In Windows ten, the central hub for seeing all hard drives and other volumes connected to your reckoner is This PC (calledMy Computer in older versions of Windows). This lets you access your internal storage drives, plus any removable media connected to your PC, such equally flash drives.

However, by default, Windows only shows drives currently continued to your system that have data on them. If you lot want to bear witness all drives connected to your computer, no affair whether they're empty or not, follow these steps.

How to Show All Drives in This PC on Windows 10

To start, open up a File Explorer window. On the top bar, click theView tab to open that menu, then select theOptions icon here to open a new window.

File Explorer Options

On the resulting dialog box, select theView tab. Hither, scroll down and find theHibernate empty drives pick, which is checked by default. Uncheck this box, which tells Windows to evidence all possible drives on your PC, even if they don't have whatever data to read.

Windows Hide Empty Drives

You might non run into any difference in This PC later on making this change if you lot're using all of your drives. 1 common scenario that produces a blank drive is a laptop with a congenital-in SD card slot that doesn't currently take a card inside. This can also happen if you have an SD card reader or docking station continued to your computer without any media continued to the device.

When y'all tell Windows to show all drives, it simply displays that drive onThis PC with the same alphabetic character, even when there's nothing to browse on the device.

Windows Empty Drives

How to Find Other Drives Continued to Windows

If you have another external drive that y'all expect to run across inThis PC but information technology doesn't show upward, it might need formatting or have another issue. Run into our guide to fixing an external drive not being recognized in Windows for assistance.

Using the Disk Management tool as mentioned in that guide will besides allow you to modify the drive messages of removable media, if you lot wish.

How to Testify Drives on the Desktop in Windows x

If you've used macOS or Linux, y'all're probably used to a characteristic where drives testify up on the desktop when connected.

Unfortunately, you can't replicate this verbal feature in Windows without 3rd-party software, most of which is outdated. You can try a tool similar Desk Drive, only information technology was concluding updated long ago, then there's no guarantee it will work with mod versions of Windows.

All the same, you can add shortcuts to specific drives on your Windows desktop. To do this, simply open up a File Explorer window to This PC, and so elevate and driblet the drive you want to use as a shortcut onto your desktop. This makes a shortcut that volition take you right to that drive—of course, it won't work right if you disconnect that drive.

Windows Create Drive Shortcut

If you like, you lot can also place a shortcut toThis PC on your desktop. Head toSettings > Personalization > Themes and clickDesktop icon settings in the right sidebar. On the resulting menu, cheque theComputer box underDesktop Icons and hitOK. This will show aThis PC icon on your desktop, letting you jump right to the interface.

Windows This PC Show on Desktop

How to Open up New File Explorer Windows to This PC

Anyone interested in managing their drives so closely probably views This PC oftentimes. To get there more apace in the future, switch back to the General tab in the File Explorer options panel and next to Open File Explorer to, select This PC.

At present, when you open up a new File Explorer window using the icon on your taskbar or past pressing Win + E, it volition open right to This PC. Quick Access, which is the default panel, might not be as useful for you.

Windows Open to This PC

Easily Show All Drives on Windows ten

Now you know how to show all drives inThis PC orMy Computer on Windows, as well every bit where to locate other drives and show them on your desktop. You shouldn't e'er have to worry near a missing bulldoze on your reckoner now!

For more on your drives, yous should likewise know about managing disk partitions in Windows.

Prototype Credit: Ksander/Shutterstock

How to Manage Hard Drive Partitions and Volumes in Windows 10

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About The Writer

Ben Stegner (1809 Manufactures Published)

Ben is the Editor in Chief at MakeUseOf. He left his IT job to write full-time in 2016 and has never looked back. He'due south been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more equally a professional writer for over 8 years.

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