How to hide a hard disc drive partition from users who are not Administrators

biko · Jul 19, 2022

I am trying to hide specific hard drive partitions from any user who does not have Administrator rights on my Windows 11 laptop. I have done some extensive research and all options available end up hiding the drive from all users. Is this achievable? Thanks in advance.

FreeBooter · Jul 19, 2022

I don't know attached batch script hides partitions, it will hide attached drive in Windows File Explorer.

biko · Jul 19, 2022

FreeBooter said:
I don't know attached batch script hides partitions, it will hide attached drive in Windows File Explorer.

Will I be able to select the users who will be able to view and use the hidden drives (Administrators to be precise)?

FreeBooter · Jul 19, 2022

No you won't have a option to select user you have option to hide all drives, Hide individual drives and unhide drive.

biko · Jul 19, 2022

FreeBooter said:
No you won't have a option to select user you have option to hide all drives, Hide individual drives and unhide drive.

Oh, that will not work for me. I want non-admins to only have access to a specific drive. Alternatively, are there permissions that I can set to a drive to ensure that an admin password is required to access it?

bronskimac · Jul 19, 2022

You should be able to disable access to non-admin users under the Properties, Security tab. Right click the drive, click "Properties", click the "security" tab then click edit. It should be self-explanatory from there, but be careful, it may be possible to lock yourself out of the files there too!

biko · Jul 19, 2022

bronskimac said:
You should be able to disable access to non-admin users under the Properties, Security tab. Right click the drive, click "Properties", click the "security" tab then click edit. It should be self-explanatory from there, but be careful, it may be possible to lock yourself out of the files there too!

If I am not wrong, I need to remove access from this group, right?

Berton · Jul 19, 2022

Might look at this and the possibility that Kiosk Mode would accomplish the task.

Kiosk Mode

Learn about Kiosk Mode in Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

docs.microsoft.com

It's frequently what one sees in stores on computers for sale, customers are limited to what they can test.

bronskimac · Jul 19, 2022

Looks like it, but don't blame me if it goes pear shaped! I'd try it out on a dummy folder first.

badrobot · Jul 19, 2022

Or just manually remove the drive letter when you are done. If they don't see the drive/partition they won't be able to open it. As long as they are unaware that you are hiding it.

Megahertz · Jul 19, 2022

What version of Win 11 you have, Home or Pro?
On Pro you can set many restrictions with group policies.

biko · Jul 19, 2022

Megahertz said:
What version of Win 11 you have, Home or Pro?
On Pro you can set many restrictions with group policies.

It is Windows 11 Pro. Do you have references where I can refer to?

biko · Jul 19, 2022

badrobot said:
Or just manually remove the drive letter when you are done. If they don't see the drive/partition they won't be able to open it. As long as they are unaware that you are hiding it.

Unfortunately this will not work for me. My ultimate goal is that I want Standard users to only have access to 1 HDD partition...and not the main drive, without having to change the letters before switching between Administrator and Standard users.

Megahertz · Jul 19, 2022

Using Group Policy Objects to hide specified drives - Windows Client

Provides some information about using Group Policy Objects to hide specified drives.

docs.microsoft.com

How To Restrict Access To Drives In My Computer In Windows

If you have a shared or public computer that several people use, you might want to restrict access to it’s drives to prevent users from deleting important data. Today we look at restricting access to some or all drives on the machine using Local Group Policy.

www.howtogeek.com