Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10  

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    Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10

    Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10

    How to Show Drive Letters Before or After Drive Name in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Hardware & Drivers
    06 Aug 2021
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Show Drive Letters Before or After Drive Name in Windows 10


    A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned to a physical drive or drive partition in the computer.

    A drive name or drive label, is a unique name of up to 32 (NTFS) or 11 (FAT) characters assigned to a drive, disc, or other media connected to the computer.

    This tutorial will show you how to hide or show drive letters before or after drive labels in File Explorer for your account or all users in Windows 10.


    Contents

    • Option One: To Hide or Show Drive Letters Before or After Name for Current User
    • Option Two: To Hide or Show Drive Letters Before or After Name for All Users



    EXAMPLE: Drive Letters in This PC
    Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10-drive_letters_example-1.png
    Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10-drive_letters_example-2.png
    Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10-drive_letters_example-3.png
    Show Drive Letters Before or After Name in Windows 10-drive_letters_example-4.png






    OPTION ONE

    To Hide or Show Drive Letters Before or After Name for Current User


    Option Two below will override this option.

    The .bat files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

    ShowDriveLettersFirst DWORD

    0 = (Default) Show all drive letters after drive label
    1 = Show only network drive letters before drive label
    2 = Hide all drive letters
    4 = Show all drive letters before drive label


    1 Do step 2, step 3, step 4, or step 5 below for what you would like to do.


     2. To Show All Drive Letters After Drive Label

    This is the default setting.

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.

    Show_all_drive_letters_after_name.bat

    Download


     3. To Show Only Network Drive Letters After Drive Label

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.

    Show_only_network_drive_letters_before_name.bat

    Download


     4. To Hide All Drive Letters

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.

    Hide_all_drive_letters.bat

    Download


     5. To Show All Drive Letters Before Drive Label

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.

    Show_all_drive_letters_before_name.bat

    Download


    6 Save the .bat file to your desktop.

    7 Unblock the .bat file.

    8 Run the .bat file.

    9 You will now notice your screen flicker and a command prompt quickly open and close as explorer is restarted to apply the registry changes.

    10 When finished, you can delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.






    OPTION TWO

    To Hide or Show Drive Letters Before or After Name for All Users


    You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

    This option will override Option One above.

    The .bat files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

    ShowDriveLettersFirst DWORD

    (delete) = (Default) Allow users to be able to use Option One above.
    0 = Show all drive letters after drive labels
    1 = Show only network drive letters before drive labels
    2 = Hide all drive letters
    4 = Show all drive letters before drive labels


    1 Do step 2, step 3, step 4, step 5, or step 6 below for what you would like to do.


     2. To Show All Drive Letters After Drive Label

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 7 below.

    Show_all_drive_letters_after_name_for_all_users.bat

    Download


     3. To Show Only Network Drive Letters After Drive Label

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 7 below.

    Show_only_network_drive_letters_before_name_for_all_users.bat

    Download


     4. To Hide All Drive Letters

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 7 below.

    Hide_all_drive_letters_for_all_users.bat

    Download


     5. To Show All Drive Letters Before Drive Label

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 7 below.

    Show_all_drive_letters_before_name_for_all_users.bat

    Download


     6. To Undo OPTION TWO and Allow Users to be able to do OPTION ONE

    This is the default setting.

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 7 below.

    Undo_all_users.bat

    Download


    7 Save the .bat file to your desktop.

    8 Unblock the .bat file.

    9 Right click or press and hold on the .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

    10 You will now notice your screen flicker and a command prompt quickly open and close as explorer is restarted to apply the registry changes.

    11 When finished, you can delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink


    Related Tutorials



  1. Windows 11 Tutorials



  2. Bumpkin
    Posts : 44
    Tech Preview
       New #1

    Thanks Shawn!
    I've been looking for this since W10 came out!
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. Brink
    Posts : 68,842
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       New #2

    I'm glad it could help. :)
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  5. Layback Bear
    Posts : 983
    Windows 7/64 Professional
       New #3

    I see the difference but I don't understand the reason for doing such a thing. Please explain.

    Jack
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  6. Brink
    Posts : 68,842
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Hey Jack, :)

    It's just one of those personal preference type settings.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  7. Layback Bear
    Posts : 983
    Windows 7/64 Professional
       New #5

    Thank you Shawn.

    Jack
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  8. AlainCh2
    Posts : 72
    W10
       New #6

    I'm on W10 1809.

    I'd to add also this one to make it work:

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
    "ShowDriveLettersFirst"="4"


    HiH

    Alain
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  9. Wisewiz
    Posts : 843
    11 Pro 21H2 (22000.832)
       New #7

    Sincere THANKS for your tutorials


    Brink said:
    I'm glad it could help. :)
    That line applies to ALL of your brilliant contributions to problem-free computing for so many of us.

    Once again (and again and again), I'm indebted to you for saving me hours of time finding and applying solutions to the annoying details of computing. Thanks again, Shawn

    (Elderly) Dan (Wisewiz)
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  10. Brink
    Posts : 68,842
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       New #8

    Wisewiz said:
    That line applies to ALL of your brilliant contributions to problem-free computing for so many of us.

    Once again (and again and again), I'm indebted to you for saving me hours of time finding and applying solutions to the annoying details of computing. Thanks again, Shawn

    (Elderly) Dan (Wisewiz)
    You're most welcome Dan. I'm glad they could help.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  12. Wisewiz
    Posts : 843
    11 Pro 21H2 (22000.832)
       New #9

    @Brink

    Well, I'm on my new 21H1 installation on my very old notebook, and all of my (mostly YOUR) customizations have worked, but this .bat (option 2, 5, letter before name) doesn't have the desired effect, even after a reboot. I unblocked and ran as admin per instructions, but no go.

    Any idea why it's not working? It has worked on my other two main machines, both 10 Pro 2004 when I applied the .bat.

    Dan
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

 

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