How to View All Drives in "This PC" on Windows (2024)

In Windows 10, the central hub for seeing all hard drives and other volumes connected to your computer 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 as flash drives.

However, bydefault, Windows only shows drives currently connected to your system that have data on them. If you want to show all drivesconnected toyour computer, no matter whether they're empty or not, follow these steps.

How to Show All Drives in This PC on Windows 10

To start, open 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.

On the resulting dialog box, select theView tab. Here, scroll down and find theHide empty drives option,which is checked by default.Uncheck this box, which tellsWindows to show all possible drives on your PC, even if they don't have any data to read.

You might not see any difference in This PC after making this change if you're using all of your drives. One common scenario that produces a blank drive is a laptop with a built-in SD card slot that doesn't currently have a card inside. This can also happen if you have an SD card reader or docking station connected to your computer without any media connected to the device.

When you tell Windows to show all drives, it simply displays that drive onThis PC with thesame letter, even when there's nothing to browse on the device.

See Also

How to See All Drives Available on the ComputerHow do I access the H drive on my computer? – Quick-Advisors.com

How to Find Other Drives Connected to Windows

If you have another external drive that you expect to see inThis PC but it doesn't show up, it might need formatting or have another issue. See our guide to fixing an external drive not being recognized in Windows for help.

Using the Disk Management tool as mentioned in that guide will also allow you to change the drive letters of removable media, if you wish.

How to Show Drives on the Desktop in Windows 10

If you've used macOS or Linux, you're probably used to a feature where drives show up on the desktop when connected.

Unfortunately, you can't replicate this exact feature in Windows without third-party software, most of which is outdated. You can try a tool like Desk Drive, but it was last updated long ago, so there's no guarantee it will work with modern versions of Windows.

However, you can add shortcuts to specific drives on your Windows desktop. To do this, simply open a File Explorer window to This PC, then drag and drop the drive you want to use as a shortcut onto your desktop. This makes a shortcut that will take you right to that drive—of course, it won't work right if you disconnect that drive.

If you like, you 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, check theComputer box underDesktop Icons and hitOK. This will show aThis PC icon on your desktop, letting you jump right to the interface.

How to Open New File Explorer Windows to This PC

Anyone interested in managing their drives so closely probably views This PC often. To get there more quickly 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.

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

Easily Show All Drives on Windows 10

Now you know how to show all drives inThis PC orMy Computer on Windows, as well as where to locate other drives and show them on your desktop. You shouldn't ever have to worry about a missing drive on your computer now!

For more on your drives, you should also know about managing disk partitions in Windows.

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