USB devices are peripheral devices that can increase convenience and efficiency at work. If your USB ports stop working after Windows 11 upgrade, read on and you’ll find out some possible causes.

In this guide, we recommend four troubleshooting tips. Please note that you don’t have to try them all. Just start from the one that you haven’t tried before.

  1. Check for hardware issues
  2. Reinstall USB drivers
  3. Check your power management settings
  4. Turn USB connection notifications on

Before we start troubleshooting, please make sure your USB device has a stable power supply. Also, make sure your USB device is connected properly. Then, proceed with the steps below.

1. Check for hardware issues

Although the main reasons for the USB port not working after Windows 11 Upgrade are generally system-related, we need to check that there’s no hardware damage first.

To do so, take a careful look at the USB ports, USB device, and maybe some cables or adapters. If there are no visible damages found, try connecting your USB device to another USB port on your computer and see if it works properly. If it does, the previous USB port may be damaged. If not, try connecting your USB device to another computer. If the problem persists, then either the USB device or the cable is damaged, you should replace a new one or ask for repair.

If they are tested normal, then no hardware issues are found. You can move on to the following tips.

2. Reinstall USB drivers

When your USB port is not working after a Windows upgrade, one of the first things you should do is to reinstall your USB driver, since the current USB driver may be causing bugs or incompatibility issues.

To reinstall your USB driver, you can firstly uninstall it as follow:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Universal Serial Bus controllers. Then right-click each USB Root Hub driver and click Uninstall device.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to confirm the uninstallation.
  4. Once uninstalled, restart your computer.

In general, a PC restart fixes the driver missing. However, to make sure the updated USB driver is installed, we recommend you use Driver Techie for a driver scan.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the USB ports not working problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

3. Check for Power Management Settings

By default, Windows automatically turns off your USB devices when they’re not in use to save power. But the problem is, this feature may not work well sometimes and causes the USB not working issue. Thus, we recommend you check your Power Management Settings and turn that feature off.

Here’s what you can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  3. Then, double-click the first USB Root Hub in the list.
  4. On the pop-up window, click the Power Management tab from the top menu, uncheck the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power checkbox, and click OK.
  5. Repeat steps 3-4 for each USB Root Hub device in the list of Universal Serial Bus controllers.

Check if the problem persists. If so, try the next method.

4. Turn USB connection notifications on

If you’re using a USB-C port and it’s not working, you may get a notification that there’s something wrong with the USB-C connection. But first, you need to Turn USB connection notifications on. Here’s how:

  1. In the Search box, type USB and select USB settings from the results.
  2. Turn Connection notifications on.
  3. Now, you’ll be able to receive a connection notification when the USB-C port goes wrong. Then, click here to view the tips to help you fix the error.

Finally, we hope you find this guide helpful and relevant. If you have any ideas to share, please leave a comment below.