my external NTFS drive is not recognized as a valid install location (PC)

Julian Rosa · Jul 1, 2023

i tried to install a game today off of xbox game pass and it came to my attention that all of a sudden, my external hard drive isn't detected as a valid location anymore. even though it was working just fine for the last game i installed. i ran around looking for fixes and none of them have worked so far. I tried setting the external drive as where new content is saved, but that hasn't worked. it doesn't detect the external hard drive. and i even checked if the drive was formatted to NTFS, which it is. it almost feels as if the computer itself is messing with me.

:)

692d89b2-3c1b-4605-b

Hello Julian,

Thank you for the reach out. Please consider the following

1) Run CHKDSK on the drive and fix disk error

2) Format the drive (be sure to back up the content)

3) Consider creating a new partition on the disk

4) Update your Mass Device Storage ; Under Device Manager

5) Try plugging into a different USB plug (if at all possible)

6) Update Drivers

SRC : urdesignmag

Thank you,

Udit

Independent Advisor

Julian Rosa

so of all the options, the one that worked was formatting the drive
the thing is that the drive in question was essentially formatted as NTFS already but doing that basically reset it and now the xbox app recognizes it

it was annoying fix but it worked at least.

Bill_Ponderosa

Hi !

My external hard drive is NTFS, done all the updates.

Recognizes the external drive in Settings and I put that drive to default.

The moment I click install, it doesnt allow me to change from C:

Help pls

Justin Bergmann

I have. WD My Passport Ultra 2TB. I've tried a power cycle reboot, formatted to NTFS on PC and still no luck. Have not tried a different cable but the drive works fine when plugged into my PC. I've tried all ports on my console and the Xbox recognizes other
drives for regular media files. I had games installed and running from the external drive until the console was updated with the latest update.

greg_window10_instal

Thanks for your reply! I did try that out, it does recognize other usb/external hard drives, so I'm thinking the problem is more with this particular hard drive that suddenly isn't being recognized anymore.

Corylouwho,

So, to verify, the PC still see this external drives, but the Xbox no longer sees it at all.... I apologize in advance, but I have to ask, did you do a full NTFS format on a Windows10/8/7 PC of this drive?

P.S. I regret to say, and be warned, this full format will take sometime....

my external NTFS drive is not recognized as a valid install location (PC)