How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer

hansrijf · May 5th, 2010

Hello again,

a couple of days ago I attached two portable disks to my laptop. In windows explorer they showed up as disk L: and U:.

Now I cannot remove these references to these disks, so even though the disks are no longer attached to my laptop they still show up in explorer. I tried to find something in the register editor but I did not find anything related to L: or U:.

How can I remove these disks in explorer?

Thanks!

In the attachment: lokale schijf = local disk

**American Zombie** · May 5th, 2010

Try looking here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

hansrijf · May 6th, 2010

Originally Posted by American Zombie

Try looking here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Thanks but I see no L or U disk there.... (also not when opening the regkeys)

**Johnny** · May 6th, 2010

Did you try to reboot your pc? Also, check bios and make sure they aren't still listed there.

hansrijf · May 6th, 2010

Originally Posted by Johnny

Did you try to reboot your pc? Also, check bios and make sure they aren't still listed there.

yep, every day

**American Zombie** · May 6th, 2010

They may be one of the ??volumes further up the list.

Right click on the entries and select Modify binary data

See if the drive name is there in the data.

You can also just delete all the entries as Windows will re-create all devices still connected when you reboot.

hansrijf · May 7th, 2010

Originally Posted by American Zombie

They may be one of the ??volumes further up the list.

Right click on the entries and select Modify binary data

See if the drive name is there in the data.

You can also just delete all the entries as Windows will re-create all devices still connected when you reboot.

I already looked in the entries but did not find the drivernames there. Will try to delete the entries, see what will happen...

Update: deleted the entries, rebooted, the disks are still there....

**American Zombie** · May 8th, 2010

Might be ghosted devices that are hidden.

Open an command prompt and type the following then push enter:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Now type the following and press enter:

devmgmt.msc

When device manager opens go to the top and select View > show hidden devices

Now look in Disk drives and perhaps USB in device manager for your rogue entries.

hansrijf · May 8th, 2010

Originally Posted by American Zombie

Might be ghosted devices that are hidden.

Open an command prompt and type the following then push enter:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Now type the following and press enter:

devmgmt.msc

When device manager opens go to the top and select View > show hidden devices

Now look in Disk drives and perhaps USB in device manager for your rogue entries.

Good tip, hadn't thought of this yet. But .. did it like you said, removed all the items in devicemanager that might point to the two local disks, rebooted ... they are still there....

**Terrahertz** · May 30th, 2010

I would attach them again and then do [Safely remove hardware option] if you haven't tried that.

**Xie** · May 30th, 2010

I thought you could just right click on it and remove it (had same issue with network drive once). If not I assume this Vista help page from MS would be the same as 7 is just Vista v2.

Change, add, or remove a drive letter

hansrijf · May 30th, 2010

Originally Posted by Terrahertz

I would attach them again and then do [Safely remove hardware option] if you haven't tried that.

Tried this, thing is these disk are ext3 formatted to use with Linksys NSLU2. To see these disks in Win7 I had to install a driver. When I reinstalled this driver yesterday I could not assign the driveletters L and U because they are already in use...

hansrijf · May 30th, 2010

Originally Posted by Xie

I thought you could just right click on it and remove it (had same issue with network drive once). If not I assume this Vista help page from MS would be the same as 7 is just Vista v2.

Change, add, or remove a drive letter

Unfortunately these driveletters do not show up in diskmanagement. So I cannot remove them either...

**Terrahertz** · May 30th, 2010

Originally Posted by hansrijf

Tried this, thing is these disk are ext3 formatted to use with Linksys NSLU2. To see these disks in Win7 I had to install a driver. When I reinstalled this driver yesterday I could not assign the driveletters L and U because they are already in use...

Hmm could they have been setup to reconnect at logon? I'm just throwing something out there until we can figure it out. Right click my computer and select disconnect network drives. If you haven't done this see if that's the problem.

hansrijf · May 30th, 2010

Originally Posted by Terrahertz

Hmm could they have been setup to reconnect at logon? I'm just throwing something out there until we can figure it out. Right click my computer and select disconnect network drives. If you haven't done this see if that's the problem.

Tried this too, the disks are no network drives... they are listed as "other" in explorer (my computer)

**Terrahertz** · May 30th, 2010

Use ccleaner to clean your registry. I'm going to see if I can find or figure something out.

hansrijf · May 30th, 2010

Originally Posted by Terrahertz

Use ccleaner to clean your registry. I'm going to see if I can find or figure something out.

Good suggestion, but I use ccleaner almost every day, but at least once a week.....

**American Zombie** · May 31st, 2010

Re-attach the drives then open a command prompt and type diskpart

Wait until you get to the diskpart prompt then type list volume

If the drives or drive letters are listed then type select volume followed by the letter you want to select select volume L

Once selected type remove letter=L

Do the same for the other drive letter you want to remove.

hansrijf · May 31st, 2010

Originally Posted by American Zombie

Re-attach the drives then open a command prompt and type diskpart

Wait until you get to the diskpart prompt then type list volume

If the drives or drive letters are listed then type select volume followed by the letter you want to select select volume L

Once selected type remove letter=L

Do the same for the other drive letter you want to remove.

Thanks for your suggestion. I reconnected the drives, loaded a command prompt, types diskpart and then list volumes .... see attachment for the result....

**American Zombie** · May 31st, 2010

See if those drives are listed in system protection and if protection is turned on for them and/or if they say missing.

If protection is on and/or they are missing turn protection off for the drives and they should then disappear.

Another idea is if they are listed in the bcd file somehow.

Open a command prompt and type:

bcdedit /enum all

Copy/paste the result

May 5th, 2010	Top \| #1
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	[SOLVED] How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Hello again, a couple of days ago I attached two portable disks to my laptop. In windows explorer they showed up as disk L: and U:. Now I cannot remove these references to these disks, so even though the disks are no longer attached to my laptop they still show up in explorer. I tried to find something in the register editor but I did not find anything related to L: or U:. How can I remove these disks in explorer? Thanks! In the attachment: lokale schijf = local disk Attached Thumbnails

May 5th, 2010	Top \| #2
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,899 Reputation: 2689 Power: 164	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Try looking here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

May 6th, 2010	Top \| #3
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by American Zombie Try looking here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices Thanks but I see no L or U disk there.... (also not when opening the regkeys) Attached Thumbnails

May 6th, 2010	Top \| #4
Johnny .. Commodore .. Joined: January 2004 Location: Happy Valley Posts: 5,021 Reputation: 2369 Power: 188	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Did you try to reboot your pc? Also, check bios and make sure they aren't still listed there. Load "*",8,1 ...

May 6th, 2010	Top \| #5
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by Johnny Did you try to reboot your pc? Also, check bios and make sure they aren't still listed there. yep, every day

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May 6th, 2010	Top \| #6
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,899 Reputation: 2689 Power: 164	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer They may be one of the ??volumes further up the list. Right click on the entries and select Modify binary data See if the drive name is there in the data. You can also just delete all the entries as Windows will re-create all devices still connected when you reboot.

May 7th, 2010	Top \| #7
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by American Zombie They may be one of the ??volumes further up the list. Right click on the entries and select Modify binary data See if the drive name is there in the data. You can also just delete all the entries as Windows will re-create all devices still connected when you reboot. I already looked in the entries but did not find the drivernames there. Will try to delete the entries, see what will happen... Update: deleted the entries, rebooted, the disks are still there....

May 8th, 2010	Top \| #8
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,899 Reputation: 2689 Power: 164	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Might be ghosted devices that are hidden. Open an command prompt and type the following then push enter: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 Now type the following and press enter: devmgmt.msc When device manager opens go to the top and select View > show hidden devices Now look in Disk drives and perhaps USB in device manager for your rogue entries.

May 8th, 2010	Top \| #9
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by American Zombie Might be ghosted devices that are hidden. Open an command prompt and type the following then push enter: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 Now type the following and press enter: devmgmt.msc When device manager opens go to the top and select View > show hidden devices Now look in Disk drives and perhaps USB in device manager for your rogue entries. Good tip, hadn't thought of this yet. But .. did it like you said, removed all the items in devicemanager that might point to the two local disks, rebooted ... they are still there....

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #10
Terrahertz Extinction Agenda Joined: April 2002 Location: New York Posts: 972 Reputation: 294 Power: 148	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer I would attach them again and then do [Safely remove hardware option] if you haven't tried that. INSTALLATION & ADMINISTRATION

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #11
Xie - geek - Joined: September 2003 Location: NY, USA Posts: 5,262 Reputation: 1730 Power: 188	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer I thought you could just right click on it and remove it (had same issue with network drive once). If not I assume this Vista help page from MS would be the same as 7 is just Vista v2. Change, add, or remove a drive letter tehgeek \| tehgeek \| geeking out to tech \| IRC \| Parted Magic \| A+ Certified Professional

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #12
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by Terrahertz I would attach them again and then do [Safely remove hardware option] if you haven't tried that. Tried this, thing is these disk are ext3 formatted to use with Linksys NSLU2. To see these disks in Win7 I had to install a driver. When I reinstalled this driver yesterday I could not assign the driveletters L and U because they are already in use...

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #13
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by Xie I thought you could just right click on it and remove it (had same issue with network drive once). If not I assume this Vista help page from MS would be the same as 7 is just Vista v2. Change, add, or remove a drive letter Unfortunately these driveletters do not show up in diskmanagement. So I cannot remove them either...

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #14
Terrahertz Extinction Agenda Joined: April 2002 Location: New York Posts: 972 Reputation: 294 Power: 148	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by hansrijf Tried this, thing is these disk are ext3 formatted to use with Linksys NSLU2. To see these disks in Win7 I had to install a driver. When I reinstalled this driver yesterday I could not assign the driveletters L and U because they are already in use... Hmm could they have been setup to reconnect at logon? I'm just throwing something out there until we can figure it out. Right click my computer and select disconnect network drives. If you haven't done this see if that's the problem. INSTALLATION & ADMINISTRATION

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #15
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by Terrahertz Hmm could they have been setup to reconnect at logon? I'm just throwing something out there until we can figure it out. Right click my computer and select disconnect network drives. If you haven't done this see if that's the problem. Tried this too, the disks are no network drives... they are listed as "other" in explorer (my computer) Attached Thumbnails

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May 30th, 2010	Top \| #16
Terrahertz Extinction Agenda Joined: April 2002 Location: New York Posts: 972 Reputation: 294 Power: 148	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Use ccleaner to clean your registry. I'm going to see if I can find or figure something out. INSTALLATION & ADMINISTRATION

May 30th, 2010	Top \| #17
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by Terrahertz Use ccleaner to clean your registry. I'm going to see if I can find or figure something out. Good suggestion, but I use ccleaner almost every day, but at least once a week.....

May 31st, 2010	Top \| #18
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,899 Reputation: 2689 Power: 164	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Re-attach the drives then open a command prompt and type diskpart Wait until you get to the diskpart prompt then type list volume If the drives or drive letters are listed then type select volume followed by the letter you want to select select volume L Once selected type remove letter=L Do the same for the other drive letter you want to remove.

May 31st, 2010	Top \| #19
hansrijf sh! it stinks Joined: December 2005 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 277 Reputation: 130 Power: 95	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer Originally Posted by American Zombie Re-attach the drives then open a command prompt and type diskpart Wait until you get to the diskpart prompt then type list volume If the drives or drive letters are listed then type select volume followed by the letter you want to select select volume L Once selected type remove letter=L Do the same for the other drive letter you want to remove. Thanks for your suggestion. I reconnected the drives, loaded a command prompt, types diskpart and then list volumes .... see attachment for the result.... Attached Thumbnails

May 31st, 2010	Top \| #20
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,899 Reputation: 2689 Power: 164	Re: How to remove "local disk" in win 7 explorer See if those drives are listed in system protection and if protection is turned on for them and/or if they say missing. If protection is on and/or they are missing turn protection off for the drives and they should then disappear. Another idea is if they are listed in the bcd file somehow. Open a command prompt and type: bcdedit /enum all Copy/paste the result