FAQ: How to Fix the Missing Mass Storage Icon BlackBerry Problem

This seems to be a common problem with users where they no longer see a drive icon for their BlackBerry’s microSD card even when they have Mass Storage Mode enabled. Michael Jones shared with me a great guide he created on how to overcome this issue and get it all back to normal. The problem seems to stem from the Windows driver that exposes access to the Micro SD card via the USB cable gets corrupted.  The only way to resolve the problem is to refresh the driver, which gets installed when you install RIM’s Desktop Manager.  Since some Windows drivers are auto-installing, from a *.INF file you don’t need to do anything other than make Windows reinstall the driver. Hopefully this guide will help you too!

By Michael Alan Jones

I have had this problem several times, and could never figure out why it happened, what fixed it, or how to fix it myself. The problem is that after a while, Windows will not have an icon for the Micro SD card inside the BlackBerry. Sure, it will have an icon for the regular drive – the built-in storage, of 1GB, for example, in the Bold. But it will not have an icon for, or access to, my 2GB Micro SD card in there. I have literally had to take the SD card out, stick it in a USB external SD card reader, copy the files, and then stick it back into my old. I hate that.

The common answer is “Enable Mass Storage”, set it to Yes. That is great, but it was already set like that – it is not just that setting; it is a Windows driver issue. This is not a RIM or BlackBerry problem!

So after looking around a bunch of sites on the internet, I discovered the solution. Here are the steps:

1. Make sure your blackberry is not connected to your Windows PC.

Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management, in Windows, and you will see the Device Manager. Highlight the Device Manager, to see all the devices on your Windows computer. Look for your Disk drives, as below:

1. Notice that I only have one disk drive, the hard drive on my computer.

2. Now, connect your BlackBerry to the Windows PC, and look at this window again. It will look like this:

3. See the RIM BlackBerry SD USB Device? Right-click on that to Uninstall the driver. It will look like below:

4. Choose OK. It will make you reboot your computer, so do it. Don’t disconnect your BlackBerry yet, wait until Windows starts to actually shut down. If you disconnect your BlackBerry, it will remove the icon again – the icon is only visible when a BlackBerry is connected.

5. That’s it. When the PC reboots, and you reconnect your BlackBerry, it will say “New Device found…BlackBerry Device”. This means Windows is installing a driver for this “new” device.

6. Enjoy your mass storage device again!