How to Mount and Unmount a Drive or Volume in Windows


When you add or connect a new volume (disk or drive), Windows will automatically mount it with an assigned drive letter by default.

Each drive (volume or partition) will have an unique Volume GUID assigned to it by Windows. This ensures Windows can always uniquely identify a volume, even though its drive letter has changed. On systems with a lot of storage you will often run out of drive letters for your partitions and volumes.

Whenever you reconnect a drive to the computer, it will always use the same drive letter it was last assigned or changed to.

If you unmount a drive, Windows removes the volume mount point from the specified directory, dismounts the volume, and makes the volume not mountable. This means the specific drive (volume or partition) will have its drive letter removed and no longer be automatically mounted and assigned a drive letter whenever connected to the computer until you manually mount it again. This can be handy if you no longer want a disk or drive (volume or partition) to be assigned a drive letter when connected until you want to manually mount it.

When you manually mount an unmounted drive, you make the volume mountable again by creating a volume mount point with an assigned drive letter. This will allow Windows to automatically mount the drive with its last used drive letter each time the drive is connected to the computer.

This tutorial will show you how to manually mount and unmount a drive or volume in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to unmount and mount a drive.

Contents

• Option One: Unmount Drive or Volume in Disk Management
• Option Two: Mount Drive or Volume in Disk Management
• Option Three: Unmount Drive or Volume in Command Prompt
• Option Four: Mount Drive or Volume in Command Prompt

EXAMPLE: Mounted drives in Windows 10

OPTION ONE

Unmount Drive or Volume in Disk Management

1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Disk Management.

2 Right click or press and hold on the drive (ex: "F") you want to unmount, and click/tap on Change Drive Letter and Paths. (see screenshot below)

3 Click/tap on the Remove button. (see screenshot below)

4 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

5 When finished, you can close Disk Management if you like.

OPTION TWO

Mount Drive or Volume in Disk Management

1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Disk Management.

2 Right click or press and hold on the unmounted drive without a drive letter you want to mount, and click/tap on Change Drive Letter and Paths. (see screenshot below)

3 Click/tap on the Add button. (see screenshot below)

4 Select (dot) Assign the following drive letter, select an available drive letter (ex: "F") you want to assign to the drive, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

5 When finished, you can close Disk Management if you like.

OPTION THREE

Unmount Drive or Volume in Command Prompt

The command in this option can be used to create a script to unmount a specific drive on demand.

1 Open an elevated command prompt.

2 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

mountvol <drive letter>: /P

Substitute <drive letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "F") of the volume you want to unmount.

For example: mountvol F: /P

3 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.

OPTION FOUR

Mount Drive or Volume in Command Prompt

The command in this option can be used to create a script to mount a specific drive on demand.

1 Open an elevated command prompt.

2 Copy and paste the mountvol command into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below step 3)

3 Make note of the Volume GUID (ex: "\\?\Volume{68df4d51-9b8e-11ea-8a09-049226cfe682}\") of the unmounted drive (volume) you want to mount. (see screenshot below)

This will usually be a drive (volume) that has the *** NOT MOUNTABLE UNTIL A VOLUME MOUNT POINT IS CREATED *** message under its Volume GUID.

4 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

mountvol <drive letter>: <Volume GUID>

Substitute <drive letter> in the command above with an available drive letter (ex: "F") you want to assign to the drive (volume).

Substitute <Volume GUID> in the command above with the actual Volume GUID (ex: "\\?\Volume{68df4d51-9b8e-11ea-8a09-049226cfe682}\") from step 3 the unmounted drive (volume) you want to mount.

For example: mountvol F: \\?\Volume{68df4d51-9b8e-11ea-8a09-049226cfe682}\

5 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.

That's it,
Shawn

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