How to hide a drive in Windows 11/10

By default, File Explorer in Windows shows all internal or external drives connected to your system. However, if you don’t want a specific drive to show up in File Explorer, you can always hide it.

By hiding a drive in Windows, you can prevent others from accessing sensitive files on that drive and protect them. If you’re interested, this guide will walk you through four different methods to hide drives in Windows.

1. Hide a drive with Disk Management app

The Disk Management tool on Windows makes it easy to perform various storage-related tasks like formatting hard drive partitions, assigning drive letters, managing storage space and more. You can also use it to hide a drive partition on Windows. Here’s how:

1. Press victory + R or use one of the many ways to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type diskmgmt.msc in the text field and press Input.
3. In the Disk Management window that opens, right-click and select the drive you want to hide Change drive letter and paths.
4. Now click on the Removed button from the pop-up window.
5. Choose Yes when the warning message appears.

Once you complete the steps above, your drive will no longer show up in File Explorer.

2. Hide a drive in Windows using Diskpart command

If you are a power user who prefers to make changes through the command line interface, you can use the diskpart command to hide a drive on Windows. Luckily, this isn’t as intimidating as it might sound.

To hide a drive in Windows using Command Prompt, follow these steps:

1. Press Victory + X and select terminal (administrator) from the menu that appears.
2. Choose Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.
3. Enter in the console disk part and press Input.
4. Type the following command into the console and press Input To view a list of drives connected to your system:

    list volume  

5. Write down the letter of the drive you want to hide it from ltr Pillar.
6. Enter the following command to select your drive. Make sure you replace X in the command with the drive letter noted in the last step.

    select volume X 

7. Lastly, run the following command to remove the drive letter and hide the volume.

    remove letter X 

You should see a message that reads Diskpart has successfully removed the drive letter or mount point. After that, the drive will no longer appear on your PC.

If you love using the Command Prompt, why not check out our guide to mastering the Windows Command Prompt.

3. Hide a drive using Group Policy Editor

The Local Group Policy Editor is a tool that you can use to configure a variety of settings on your computer. You can use it to hide a drive from your Windows computer.

The Local Group Policy Editor is only available on the Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions of Windows. If you’re using Windows Home Edition, read our guide on how to access the Group Policy Editor in Windows Home before proceeding.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Press victory + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type gpedit.msc in the box and click on it OK.
3. Choose Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.
4. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, use the left pane to navigate User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.
5. Double-click the Hide these specified drives in My Computer policy to your right.

6. Choose Allowed Possibility.
7. Among optionsselect the drive you want to hide.
8. click Use followed by OK.

Once you complete the above steps, Windows will hide the specified drive from File Explorer. If you want to unhide the drive later, use the same steps and set the Hide these specified drives in My Computer policy to Not configured.

4. Hide a drive in Windows using the registry editor

Another brilliant tool that allows you to easily configure system settings in Windows is Registry Editor. You can use Registry Editor to hide a drive if none of the above methods work. However, you must be careful not to accidentally mess up the Windows registry in the process.

To be on the safe side, you should back up all registry files before proceeding. If you need help with this, read our guide to backing up the Windows registry and follow the steps outlined there.

When you’re done with that, follow these steps to hide a drive using the Windows registry:

1. Press victory + S to open the search menu.
2. Type Registry Editor in the box and select the first result that appears.
3. Choose Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.
4. Use the left panel to navigate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > Explorer.
5. Right click on the researcher button and go to New and select DWORD value (32 bits). from the submenu.
6. Rename the DWORD to NoDrives.
7. Double-click the NoDrives DWORD.
8. in the Edit the DWORD (32-bit) value. Select dialog box Decimal as a base.

9. Enter a number that corresponds to the drive you want to hide reading field and click OK. Use the table below to determine which number to use.

For example, if you would hide them E: drive from your computer, you would type 16 in the value data field.

You can also use this method to hide multiple drives at once. To do this, add up the decimal numbers for both drives and enter the sum in the Value Data field. For example, if you want to hide the drive G: and H: from your computer you should enter 192 (64 + 128) in the Value array.

You must restart your PC for the changes to take effect. After that, the drive will not show up in File Explorer. You can undo the above changes at any time by using the NoDrives DWORD.

Hiding drives in Windows is easy

Regardless of the method used, hiding a drive in Windows is fairly easy and shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to hide an entire drive, Windows also lets you hide specific files and folders in a few simple steps.

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