If you try to access a Sony Memory Stick on Windows 11 and you do not receive the usual prompt to choose what to do when inserting removable storage or you cannot see said storage in Windows Explorer, it is most likely not the storage media. In my case Windows 11 does not show my memory stick, but it works fine with SD cards. A problem I do not have on Windows 10. This issue can be troubleshooted using Windows Disk Manager.

In my case, Windows 11 was not assigning a drive letter to the media. Once I changed that, I was able to access the memory stick in Windows Explorer. To troubleshoot why your memory stick is not showing follow the steps below.

1. You can access the disk manager by pressing the Windows key / Start menu and typing either “Computer Manager” or “Disk Manager“.
2. Identify the storage media in the lower center pane from the list of storage drives. In my case it was “Disk 3 / Removable”, but without a drive letter.
3. Right-click on the drive and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths …“.
4. Click the “Add” button.
5. Make sure that the radio button for “Assign the following drive letter” is ticked.
6. Pick a letter from the drop-down menu on the right and click the “OK” button.

Once you have completed the steps above and you can see the drive letter you chose set for the storage partition, you should now be able to access the memory stick in Windows Explorer.