Win 7 wont recognise USB drives

Strange one for me, I have a Windows 7 laptop which a few weeks ago stopped recognising any type of USB storage device like a memory stick.
USB mouse works fine
ITunes recognises attached iPhone and itouch
If I delete device driver and try to reinstall, it fails with a access error.
Followed some online fix methods but haven't worked.
Anyone had this issue or have ideas how to fix. It seems like a permissions issue.

ZENER

Is it your own personal laptop or a company machine ? Certain Domain Admin enforced Group Policies will prevent users from reading/writing USB devices.

Ken

ZENER

ZENER wrote: »

Is it your own personal laptop or a company machine ? Certain Domain Admin enforced Group Policies will prevent users from reading/writing USB devices.

Ken

Thanks Ken, It's a personal laptop. Everything worked fine for 2 years and then this suddenly happened.
No virus issues as Benn fully scanned regularly. All patching is up to date as well.
Could it be one of the MS security patches as no other software has been installed in the weeks before this.

ZENER

Is it just storage devices ? What about Mice or webcams or other peripherals ? Can you see the devices appear it device manager when they're plugged in ? Does Windows give any indication of a device being plugged in ? Do they appear in disk manager ?

Sounds like the ports are working if the iPhone is being recognised. Which version of Windows and what model of laptop are you using ?

Ken

ZENER

ZENER wrote: »

Is it just storage devices ? What about Mice or webcams or other peripherals ? Can you see the devices appear it device manager when they're plugged in ? Does Windows give any indication of a device being plugged in ? Do they appear in disk manager ?

Sounds like the ports are working if the iPhone is being recognised. Which version of Windows and what model of laptop are you using ?

Ken

The devices appear in device manager but with the little error sign. So when I try to reinstall the device driver, it finds the right driver but then gives an access error when trying to install.
The usb mouse works fine.
Will get the laptop model later.

ZENER

Can you do a grab of the error window or the error in event viewer?
Are you the local admin on the machine ?

Open a command prompt and enter:

pnputil /e

Post the result here.

Ken