrong driver first. iUSB removes them only when you ask.
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05
Stop as soon as it's back
The loop ends when a USB disk reports Healthy — not after a timer. You get the letter, the size and the filesystem in the log, and the option to open it.
Limits
What this won't fix
No tool talks a dead controller back to life. Better to know before you try.
- A device that never enumerates. If Windows doesn't react to the plug at all — no sound, no entry, nothing — suspect the port, the cable or the bridge chip before the software.
- Physically failing flash. A stick that enumerates and then hangs or drops off a second later is a hardware problem. Rescanning just makes the failure repeat faster.
- Filesystem damage. iUSB restores visibility, not data. If the volume comes back RAW, get your files off with a recovery tool before Windows offers to format it.
- BitLocker. The volume will show up, and it will still be locked. You need the key or the recovery password, nothing else.
Running it
Three steps, then wait
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Extract
Unzip the download anywhere you like. Nothing is installed, nothing starts with Windows.
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Run as administrator
Right-click
iUSB.cmd→ Run as administrator. Restarting device nodes needs the rights. -
Press Recover
Unplug the stick and plug it back in while the window is open. Watch the log; it usually lands within a handful of passes.
SmartScreen The script isn't code-signed, so the first launch will warn you. More info → Run anyway gets you through. That's the whole installation.
Console mode Prefer no window? The same engine runs headless.
iUSB.cmd open the window iUSB.cmd -Cli console mode iUSB.cmd -Cli -AutoRecover start retrying immediately iUSB.cmd -Cli -Interval 1 poll every second