How to Fix The Directory Name Is Invalid in Windows 10

The directory name is invalid is a fairly common error faced by those users who have upgraded recently to Windows 10. Users facing this issue have problems accessing certain storage devices like a Secure Digital Card (or better known as the SD Card), USB flash drive, external hard drive, DVD, or any other kind of memory storage device.

If you face this error, there’s a high risk of you losing your work that’s stored on your external storage device, and rarely, some files may get corrupted. So it’s always a good idea to make a backup of the files that you’ve stored on external storage on your parent device. You can also take the aid of cloud storage, which is in popular demand today.

Table of Contents

Top 4 Ways To Fix The Directory Name Is Invalid Issue

We’ll guide you on how to fix the directory name is not a valid issue in Windows 10, so you can get back access to those old college photographs or your important files.

Changing USB ports

We’ll start with a fairly easy and obvious fix. This fix is useful if you’re facing the directory name is invalid usb. As the title suggests, just try plugging your external storage device into your device through another USB slot. Sometimes there might be a problem with the USB port that leads to no recognition of the connection made between the external storage device and your PC/Laptop. This may be caused due to a plethora of reasons, like some pins not interconnected properly to some small dust particle which somehow got into the USB port and is causing connectivity problems. The best solution for this is to take the guidance of an expert and take it to your nearest technician, who will diagnose the problem and solve it for you.

Also See: How To Fix USB Ports Not Working Issues On Windows 10

Check For Disk Errors

There might be a problem with your device recognizing the external storage device, or there might be a problem with the external storage itself. To be sure, try plugging your external storage device into another PC or Laptop and see if you’re getting the same error if the directory name is invalid. If the error does pop up, then there’s a problem with the external storage device itself. If not, then there’s a problem with another system’s operating system such that it can’t recognize the plugged-in external storage.

There might be a problem with the system itself, try running the check disk wizard to identify and troubleshoot the error that’s causing the problem of the directory name is not valid.

You can also try running an inbuilt Windows troubleshooter. To do this, follow the below steps carefully

Step 1 – Go to “This PC,” where all your partitions of hard drives are displayed.
Step 2 – Right-click on the partition that you are facing issues with and click on “Properties.”
Step 1,2
Step 3 – Look for “Tools” and click on it.
Step 4 – Look for “Check Now” under the Error-Checking heading and click on it.
Step 3,4
Step 5 – A new window named Error Checking will open. There would be options on how you want your disk to be checked and troubleshoot the error. You might also get a window saying there are errors with this drive, ignore this message and select scan now.
step 5
Step 6 – Wait for the whole process to get over.
final step

Once the wizard is complete, you will get rid of the issue of the directory name is invalid in Windows 10

Check For The Updates Of Respective Disk Drivers

Sometimes the directory name is an invalid issue that arises because of the outdated or wrong drivers due to which there’s a problem of the SD Card or any external storage to communicate with your PC or Laptop’s operating system. All you have to do to fix this is to update your device drivers. Doing this is easy. All you have to do is to follow the below steps carefully

Step 1 – Press Win + R on your keyboard to open the Run window.
Step 2 – In the prompt, type in “devmgmt. msc,” and press enter.

Step 3 – A new window will be opened. This window is of the Device Manager. You can access all your device’s information here along with its drivers and check if they are working or not.
Step 4 – Check for “Disk Drives” and click on it to expand the menu.

Step 5 – Right-click on the drive that you’re having the problem of the directory name bring invalid. From the drop-down menu that has popped out, click on the Update Drivers option.

Step 6 – Wait for the wizard to search for the disk drivers online and install it in your system automatically.

Once the process is complete, you should no longer have to face the issue of the directory name is invalid.

However, there might be a case where your drivers are up to date but not correctly uninstalled. To fix this issue, you just have to tweak the steps a little.

Instead of clicking on the “Update Drivers” option, click on the “Remove/Uninstall Drivers” option.
Then restart your PC or Laptop. On restarting, the Windows operating system will automatically reinstall the device drivers.

This should resolve the issue of the directory name being invalid in Windows 10.

Scan For Viruses

Last but not least, this problem may be caused due to some virus that is interfering with the connection between your drives and operating system and hence giving the issue of the directory name is invalid. The best way to fix this issue would be to run a full-system scan via your antivirus program.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the directory name is invalid issue is faced by the users who have recently updated to Windows 10, and they have the problem of accessing their storage devices, restricting them from writing or reading the files from the disk. But don’t worry, if you have followed our tried and tested solutions step-by-step, you’ll be able to resolve this issue in no time.

Tony Polanco

Tony, computing writer at Automaticable, covers laptops, tablets, Windows, iOS. Off-duty, he indulges in comics, gaming, speculative fiction, and excessive Twitter use. Non-nerdy side includes rocking out at concerts and hitting NYC bars.