Before we get into the software fixes, let’s start with the simplest solution of all: restarting your Mac. Switch the Mac off and back on again. You’ll be surprised at how many problems a quick restart solves. Next, check the USB device. There’s a chance that it could have failed, particularly so if you’re using a cheaper cable. Inspect the device visually, looking for damage to the connector and any signs of frayed wiring. If there is no apparent damage, take two different USB devices and test them against different ports.
Did you get any other information on what to do to find your USB? Window and it will also come up when the device is connected to the Mac. My device won't appear when plugged into the USB port I have a device that I have plugged into my laptop, and the device will not appear. When looking at the device, it shows that it is connected to the laptop, but the device does not appear anywhere at all.
If the devices aren’t working on one or all of the ports it’s more likely to be an issue with your Mac and not the device. A USB device that works on one port but not another is a sign of a faulty port. If this is the case, the only real solution is to contact an authorized Mac specialist for a hardware diagnostics test and have the port repaired. If the device doesn’t work in any of your ports, then continue reading for some potential fixes. What to do if Mac USB devices are not working All of your Mac or MacBook USBs not working is actually better news than one failing. It’s unlikely that all of your ports would fail at once which means the fix is probably an easy one. Here are three things to try, starting with the most common fix.
Reset the SMC Resetting the SMC (System Management Controller) is a simple fix that cures a wide range of hardware issues. How this is done depends on whether you’re using a MacBook or Mac desktop. Resetting the SMC on a MacBook. Shutdown your MacBook. Connect the power adapter.
Hold Shift+Control+Option and the Power button at the same time. Release all the keys at the same time. Let your MacBook boot up as usual and the SMC will be reset. Resetting the SMC on an iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro. Shut down your Mac. Disconnect the power cord. Press and hold the Power button for 5 seconds and release.
Reconnect the power cord and switch the Mac back on. Check for updates Outdated firmware and software results in various hardware issues, including. Yep — Mac USB ports not working. Check for system updates by opening the App Store and clicking on the Updates tab. If updates are available, click on the Update button next to each application that you want to install. Reset PRAM/NVRAM The PRAM (Parameter RAM) and NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM) hold information about various USB components.
Resetting them could be the solution to your USB woes. It’s a slightly different process to resetting the SMC, but no less difficult. Shutdown your Mac. Restart it, holding down Command+Option (ALT)+P+R as you do. Hold down the keys until you hear a sound and see the screen flash.
Listen for the chime sound and let the Mac boot up as usual. Uninstall potentially conflicting apps If the USB ports not working on your MacBook Pro or iMac is a recent issue and there doesn’t seem to be any problem with USB devices, it could be that an app is conflicting with USB functionality. If you’ve downloaded an app from an unknown source there is the potential for it to contain malware, which could also be the cause of the problem. In any case, it’s worth uninstalling recently downloaded and installed apps.
If they aren't the reason for the USB ports acting up, you can easily reinstall them from the App Store. One way to remove apps is to use Launchpad or Finder. Or you can use a quicker, more effective method:. To completely remove an app and every file associated with that app, use CleanMyMac. Tool scans your entire system for every trace of an app and completely removes it. Using the tool is every bit as easy as deleting an app manually.
Download and launch CleanMyMac. Click on Uninstaller from the sidebar menu. Select the app that you want to remove from the list. Click Complete Removal in the Smart Selector panel. Hit Uninstall. While CleanMyMac lets you uninstall apps in bulk, in this case, you should delete apps one at a time until you find the culprit. CleanMyMac also lets you clean up unwanted junk, declutter your Mac and improve performance.
One way to uninstall apps manually is by using the Launchpad:. Open the Launchpad. Find the app that you want to remove and click and hold the icon until it starts to jiggle. Click on the X that appears in the corner of the app, then click Delete. You can also uninstall apps from the Finder:. Open the Finder and go to Applications.
Find the app that you want to remove and drag its icon to the Trash (you might need to enter your admin credentials to confirm you want to delete the app). Click on the Trash icon and select Empty Trash. Having one or more USB ports not working on your Mac can be hugely frustrating, especially if you rely on those ports for data backup and external peripherals. That said, USB problems are quite rare and are usually easy to fix. Work your way through these troubleshooting tips until you find the one that works and restore your Mac to its full glory. These might also interest you:.
Even though OS X can read Windows formatted hard drives just fine, the opposite is still not true, even with Windows 10. Granted, OS X can’t write to a Windows formatted disk, but at least it can read the contents of the drive and you can copy the data to your Mac computer. Windows has absolutely no support for the Mac hard disk file format (HFS+). This means that if you connect a Mac formatted drive to Windows, you’ll simply get a blank drive letter and a message asking to format the disk. If you click Cancel, you’ll just get a message stating that the volume does not contain a recognized file system. I’ve already written about how, if your external, you might have to use the exFAT file format, which both Windows and Mac support, however, this requires formatting the drive and copying all the data back on.
Another solution is to that way, but this requires a decent amount of setup. So are there any other options? Well, thankfully yes. If you use Macs and PCs heavily in your setup, it might be worth spending some money on a program called MacDrive.
MacDrive is a great program that allows you to use Mac formatted disks on your Windows PC like a normal drive. Using the program, you can read and write data to HFS+ drives just like a normal Windows formatted drive. You can then disconnect the drive from Windows, plug it into your Mac and access everything normally. If you find yourself having to copy data back and forth between Macs and PCs fairly often, this program is a great investment. The Standard version is $49 and the Pro version is $69. You can see the difference here. For me, the Standard version was more than enough.
If you need to mount Mac formatted RAID sets on your PC or create ISO Mac images in Windows, then the Pro version will be necessary. You can try out the program using the five-day free trial. Once you install it, you’ll have to restart your Windows PC.
Once you log back into Windows, everything should automatically be good to go. If you connect a Mac formatted disk to your computer, it’ll instantly show up in Explorer with a little Apple icon on it. If you double-click on the drive, it will open just like a normal Windows drive. If there is any file that is Mac-specific, it will also show an apple icon next to it. Now you can copy data from the Mac formatted drive to your Windows PC and vice versa. It works perfectly and I didn’t run into a single issue.
I was able to copy DMG files to my Windows PC and EXE files over to my Mac without any issue. If you open the MacDrive app, you’ll see the main screen lists out the Mac drives the program has recognized already for you. Click on the drive and you’ll get some options like opening the drive, removing it, getting a size breakdown and checking for errors. I really like the fact that Disk Aware is part of this program because it allows you to quickly see what is taking up the most space on your hard drive, just like. MacDrive also has other tools, which you can see across the top: Create, Repair, Burn, etc. Using Repair, you can connect a Mac drive to your Windows PC and fix it so that the data can be accessed. This is a great tool if you are a PC technician and someone brings you a Mac formatted hard drive that is corrupt or unreadable by OS X.
You can use Mac Drive to try and repair it and access the data right on your PC. Using the Create tab, you can create, delete or format partitions on a Mac disk. The Burn tab allows you to burn a CD/DVD for your Mac. Overall, it’s an excellent program that is well worth the cost if you work with both operating systems on a regular basis. There is no other program out there that lets you access Mac files on a PC as easily and seamlessly as MacDrive. If you have any questions, feel free to comment.