Drive - Hide or Unhide

How to Hide or Unhide a Drive in Vista and Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to hide or unhide a drive from being displayed in Computer and Windows Explorer in Vista and Windows 7.

By default, all drives are not hidden.

   Note

This will only hide or unhide the drive in Vista and Windows 7, and will not prevent access to the drive from say the command prompt or Run command window.

This will not unhide a drive that was not hidden by this method.

EXAMPLE: The D drive set to Unhide and Hide in Computer
NOTE: Open the Start menu and click on the Computer button to see this.

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METHOD ONE

Using the Local Group Policy Editor

NOTE: For more drive letter options, see Method Three below.

1. Open the all users, specific users or groups, or all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.​

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2. In the left pane, click on User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and Windows Explorer. (See screenshot below)​

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3. In the right pane, right click on Hide these specified drives in My Computer and click on Properties. (See screenshot above)​

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4. To Unhide All Drives​

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A) Select (dot) Disabled or Not Configured and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 5C)​

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B) Go to step 6.​

5. To Hide a Drive or Combination of Drives​

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A) Select (dot) Enabled.​

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B) Click on the drop down arrow and select the drive or combination of drives option that you want to set as restricted (hidden). (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: Even though the options say Restrict, it is to Hide the drive(s).​

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C) Click on OK.​

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6. Close the Local Group Policy Editor window. Your done.​

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METHOD TWO

Using a REG File Download

NOTE: Whichever REG file you choose to use, it will overide all of the others. For more drive letter options, see the Method Three below.

1. To Hide A and B drives only ​

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A) ​

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B) Go to step 8.​

2. To Hide C drive only ​

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A) ​

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B) Go to step 8.​

3. To Hide D drive only ​

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A) ​

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B) Go to step 8.​

4. To Hide A, B, and C drives only ​

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A) ​

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B) Go to step 8.​

5. To Hide A, B, C, and D drives only​

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A) ​

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B) Go to step 8.​

6. To Hide All drives​

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A) ​

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B) Go to step 8.​

7. To Unhide All drives ​

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A) ​

8. Save the .reg file to your Desktop.​

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9. Right click on the downloaded .reg file, and click on Merge.​

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10. Click on Run, Continue (UAC-Vista) or Yes (UAC-Windows 7), Yes, and then OK when prompted.​

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11. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

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12. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply changes.​

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METHOD THREE

Manually in Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search box and press Enter.​

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2. If prompted by UAC, then click on the Continue (Vista) or Yes (Windows 7)..​

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3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (See screenshot below)​

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer​

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4. To Hide a Drive or Combination of Drives ​

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A) In the right pane of Explorer, right click on a empty area, click on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value, and type NoDrives and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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B) Right click on NoDrives, and click on Modify.​

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C) Type in the drive option hex or decimal number below in bold you want to set as restricted, and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

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   Tip

To hide multiple drive letters, add the decimal numbers together for each drive letter below that you want to hide, , select (dot) Decimal or Hex for the type of numbers you used, enter that number, and click on OK.

   Tip

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For Example: I'm using 8 (hex number) to Hide D drive only, or for E=16 and F=32, I would use 16+32=48 (Decimal number).​

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[TABLE=class:-grid,-width:-500][TR][TD]
Drive Letter
[/TD]
[TD]
Decimal
[/TD]
[TD]
Hex
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
A
[/TD]
[TD]
1
[/TD]
[TD]
1
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
B
[/TD]
[TD]
2
[/TD]
[TD]
2
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
C
[/TD]
[TD]
4
[/TD]
[TD]
4
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
D
[/TD]
[TD]
8
[/TD]
[TD]
8
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
E
[/TD]
[TD]
16
[/TD]
[TD]
10
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
F
[/TD]
[TD]
32
[/TD]
[TD]
20
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
G
[/TD]
[TD]
64
[/TD]
[TD]
40
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
H
[/TD]
[TD]
128
[/TD]
[TD]
80
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
I
[/TD]
[TD]
256
[/TD]
[TD]
100
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
J
[/TD]
[TD]
512
[/TD]
[TD]
200
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
K
[/TD]
[TD]
1024
[/TD]
[TD]
400
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
L
[/TD]
[TD]
2048
[/TD]
[TD]
800
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
M
[/TD]
[TD]
4096
[/TD]
[TD]
1000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
N
[/TD]
[TD]
8192
[/TD]
[TD]
2000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
O
[/TD]
[TD]
16384
[/TD]
[TD]
4000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
P
[/TD]
[TD]
32768
[/TD]
[TD]
8000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
Q
[/TD]
[TD]
65536
[/TD]
[TD]
10000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
R
[/TD]
[TD]
131072
[/TD]
[TD]
20000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
S
[/TD]
[TD]
262144
[/TD]
[TD]
40000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
T
[/TD]
[TD]
524288
[/TD]
[TD]
80000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
U
[/TD]
[TD]
1048576
[/TD]
[TD]
100000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
V
[/TD]
[TD]
2097152
[/TD]
[TD]
200000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
W
[/TD]
[TD]
4194304
[/TD]
[TD]
400000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
X
[/TD]
[TD]
8388608
[/TD]
[TD]
800000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
Y
[/TD]
[TD]
16777216
[/TD]
[TD]
1000000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
Z
[/TD]
[TD]
33554432
[/TD]
[TD]
2000000
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]
All Drives
[/TD]
[TD]
67108863
[/TD]
[TD]
3ffffff
[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]

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• Hide A and B drives only - type 3 (hex)
• Hide C drive only - type 4 (hex)
• Hide D drive only - type 8 (hex)
• Hide A, B, and C drives only - type 7 (hex)
• Hide A, B, C, and D drives only - type f (hex)
• Hide all drives - type 3ffffff (hex)

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D) The registry will now look like this. (See screenshot below)​

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E) Go to step 6.​

5. To Unhide All drives​

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A) In the right pane of Explorer, right click on NoDrives and click on Delete. (See screenshot above)​

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B) Click on Yes to confirm delete.​

6. Close regedit.​

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7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply changes.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Shrink and Create a Partition with Disk Management in Vista
• How to Delete and Extend a Partition with Disk Management in Vista
• How to Change a Drive Icon in Vista
• How to Hide or Show Drive Letters in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Rename a Drive in Vista
• How to Disable or Enable Low Disk Space Warning in Vista
• How to Increase Hard Drive Performance in Vista
• How to Remove or Show Drives in the Vista and Windows 7 "Send To" Context Menu
• How to Add, Change, or Remove a Drive Letter in Vista
• How to Restrict or Unrestict Drive Access in Vista
• How to Deny or Allow Access to All Removable Drives in Vista
• How to Mount or Dismount a Drive or Partition to a Folder in Vista
• How to Retain the DVD Drive Icon if Disappeared from Computer
• How to Pin or Unpin a Drive to the Windows 7 Taskbar

 

[t0cableguy]

thanks, i tried removing the readyboost useage from it, rebooted, checked the registry for the dword, it still shows. restarted again. still showing the drive.....

 

[Brink]

My guess then is that Vista just will not let you hide a removable drive like a USB flash drive.

 

[t0cableguy]

actually this is a partition on my sata ssd that i setup just for readyboost. i figured the 100mb transfer rates were more than enough to do the job well.. mabe its because i have the drive letters hidden.. i'm going to try restarting.. checking the registry, mabe deleting the dword, restarting, putting it back and restarting again. i hope it works..

 

[Brink]

My mistake. I just assumed that since it was ReadyBoost, it was a USB flash drive.

Please post back your results.

 

[awargi]

well basically ive got a problem,


u said that we should go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

but mine only goes to


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
the "Explorer" please help me, and tell me wat to do???

ive attched a screenshot so u can see my problem:::

 

[Brink]

Hello Awargi,

The reg file in the ZIP download below will restore this default Explorer key and entries back to your registry. After you have extracted the reg file from the ZIP, just double click on it to merge and approve.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[awargi]

thnx alot that works..

but there is still one problem, that is this only hides the drive from one user, so all the other user accounts on the computer can still see the drive.
please help me with this.

thnx.

Hello Awargi,

The reg file in the ZIP download below will restore this default Explorer key and entries back to your registry. After you have extracted the reg file from the ZIP, just double click on it to merge and approve.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Brink]

Awargi,

Try doing the manual METHOD TWO at this registry location as well. It should hide it for all users.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

 

[awargi]

yeah same problem as before, there is no "Explorer" option, i cant go any further then "Policies"...... can u please teach me how to add that "explorer"

thnx alot

Awargi,

Try doing the manual METHOD TWO at this registry location as well. It should hide it for all users.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

 

[Brink]

No problem.

In the left pane, you would right click on Policies, and click on New and Key. Type Explorer, and press Enter.

 

[awargi]

your a sickkkk guy, its all working..
u know alot aboutt these type of stuff,,
and u reply back quick aswell...

thnx alot for the help mannn.
i will get back if i need further help..

No problem.

In the left pane, you would right click on Policies, and click on New and Key. Type Explorer, and press Enter.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[cfoam5]

Brink,

Excellent tutorial on this subject and much great detail. I have a question and a comment.

1st off what I have found is to hide specific drives, you have to ADD the values together and use that number.

For instance to hide drives E and F it would be this:
E=16 F=32 so 16+32=48 When you place this value, you MUST first select decimal and input the value. When you click ok it is transformed to it's hex value so by inputting 48 decimal I get this value:

"NoDrives"=dword:00000030(48)

Now for my question, I am trying this with Win7 and it isn't working as well. I merge my reg file, I check the registry and it is not changed :-( I am Admin. I logout and Login and the drives that appear in my computer are not as expected but the reg value is not correct. Go figure.. Any Ideas? appreciate any feedback.

 

[Brink]

Hello Cfoam, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Thank you for sharing this.

All Windows 7 questions would get better replies at our sister site Seven Forums instead though.

 

[cfoam5]

OK, I gues I'll have to go signup there too...

One more thing I noticed about this - still looking for info - it also happened on Vista.

You can use group policy settings but they only offer certain drives
You can do the reg entry manual method but are we sure which reg keys get the entry?

HKLM, HKCU, Hum. while trying to track this issue down I searched the reg for the NoDrives entry and nothing came up. OK, Then I went looking manually and guess what I found???

It was there in this key:

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1719447127-1121268693-3747253166-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
What the heck is this key and where did it come from. I only have 2 users on the box. Anyway, I had saved the registry before I started messing with this yesterday and now trying to get it back to where I was, I tried to merge it back and it choked - couldn't import file.... WTF?? Any ideas?

Manually searching for NoDrives and deleting hte entry seemed to help, of course running as Admin.
Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Not sure, but I'm happy to hear that it seems that you got it sorted.

 

[slovenski11]

Unhiding Drives

Hi there!

Im using vista home premium. I found 2 hiden drive without letter.

one is> Healthy (EISA Configuration)
second> Healthy (Primary Partition)


third is C
foruth is D

Can anybody help me about that. I cant unhide thouse drives. I think they are backup drives.


Thank you!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Slovenski, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If you have a store bought OEM computer (ex: Gateway, Dell, etc....), then these may be your Vista and Applications & Drivers recovery partitions. If they are, then you will not want to mess with them if you ever needed to use them to restore your Vista installation back to factory condition.

 

[slovenski11]

Yes they are recovery partitions, but if i want to recovery system or application how can i do it?

from control panel : backup and restore center?

or do i unhide these partitions?


Thank you again.


And sorry for my bad english. lol

 

[Brink]

Slovenski,

What brand and model is your computer?

Do not mess with these partitions though. Doing so can make them unusable to restore Vista if needed.