How to Hide Specific Drives in Windows


In Windows, you can hide specified drives to have them no longer show in This PC and File Explorer without preventing access to them, or losing their assigned drive letter when unhidden.

Users can still gain access to drive contents by using methods such as by typing the path to a directory on the drive in the address bar of File Explorer, in the Map Network Drive dialog box, in the Run dialog box, or in a command window. This also does not prevent users from using programs to access these drives or their contents. And, it does not prevent users from using Disk Management to view and change drive characteristics.

This tutorial will show you how to hide specified drives in This PC and File Explorer for all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to hide or show drives.

EXAMPLE: E and F drives hidden




Here's How:

1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)

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

3 Do step 4 (show all drives) or step 5 (hide specified drives) below for what you want to do.

4 To Show All Drives in This PC and File Explorer

A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, right click or press and hold on the NoDrives DWORD (if there), and click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)

B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)

5 To Hide Specified Drives in This PC and File Explorer

A) In the right pane of the Explorer key, double click/tap on the NoDrives DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

If you do not have a NoDrives DWORD, then right click or press and hold on a blank space in the right pane of the Explorer key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type NoDrives for the name, and press Enter.

B) Select (dot) Decimal, enter the Value data from the table below you want for a single drive or combination of drives to hide, click/tap on OK, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)

To hide a single drive, enter the value data from the table below for the drive letter of the drive you want to hide.

To hide a combination of drives, enter the added value data from the table below for the drive letters of each drive you want to hide.

For example: To hide both the E (16) and F (32) drives, I would add 16 and 32 together from the table below, and enter 48.

Drive Letter	Decimal Value Data
Show all drives	0
A	1
B	2
C	4
D	8
E	16
F	32
G	64
H	128
I	256
J	512
K	1024
L	2048
M	4096
N	8192
O	16384
P	32768
Q	65536
R	131072
S	262144
T	524288
U	1048576
V	2097152
W	4194304
X	8388608
Y	16777216
Z	33554432
Hide all drives	67108863

6 When finished, close Registry Editor.

7 Sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.


That's it,
Shawn Brink

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