This works with all Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 releases.
To prevent a drive or any combination of drives from appearing in My Computer, Windows Explorer and/or Internet Explorer, for security purposes in a multiuser environment, if you own the computer or have Administrator privileges, add/modify the "NoDrives" (don't type the quotation marks) Binary [REG_BINARY] hex or DWORD [REG_DWORD] value under this
Registry key, using Regedit:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Give it a value from the list below to hide the individual drive(s) of your choice (don't type the spaces for Binary):
Drive Letter Binary Value DWORD Value
A 01 00 00 00 00000001
B 02 00 00 00 00000002
C 04 00 00 00 00000004
D 08 00 00 00 00000008
E 10 00 00 00 00000010
F 20 00 00 00 00000020
G 40 00 00 00 00000040
H 80 00 00 00 00000080
I 00 01 00 00 00000100
J 00 02 00 00 00000200
K 00 04 00 00 00000400
L 00 08 00 00 00000800
M 00 10 00 00 00001000
N 00 20 00 00 00002000
O 00 40 00 00 00004000
P 00 80 00 00 00008000
Q 00 00 01 00 00010000
R 00 00 02 00 00020000
S 00 00 04 00 00040000
T 00 00 08 00 00080000
U 00 00 10 00 00100000
V 00 00 20 00 00200000
W 00 00 40 00 00400000
X 00 00 80 00 00800000
Y 00 00 00 01 01000000
Z 00 00 00 02 02000000
Example: to hide drives D, E, Y and Z give "NoDrives" this Binary value:
18 00 00 03
Where: D + E = 18 and Y + Z = 03 (cumulative values).
NOTE: These numbers are in HEXadecimal. Example: to hide drives A, B, C and D, use 0F, NOT 15, when cumulating multiple drives.
Show all drives (A to Z) "NoDrives" Binary value:
00 00 00 00
Hide all drives (A to Z) "NoDrives" Binary value:
ff ff ff 03
You can also do this by using TweakUI, one of the Microsoft Power Toys for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME + MS IE 4/5/6 [110 KB, free, unsupported].
Use TweakUI with caution, ONLY AFTER BACKING UP YOUR REGISTRY!
Open Control Panel -> TweakUI -> My Computer tab -> check to show or uncheck to hide the desired drive boxes -> click OK/Apply.
Windows default is to show ALL local and remote (network) drives: A to Z.