How to Hide or Show Drives in Windows 10 and Windows 11

In both Windows 10 and Windows 11, you have the option to hide or show individual drives. This can be useful for various reasons, such as limiting access to certain data or simply improving the appearance of the File Explorer. In this guide, we'll walk you through how to hide or reveal drives in these versions of Windows.

Method 1: Using the Registry Editor

To hide or show drives via the Windows registry, you'll need to follow a few steps. This method is more suited to advanced users, as it requires caution when working with the registry. Here's how to do it:

  1. Press Win + R to open the "Run" dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.
  2. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
  3. If there's no NoDrives entry in the Explorer folder, create one. Right-click on an empty space in the right panel, select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it NoDrives.
  4. To hide specific drives, you'll need to set the appropriate value for this entry. Each drive corresponds to a specific number. For example:
    • Drive C — 4
    • Drive D — 8
    • Drive E — 16
    Add these numbers together to hide multiple drives. For example, to hide both drives C and D, enter the number 12.
  5. Once you've made the changes, restart your computer for them to take effect.

To reveal the drives again, simply delete the NoDrives entry or set its value to 0.

Method 2: Using Group Policy Editor (for Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 Pro users)

In Windows versions that support the Local Group Policy Editor (Pro editions), you can manage drive visibility through specific settings. Here's how to do it:

  1. Press Win + R and type gpedit.msc to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
  2. Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Explorer.
  3. Find the setting Hide these specified drives in My Computer and double-click on it.
  4. Choose Enabled to hide drives, or Not Configured to restore their visibility.
  5. Click Apply and then OK, then restart your system for the changes to take effect.

Method 3: Using Diskpart Utility

Another way to hide drives in Windows is by using the diskpart command. This is especially useful for more technically inclined users:

  1. Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter to open the Command Prompt.
  2. Type diskpart and press Enter.
  3. Next, type list volume to see a list of all available volumes and their numbers.
  4. To hide a specific drive, type select volume X, where X is the number of the volume you want to hide.
  5. Then type remove letter=Y, where Y is the letter of the drive you want to hide.
  6. To restore the drive, type assign letter=Y.