If you have enabled password lock on your drive, now is the time to remove it. Just unlocking is not going to work. Launch WD Smartware app and use the option to remove password lock.
Make sure you have good USB connection. If it is a desktop, use rear USB 2.0 port. Don’t use front USB ports and USB 3.0 ports to avoid unnecessary complications.
Visit this WD site and download current firmware. Make sure to choose correct device and firmware for your device.
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=2&lang=en
Run downloaded exe file to update your drive firmware - Follow all instructions. You don’t need to download or update Smartware at this time.
Now open this web page and download Hide VCD application. This will also guide you how to update your drive firmware, which you have already done.
Or you can use this link to download the app.
Hide/Unhide VCD
http://download.wdc.com/smartware/WDSmartWareVirtualCDManagerforWindows-v1.0.7.4.zip
Now use Hide VCD application to hide VCD and once finished following instructions, disconnect and reconnect your WD external drive. Now you should not see VCD on your explorer.
Partition & Format Drives - Info… in case you run in to trouble. (Make sure to assign drive letter W for your drive.
Always delete existing partition(s) and create new.
Visit this website to download FAT32 formatter for larger drives and use it to format your Passport drive. Again don’t use USB 3.0 if you have. Please note that FAT32 partitions cannot copy files larger than 3.99 GB.
FAT32 formatter for 2TB drives
