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How to hide drive c. How to prevent the creation of a reserved partition

Quantity and content hidden sections vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Typically, however, the following sections can be found on Windows computers.

Section "Reserved by the system"

Windows 7, 8, and 10 create a System Reserved partition when you install them. Windows does not assign a letter to this section, so it usually does not appear in File Explorer. But if you've run Partition Management or a similar utility, you've probably noticed this section. Why does the system need it?

The System Reserved section has two functions.

  • First, it contains the manager and boot data. This is where the system starts booting.
  • Second, it contains the files used by the system BitLocker encryption utility. This is required to boot the system if you decide to encrypt the system partition.

The System Reserved section takes up 100 MB of space in Windows 7, 350 MB in Windows 8, and 500 MB in Windows 10. Usually, the partition is created during system installation and is located in front of the main system partition.

Recovery partition

This section contains the manufacturer's system images that are required for a system recovery and factory reset. If you delete this section, you will make it impossible to return to factory settings in the environment Windows recovery or through the manufacturer's recovery utilities.

Manufacturer Sections

Some laptop manufacturers, such as HP and ASUS, create another additional partition on their disks. It may contain drivers for a laptop, additional software, firmware for BIOS updates and other system data.

How to remove or hide system partitions

Consider these points before modifying or deleting system partitions.

  • This should not be done if your computer or laptop is under warranty.
  • It's worth making a copy of the section just in case. For example, to keep the license for the system purchased with the laptop.
  • Have with you boot disk with Windows to reinstall the system if you break something.

How to delete a section

If you still want to delete system partitions in order to or get rid of preinstalled apps which you don't need, there are several ways to do this.

First, you can use partition management programs such as Acronis Disk Director or Paragon Partition Manager. Or delete the partition in the standard Windows "Partition Management".

Secondly, you can simply delete unneeded sections via the command line.

Open a command prompt as administrator and type:

Then we display the list of sections:

Remember your section number and enter:

select partition partition_number

Finally, we enter:

delete partition override

And the unnecessary section is deleted.

How to hide a section

Typically, system partitions are not displayed in Explorer and are not particularly noticeable to the user. But if one of the system partitions for some reason has become visible and annoys you, you can easily hide it.

Call "Partition Management". To do this, you can press Windows + R and enter diskmgmt.msc... Then find the desired partition, right-click on it and select the "Change drive letter or drive path" menu item. Then remove the drive letter.

Now the unnecessary section will no longer be displayed in the "Explorer".

How to prevent the creation of a reserved partition

You can prevent the creation of a reserved partition by Windows installation although this is not recommended. But you can install boot files directly to the system partition.

  • Start installing Windows and press Shift + F10 to bring up a window command line.
  • Enter diskpart and press Enter.
  • Create a new partition in unallocated space. For example, if you install the system on blank disc, you can just select the whole of it. Or create a separate section for documents and your other data, if you like.
  • Proceed with the installation. When you are prompted to create a new partition for the system, just select the one that you created in the previous paragraph.

This will fit both the boot files and the system into one partition. However, you will not be able to use BitLocker. But reduce the number of partitions occupied by the system. This can be useful if you are installing Windows second system and do not want it to reproduce sections.

The Windows operating system allows a huge variety of activities related to technical processes. Today we will talk about hiding folders and files on your computer. About why this is done and how to find them.

Let's start with the fact that in some cases, the hiding of certain documents is provided by the developers of this system. By default, some important elements are hidden so that the user cannot accidentally delete them and damage the normal functioning of the system. Sometimes users hide them in order to remove personal data from prying eyes or simply important information... In any case, sometimes it becomes necessary to find them, let's look at how to do it.

First you need to find the shortcut " My computer", In the window that opens, select the menu item" Arrange"By opening this menu, click on the section" Folder and search options"And click with the left mouse button.

Then a new window will open “ Folders settings". It is necessary to go to the section " View", Scroll the menu to the very bottom, where to find the item" Hidden files and folders". Then just switch to the item where the hidden files will be shown, apply and click " OK«.

All documents that are not displayed after this operation will be displayed. They will stand out in a slightly dimmer color.

A similar operation must be repeated in Windows 8. First, open the same shortcut “ My computer«, And then find a check mark at the top and open an additional section if it is not open by default.

In the menu that opens, select " View"And click on the icon" Options«

In the window that appears, we repeat the same actions as in the previous algorithm, and you can also uncheck the box “ Hide protected system files“If you need it for a specific purpose. After that, all folders that are not displayed will become visible, but differ in color.

Display in Windows 10

The actions are absolutely the same as in Windows 8, all sections and items are saved in their places, so it's unnecessary to paint.

It is much easier, in my opinion, to display hidden documents using third party program, for example, Total Commander. In the program, find the section " Configuration". In it, select the item " Customization«.

In the menu that opens, select the subsection " Panel content"And then just put a check mark next to the items" Show hidden files"And, if necessary," Show system files«.

Apply and click " OK". All documents are displayed, which is what we wanted.

It is worth mentioning that developers hide system elements for a reason. Their removal, modification and damage can lead to failure and errors in the system, so they should be treated especially carefully and carefully. If you are trying to find hidden files on someone else's computer, the question of morality arises. The user hid these files for a reason, which means it is wrong to look at them - respect everyone's privacy.



If in the window "My Computer", we see several partitions, and one of them stores important data that should not be accessed by unauthorized persons, we can hide it in the system.

The hidden disk will not be visible in Windows Explorer, but it can be accessed through the command line or by typing a drive letter in address bar conductor.

Hide disk via Disk Management

If you want to hide disk in Windows using the panel Disk management, -> right click My computer(or This computer- depends on the system version) and select Control.

In the console Computer management go to section Storage devices.

Now double click on the Disk Management snap-in.

Will open disk management console and you will be able to view all disks on your PC.

Select the drive you want to hide and right click. Please select and click on the Delete button.

If the system asks for confirmation, click OK. Now specified the disk will be hidden.

Hide Drive Using Group Policy

First, open the start menu or the search sidebar (or press Win + R) and enter the command: gpedit.msc

The "Local Group Policy Editor" window will open, in which we can configure many useful Windows functions- including what letters should be hidden in the system.

In the window Group Policy , you need to expand the branch User config → Administrative Templates → Windows components → Windows explorer.

In the right window "Options" find a function named Hide selected drives from My Computer and double-click.

A window will appear in which we can configure which drive should be hidden in the "My Computer" window. We need to select the Enabled item and select the required combination of drives, for example: limit only drive D:

After applying the changes, the selected disk will not be visible in the "My Computer" window, to restore it, you must select the option in the same window Turned off... This way, all drives will be visible by default in Windows system.

Hide Drive Using Windows Registry

Another way hide disk in Windows system – modify the list of registry keys.

Press the Win + R keyboard shortcut → type regedit and press Enter. The system will ask for confirmation, click Yes. The Registry Editor will open.

Follow the path given below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → Software → Microsoft → Windows → CurrentVersion → Explorer

Here you need to create new parameter DWORD, to do this, right-click in the explorer window and select Create → DWORD parameter (32 bit).

Name it NoDrives and double click on it to change properties. Now a console will open where you need to enter values. In the value box, select the drive you want to hide. Each letter has a unique meaning, as shown below:

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, All: 67108863

Select the appropriate value for the drive and enter that number in the Value line. Also select the Decimal system for the base section. For example, if you want to hide drive G, then enter 64:

If you want to hide two disks, for example, E and G, then one value can be entered → 80 (E = 16) + (G = 64).

Restart your computer and the drives will be hidden. If you want to return the disks back, change the key value to zero, or you can delete the registry key NoDrives.

Hide Drive using command line

  1. Open Command Prompt (Win + R -> cmd -> Enter), enter the command diskpart and press Enter.
  2. Type of List Volume and press Enter.
  3. Now select the type and number of the drive letter you want to hide (eg drive G). For example, it could be Select Volume 6... Hit Enter.
  4. Enter Remove Letter G and press Enter.

You will see a message - Diskpart successfully deleted a drive letter or mount point.

To return hidden disk, follow steps 1-2-3 mentioned above.

Use the command Assign Letter G and press Enter. This will show the drive in explorer.

You can also use free programs, such as HideCalc, to hide disk in Windows... Or read the comments below.

In Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Vista, for the sake of safety and security, you can hide important files and folders so that other users do not accidentally delete / change important data, or simply from prying eyes. If necessary, these same files are fairly easy to display, which we will look at later in this article.

Also recently, a case has often been observed when users have all files and folders hidden, as if everything that was deleted was deleted and instead of them shortcuts with the same names are created, which is a consequence of a virus infection of the computer / removable media.

It can also happen after installing or checking the computer with an antivirus. If you have just such a case associated with a virus, the instructions below will also help you to display hidden files and folders. But to completely remove the virus, read the article How to remove a virus with shortcuts.

The first and simplest method that I always use is with Total Commander. Open the program, select desired disk and just click the "Hidden Items" button and you will see everything that was hidden (marked with a red exclamation mark).

If you do not have the program installed, use also quite simple ways described below.

Show hidden files and folders in Windows 8.x or 10

Use the View tab and click the Options button.

On the View tab, check the "Show hidden files, folders and drives" option at the very bottom. If you want to get to the hidden system Windows files, uncheck the option "Hide protected system files"

Hidden files will appear semi-transparent. If you want to completely remove the "hidden" attribute from a file or folder, right-click on it and select properties. On the General tab, clear the Hidden check box.

In most cases this helps, but sometimes it so happens that the checkbox cannot be removed from the option, because the hidden attribute is inactive. If so, scroll down a bit and follow the instructions given.

Windows 7 or Vista

Open any folder and choose Folder and Search Options from the Organize menu.

Just like in the previous example, check or uncheck the boxes of the required options and click OK.

What to do if a folder has a hidden attribute inactive

In case you cannot remove the attribute hidden folder with the above method, the code below can help you in this situation. Just copy it, paste it into notepad and save it as folder with .vbs extension instead of txt to get folder.vbs. Then copy and paste the file to the drive you want ( USB flash drive, SD card or HDD), where you want to display hidden files and run it as standard, double click mice.

Remember to change "d:" to your drive letter.

'Reset file attributes for all folders within a specific drive
'Change d: to the letter of the drive where the script will be applied
cDrive = "d:"
Set FSO = CreateObject ("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
ShowSubfolders FSO.GetFolder (cDrive)
WScript.Echo "Done with fix."

Sub ShowSubFolders (Folder)
str = ""
For Each Subfolder in Folder.SubFolders
str = str & "" & Subfolder.Path
subFolder.Attributes = 0
ShowSubFolders Subfolder
Next
End Sub

After starting the file, you should see all hidden folders, but not files (note), since this method applies only to folders. And for files use the following method:

  • Open the Run dialog box, type cmd and press Enter.
  • Enter your drive letter, for example d: and press Enter.
  • Then enter the following command:

attrib d: \ *. * / d / s -h -r -s

Now, all hidden files should be displayed.

Hidden folders and files in operating system are needed so that the user does not delete the data necessary for the operation of any application or the system itself. Also, if there is data that should be hidden from "prying eyes", you may also need this functionality. In this article, we will analyze how to enable / disable the display hidden folders as well as protected system files. We will use it as a standard graphic Windows interface and Command Line and Registry as an alternative method.

How to enable / disable the display of hidden items

Method number 1

To enable / disable the display of hidden items, open Explorer (a window with any folders) and open the View tab, then check / uncheck the box Hidden elements- they will now appear slightly transparent.

Method number 2

You can also activate this function through the menu Folder options... Click on the View tab and click on Options.

V open window Options, open the View tab and in the block additional parameters select Don't show / Show hidden files, folders and drives.

Method number 3

Using the registry, you can also quickly enable / disable the display of items.
To do this, click on the Start button and open the application Command Line (Admin)... Copy the following command and type in the Command Prompt window:
reg add “HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced” / v Hidden / t REG_DWORD / d 1 / f

To turn off the display of hidden items, enter the following command:
reg add “HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced” / v Hidden / t REG_DWORD / d 2 / f

How to hide a folder or file

To hide a specific folder or file from "third parties", select the item you want to hide and call context menu, by right-clicking, and select Properties. In the General tab, you can set the Hidden attribute, which will hide the folder and its contents.

Using the Command Line, you can also hide system elements. First, click on the Start button and open the Command Prompt application.
First, you need to specify the location of the desired folder / file:
cd [File Location]
To set the attribute of the Hidden element, run the following commands:
attrib + h “Folder / Item Name”

If you want to hide the contents of the folder, but not the folder itself, then go to the folder using the cd command and enter the following command:
attrib + h / s / d
To disable the Hidden attribute, the command attrib -h will help you

How to hide or show System files

Even by displaying hidden elements, you will not be able to access protected system files - basic settings, paging file, hibernation, or other data inaccessible during normal viewing.
To enable / disable the display of System files, open Explorer and open the View tab, then check / uncheck the Hide protected system files checkbox. Confirmation will also be required.


Using the registry, you can also quickly enable / disable the display system files.
To display the system elements, click on the Start button and open the Command Prompt (Administrator) application. Copy the following command and type in the Command Prompt window:
reg add “HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced” / v ShowSuperHidden / t REG_DWORD / d 0 / f
To turn off the display of system elements, enter the following command:
reg add “HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced” / v ShowSuperHidden / t REG_DWORD / d 1 / f

Have a great day!