diff --git a/src/drive.c b/src/drive.c
index cd6e8693..25067af4 100644
--- a/src/drive.c
+++ b/src/drive.c
@@ -1149,10 +1149,13 @@ static BOOL _GetDriveLettersAndType(DWORD DriveIndex, char* drive_letters, UINT*
 			continue;
 
 		static_sprintf(logical_drive, "\\\\.\\%c:", toupper(drive[0]));
-		hDrive = CreateFileA(logical_drive, GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ|FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
-			NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
+		// This call appears to freeze on some systems and we don't want to spend more
+		// time than needed waiting for unresponsive drives, so use a 3 seconds timeout.
+		hDrive = CreateFileWithTimeout(logical_drive, GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
+				NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL, 3000);
 		if (hDrive == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
-//			uprintf("Warning: could not open drive %c: %s", toupper(drive[0]), WindowsErrorString());
+			if (GetLastError() == WAIT_TIMEOUT)
+				uprintf("Warning: Time-out while trying to query drive %c", toupper(drive[0]));
 			continue;
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/rufus.h b/src/rufus.h
index cc260b3d..a65e8ffe 100644
--- a/src/rufus.h
+++ b/src/rufus.h
@@ -684,6 +684,9 @@ extern BOOL ValidateOpensslSignature(BYTE* pbBuffer, DWORD dwBufferLen, BYTE* pb
 extern BOOL IsFontAvailable(const char* font_name);
 extern BOOL WriteFileWithRetry(HANDLE hFile, LPCVOID lpBuffer, DWORD nNumberOfBytesToWrite,
 	LPDWORD lpNumberOfBytesWritten, DWORD nNumRetries);
+extern HANDLE CreateFileWithTimeout(LPCSTR lpFileName, DWORD dwDesiredAccess, DWORD dwShareMode,
+	LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpSecurityAttributes, DWORD dwCreationDisposition, DWORD dwFlagsAndAttributes,
+	HANDLE hTemplateFile, DWORD dwTimeOut);
 extern BOOL SetThreadAffinity(DWORD_PTR* thread_affinity, size_t num_threads);
 extern BOOL HashFile(const unsigned type, const char* path, uint8_t* sum);
 extern BOOL HashBuffer(const unsigned type, const uint8_t* buf, const size_t len, uint8_t* sum);
diff --git a/src/rufus.rc b/src/rufus.rc
index a424cd0f..62087f41 100644
--- a/src/rufus.rc
+++ b/src/rufus.rc
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ LANGUAGE LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_NEUTRAL
 IDD_DIALOG DIALOGEX 12, 12, 232, 326
 STYLE DS_SETFONT | DS_MODALFRAME | DS_CENTER | WS_MINIMIZEBOX | WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU
 EXSTYLE WS_EX_ACCEPTFILES
-CAPTION "Rufus 4.0.2037"
+CAPTION "Rufus 4.0.2038"
 FONT 9, "Segoe UI Symbol", 400, 0, 0x0
 BEGIN
     LTEXT           "Drive Properties",IDS_DRIVE_PROPERTIES_TXT,8,6,53,12,NOT WS_GROUP
@@ -392,8 +392,8 @@ END
 //
 
 VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO
- FILEVERSION 4,0,2037,0
- PRODUCTVERSION 4,0,2037,0
+ FILEVERSION 4,0,2038,0
+ PRODUCTVERSION 4,0,2038,0
  FILEFLAGSMASK 0x3fL
 #ifdef _DEBUG
  FILEFLAGS 0x1L
@@ -411,13 +411,13 @@ BEGIN
             VALUE "Comments", "https://rufus.ie"
             VALUE "CompanyName", "Akeo Consulting"
             VALUE "FileDescription", "Rufus"
-            VALUE "FileVersion", "4.0.2037"
+            VALUE "FileVersion", "4.0.2038"
             VALUE "InternalName", "Rufus"
             VALUE "LegalCopyright", "© 2011-2023 Pete Batard (GPL v3)"
             VALUE "LegalTrademarks", "https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html"
             VALUE "OriginalFilename", "rufus-4.0.exe"
             VALUE "ProductName", "Rufus"
-            VALUE "ProductVersion", "4.0.2037"
+            VALUE "ProductVersion", "4.0.2038"
         END
     END
     BLOCK "VarFileInfo"
diff --git a/src/stdio.c b/src/stdio.c
index 9da2f875..3a242042 100644
--- a/src/stdio.c
+++ b/src/stdio.c
@@ -863,6 +863,66 @@ const char* StrError(DWORD error_code, BOOL use_default_locale)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+typedef struct
+{
+	LPCWSTR lpFileName;
+	DWORD dwDesiredAccess;
+	DWORD dwShareMode;
+	DWORD dwCreationDisposition;
+	DWORD dwFlagsAndAttributes;
+	HANDLE hFile;
+	DWORD dwError;
+} cfx_params_t;
+
+// Thread used by CreateFileWithTimeout() below
+DWORD WINAPI CreateFileWithTimeoutThread(void* params)
+{
+	cfx_params_t* cfx_params = (cfx_params_t*)params;
+	HANDLE hFile = CreateFileW(cfx_params->lpFileName, cfx_params->dwDesiredAccess,
+		cfx_params->dwShareMode, NULL, cfx_params->dwCreationDisposition,
+		cfx_params->dwFlagsAndAttributes, NULL);
+
+	cfx_params->dwError = (hFile == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) ? GetLastError() : NOERROR;
+	cfx_params->hFile = hFile;
+
+	return cfx_params->dwError;
+}
+
+// A UTF-8 CreateFile() with timeout
+HANDLE CreateFileWithTimeout(LPCSTR lpFileName, DWORD dwDesiredAccess, DWORD dwShareMode,
+	LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpSecurityAttributes, DWORD dwCreationDisposition,
+	DWORD dwFlagsAndAttributes, HANDLE hTemplateFile, DWORD dwTimeOut)
+{
+	HANDLE hThread;
+	wconvert(lpFileName);
+
+	cfx_params_t params = {
+		wlpFileName,
+		dwDesiredAccess,
+		dwShareMode,
+		dwCreationDisposition,
+		dwFlagsAndAttributes,
+		INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,
+		ERROR_IO_PENDING,
+	};
+
+	hThread = CreateThread(NULL, 0, CreateFileWithTimeoutThread, &params, 0, NULL);
+	if (hThread != NULL) {
+		if (WaitForSingleObject(hThread, dwTimeOut) == WAIT_TIMEOUT) {
+			CancelSynchronousIo(hThread);
+			WaitForSingleObject(hThread, INFINITE);
+			params.dwError = WAIT_TIMEOUT;
+		}
+		CloseHandle(hThread);
+	} else {
+		params.dwError = GetLastError();
+	}
+
+	wfree(lpFileName);
+	SetLastError(params.dwError);
+	return params.hFile;
+}
+
 // A WriteFile() equivalent, with up to nNumRetries write attempts on error.
 BOOL WriteFileWithRetry(HANDLE hFile, LPCVOID lpBuffer, DWORD nNumberOfBytesToWrite,
 	LPDWORD lpNumberOfBytesWritten, DWORD nNumRetries)