How to Find Drives on Windows 10

To find your drives on Windows 10, press the Windows logo key + E to open File Explorer, then select This PC in the left pane. Every drive that Windows can use appears there with its name and drive letter, such as Local Disk (C:). If a drive is missing from that list, right-click Start and select Disk Management to see whether it is offline, has no drive letter, or has not been set up yet.

Applies to: Windows 10. Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025, and only PCs enrolled in Extended Security Updates still get security fixes, through October 12, 2027.

What counts as a drive in Windows 10

Two words get mixed up in this task, and knowing the difference makes the rest easier. A disk is the physical device: a hard drive, a solid-state drive (SSD), a USB flash drive or a memory card. A volume is a formatted area on a disk that Windows gives a drive letter, such as C: or D:. File Explorer only shows volumes that have a drive letter. Disk Management shows every disk, including ones that File Explorer cannot display yet.

That is why a brand-new disk can be connected and working but still invisible in File Explorer. A newly added disk isn’t available in File Explorer until it has been initialized, given a volume and assigned a drive letter.

Find your drives in File Explorer

Use this method when you only want to see which drives you have, open one, or check that a USB drive was recognized. It does not need an administrator account.

1. Open File Explorer. Press the Windows logo key + E, or select the File Explorer icon on the taskbar or the Start menu. In Windows 10 the window opens in Quick access rather than in your list of drives.
2. Select This PC in the left pane. The main part of the window changes to show your folders and, below them, the drives connected to the computer.
3. Read the list of drives. Each one shows a name and a letter in parentheses, for example Local Disk (C:). Internal drives, USB drives, memory cards and disc drives all appear here once Windows has assigned them a letter.
4. Double-click a drive to open it and see its folders and files.

Make File Explorer open to This PC every time

If you check your drives often, you can skip the Quick access screen. In File Explorer, go to the View tab and select Options. In the Open File Explorer to: list, select This PC, and then select Apply. To undo the change later, repeat the steps and choose Quick access from the same list.

See every disk in Disk Management

Disk Management is the built-in Windows tool that lists every disk the computer detects, along with its volumes, sizes and status. Use it when a drive does not show up under This PC.

1. Right-click (or long-press) the Start button, then select Disk Management.
2. Find the list of disks. Each physical disk has its own entry (Disk 0, Disk 1 and so on) with its volumes shown beside it.
3. Match the disk you are looking for by its capacity, then read the status text shown for the disk and for each volume.
4. Compare that status with the table below to decide what to do next.

If the Start button menu is not available, there are three other ways to open the same tool:

• Select Search, type Disk Management, then select Create and format hard disk partitions.
• Press Windows + R, type diskmgmt.msc, then select OK.
• Open Computer Management, then select Storage > Disk Management.

What the status means

Status shown	What it means	What to do
Healthy, with a drive letter	The volume is working normally.	It should appear under This PC.
Healthy, with no drive letter	The volume works but File Explorer has no letter to show it under.	Assign a drive letter (steps below).
Offline	The disk is offline. It may be corrupted or intermittently unavailable.	Right-click the disk and select Online.
Not Initialized	The disk has no valid disk signature. It is either brand new or its formatting is damaged.	Initialize it only if it is new or holds nothing you need.
Unallocated	Space on the disk that has no partition.	On an empty disk, create a new simple volume.
RAW	A partition without a file system that Windows recognizes.	Do not format it if it should contain files.
Unreadable	The disk isn’t accessible because of a hardware failure, corruption or input/output errors.	Check the connection and try another computer.

You will usually also see small partitions labeled EFI System and Recovery on the main disk. They have no drive letter on purpose. They hold the files Windows needs to start and to repair itself, so don’t modify these partitions in any way.

Give a drive a letter so it appears in File Explorer

A healthy volume with no letter is the most common reason a working drive is missing from This PC. You need to be signed in with an account in the Administrators or Backup Operators group to change this.

1. In Disk Management, right-click the volume that has no letter and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
2. Select Add. (If the volume already has a letter that you want to replace, select Change instead.)
3. Select Assign the following drive letter, pick a letter from the drop-down list, and select OK.
4. If a confirmation message appears, select Yes. The drive should now be listed under This PC with the letter you chose.

Do not change the letter of the drive that contains Windows or your installed apps, because apps might have trouble running or finding the drive afterward.

Set up a new, empty disk

Warning: initializing a disk erases all data on it. If a disk that used to hold your files suddenly shows as Not Initialized, RAW or Unallocated, stop here. Do not initialize it, format it or create a volume on it, because those actions can overwrite the files you want back.

For a disk that really is new, the order is: bring it online if it is offline, right-click it and select Initialize Disk, choose a partition style, then create a volume with a drive letter. GUID Partition Table (GPT) is the type most computers use for hard drives and SSDs. Master Boot Record (MBR) is an older style used by 32-bit and older computers and by removable drives such as memory cards. Each stage is explained in more depth in initializing a hard drive in Windows 10.

List drives from Command Prompt

If you prefer a text list, or File Explorer is not responding, the DiskPart command-line tool shows the same information. You must be in the local Administrators group to run it. The two commands below only display information and do not change anything.

1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator, type diskpart and press Enter.
2. Type list disk and press Enter to display the physical disks.
3. Type list volume and press Enter to display the volumes on all disks, with their letters.
4. Type exit and press Enter to leave DiskPart.

Do not experiment with other DiskPart commands on a disk that holds files you need. Several of them erase data.

Find a network drive

A shared folder on another computer or a network storage device is not a disk inside your PC, so it never appears in Disk Management. It shows under This PC only after it has been mapped to a drive letter. If the shared drive you expect is missing, map a network drive in Windows 10 to give it a letter.

Troubleshooting a drive that still does not appear

An external or USB drive is not in Disk Management

Try these checks one at a time, starting with the first:

• Unplug the disk, plug it back in, and then in Disk Management select Action > Rescan Disks.
• Shut down the PC, turn off the external disk, then turn both back on.
• Plug the disk into a different USB port directly on the PC, not into a hub.
• Try a different cable.
• Plug the disk into a different PC to learn whether the problem is the disk or the computer.

Check Device Manager

Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager. Look for any device marked with an exclamation point, which signals a problem with that device or its driver. Uninstall the affected device, then scan for hardware changes so Windows reinstalls it.

The disk shows as Offline

In Disk Management, right-click the disk and select Online. If it goes offline again, the disk or its connection may be failing, so copy important files off it as soon as it is readable.

Options are greyed out or you are asked for a password

Viewing drives in File Explorer works for any account, but changing drive letters, bringing disks online and initializing disks require administrator rights. On a work or school computer, the organization may restrict these tools or hide certain drives. In that case, contact your IT support team rather than trying to work around the restriction.

The drive appears but asks to be formatted

This usually corresponds to a RAW status in Disk Management, meaning Windows does not recognize the file system. Formatting erases the drive. If the drive should contain files, cancel the prompt and try the drive on another computer before doing anything else.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my computer only show a C: drive?

Many PCs have a single disk with one visible volume, so C: is the only drive listed. Open Disk Management to confirm: if you see only one disk row plus the small EFI System and Recovery partitions, there are no other drives to find.

Where did the D: drive go?

Open Disk Management and look for a healthy volume without a letter, or a disk marked Offline. Assigning a drive letter or bringing the disk online normally returns it to This PC. If the disk is not listed at all, check its cable and Device Manager.

Is it safe to open Disk Management just to look?

Yes. Opening the tool and reading the disk list changes nothing. Data is only affected when you choose an action such as formatting, initializing or deleting a volume.

Should I give the EFI System or Recovery partition a drive letter?

No. Those partitions store critical files the computer needs to operate, so leave them alone.

Do these steps work in Windows 11?

Disk Management looks and works the same in both versions. File Explorer in Windows 11 has a different layout, so on that version use the steps to find a hard drive in Windows 11.

Every status and fix is described in full on Microsoft’s pages about Disk Management in Windows and troubleshooting Disk Management. Once your drive is visible, open it from This PC and confirm your files are there before you rely on it.