This tutorial will show you different ways to check if a drive is considered removable in Windows 11.
A removable drive is a type of data storage media (ex: USB) that is easily inserted (connected) and removed from the computer. They can be used as portable devices.
Contents
- Option One: Check if Drive is Removable in Disk Management
- Option Two: Check if Drive is Removable in Task Manager
- Option Three: Check if Drive is Removable in Settings
- Option Four: Check if Drive is Removable using "Get-Volume" Command
- Option Five: Check if Drive is Removable using "Get-WmiObject" Command
1 Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).
2 On the left side of the bottom view, Removable will be listed under any Disk # considered a removable drive. (see screenshot below)
1 Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
2 Click/tap on Performance on the left side. (see screenshot below)
3 Any Disk # considered removable will have Removable listed as its type.
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Storage on the right side. (see screenshot below)
3 Click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC.
Starting with Windows 11 build 26100.7705 (24H2) and build 26200.7705 (25H2), to help ensure that only authorized Windows users can access system files, Windows now displays a User Account Control (UAC) prompt when you open Storage settings (Settings > System > Storage).
Starting with Windows 11 build 26100.8514 (RP 24H2), and build 26200.8514 (RP 25H2), Microsoft updated Settings > System > Storage, so rather than seeing a UAC prompt immediately when you go to the page, you’ll only see it when going to view temporary files.
4 Click/tap on Advanced storage settings to expand it open, and click/tap on Disks & volumes. (see screenshot below)
5 Click/tap on the Properties button for the "disk" you want to check. (see screenshot below)
6 This drive's Media will show as Removable Device if considered removable. (see screenshot below)
1 Open Windows Terminal, and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.
2 Copy and paste the command below you want to use into Windows Terminal, and press Enter. (see screenshots below)
Windows PowerShell - list all drives
Get-VolumeOR
Windows PowerShell - list only removable drives
Get-Volume | Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 'removable'}OR
Command Prompt - list all drives
PowerShell Get-VolumeOR
Command Prompt - list only removable drives
PowerShell "Get-Volume | Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 'removable'}"3 Look at the DriveType column detail to determine if a drive is Removable.
1 Open Windows Terminal, and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.
2 Copy and paste the appropriate command below into Windows Terminal, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
Windows PowerShell
Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk | Select-Object DeviceID, VolumeName, DriveTypeOR
Command Prompt
PowerShell "Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk | Select-Object DeviceID, VolumeName, DriveType"3 Look at the DriveType column detail number (ex: "2") to determine if a drive is removable.
DriveType Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Unknown |
| 1 | No root directory (drive letter does not exist) |
| 2 | Removable (ex: USB or SD card) |
| 3 | Local Disk (internal drive) |
| 4 | Network Drive (ex: mapped drive) |
| 5 | CD-ROM (physical CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive) |
| 6 | RAM Disk |
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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