Virtual Drives in Windows 11 and Windows 10 have functions, similar to external hard drives, and they can be used for various purposes. However, once their purpose is served, they may no longer be required. In such cases, you may want to delete them. Here’s what you’ll need to do to remove or delete a Virtual Drive in Windows 11/10.
Remove a Virtual Drive from Windows 11/10
Presuming your physical hard drive has limited capacity, follow these steps to delete a Virtual Drive in Windows 10 or Windows 11.
- Delete Virtual Disk via ‘This PC’
- Delete Virtual Drives with Disk Management Console
Let us walk you through the procedure!
1] Delete Virtual Disk via ‘This PC’ route
Go to ‘This PC’ option and select the Virtual Drive you would like to delete from your Windows 10.
Right-click on the drive and choose ‘Properties’ option.
Next, When the Properties box opens up, switch to ‘Hardware’ tab, select your virtual disk, and hit the ‘Properties’ button again, visible under ‘Device Properties’ section.
Now, again, switch to the ‘Driver’ tab and hit ‘Disable Device’ button. Also, press ‘Uninstall Device’ tab to uninstall the device from the System (Advanced)
When prompted, restart your computer.
If the above method does not delete the Virtual Drive or if you find the ‘Uninstall Device’ option grayed out, try the next method.
2] Delete Virtual Drives with Disk Management Console
Press the Win+R in combination to open the ‘Run’ dialog box.
Type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ in Run and click OK to open Disk Management.
When the Disk Management console opens up, right-click the virtual disk listed in the Volume column and select ‘Delete Volume’.
Instantly, a message will appear, prompting you to back up data before deleting the volume. Follow the desired course of action.
The action will leave users with unallocated virtual drive space. Then, to delete the virtual hard disk file, right-click the disk number with the unallocated space and select the ‘Detach VHD’ option.
Select the Delete the virtual hard disk file after removing the disk option on the window that opens.
Click the OK button.
That’s it! When you check this PC section again, you should not find the virtual drive listed, indicating that it has been deleted successfully.
