Quite often, personal computer users are faced with the question of restricting access to some data. A typical solution to such a problem is to use some kind of cryptographic protection of information with encryption of a physical or emulation of a logical (based on a container file) disk. However, when the user only needs to make the disk invisible, the use of third-party programs seems clearly redundant. In Windows, you can prevent the display of the disk in Explorer and shell windows by means of the OS itself.
Necessary
administrator rights in Windows
Instructions
Step 1
Run the regedit program. Click on the "Start" button located on the taskbar. Select Run. The "Run Program" dialog will be displayed. In the Open box, enter regedit. Click the "OK" button.
Step 2
Sequentially open the registry keys "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", "Software", "Microsoft", "Windows", "CurrentVersion", "policies", "Explorer". Expanding nested sections is done by double-clicking, or by clicking on the "+" sign next to their name. Highlight the item corresponding to the "Explorer" subsection.
Step 3
Create a new DWORD value in the highlighted section. Right-click on the "Explorer" label. In the context menu, select the "New" item, and then click on the "DWORD Parameter" item.
Step 4
Rename the created parameter. Right-click on the "New Parameter # 1" label located in the right pane of the application window. Enter the NoDrives value. Press the Enter key.
Step 5
Calculate a value for the NoDrives parameter to hide the desired drives. Add up the values for the individual drives. The value for each drive is calculated by raising the number 2 to the power, which is the ordinal number of the drive letter when counting from zero, starting with the letter A. So, the value for drive A will be 2 ^ 0 = 1, for drive B - 2 ^ 1 = 2, for C - 2 ^ 2 = 4, etc. For example, if you want to hide drives D and F, then the resulting value of the NoDrives parameter should be: 2 ^ 4 + 2 ^ 6 = 80.
Step 6
Change the content of the NoDrives parameter to a calculated value. Double click on the "NoDrives" label. In the "Change DWORD Parameter" dialog that appears, activate the "Decimal" switch. In the "Value" field, enter the calculated value.
Step 7
Reboot your computer. After that, the selected drives will no longer be displayed.
