New partitions may appear in File Explorer after installing the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803)

Anonymous

After installing the April 2018 Update to upgrade to Windows 10 version 1803, a new partition appears in File Explorer. I’m also constantly getting warnings that the partition is low in space, and there are no options to delete this partition.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

Microsoft is aware that previously-hidden partitions are improperly being assigned drive letters after installing the April 2018 Update. As a result, they now appear in Disk Management and File Explorer. These partitions are typically recovery partitions used by the Windows Recovery Environment or by the Original Equipment Manufacturer. It is not recommended that you attempt to delete or reformat these partitions as this may have adverse effects on your ability to recover Windows. Microsoft is currently working to address the issue in a future Windows Update, and we’ll update this thread when a solution becomes available.

(Update 5/14/18: The solution that will soon be released via Windows Update will only prevent this issue from occurring for devices that install the April 2018 Update after the solution is released. If you've already installed the April 2018 Update and are experiencing this issue, you'll need to follow the steps below if you want to hide these partitions.)

(Updated 7/24/18 to provide a simpler solution.)

Although you may safely ignore previously hidden partitions, you can hide them again by removing the partition’s assigned drive letter.

1. Select the Start button, type cmd, select and hold (or right-click) Command Prompt in the list of results, and then choose Run as administrator.

2. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type the following command, where [drive letter] is the drive letter you want to remove, then press Enter.

mountvol [drive letter] /d

3. The drive letter will no longer appear in File Explorer and Disk Management. You may close the command prompt window.

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The original solution using diskpart is provided below:

1. Select the Start button, type cmd and then right-click Command Prompt in the search results and select Run as administrator.

2. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type diskpart and press Enter.

3. Type list volume and press Enter.

4. Make note of the volume number for the drive letter you want to remove. For example, if the drive letter you want to remove is Drive “G”, note the volume number for Drive G.

5. Type the following command, and press Enter.

select volume**<volume number>**

When typing this command, in place of <volume number>, substitute the volume number you made note of in Step 4. In the example above, if the volume number for drive G is 5, you would type: select volume****5

6. Type the following command and press Enter.

remove letter= <drive letter>

When typing this command, in place of <drive letter>, substitute the drive letter you want to remove. In this example, you would type: **remove letter=**G

7. Close the Command Prompt window.

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Anonymous

The cure is what Tiero Chi posted. It is marked as the answer. For neatness sake...

(a) Insert Step 6.5 - Exit - to leave DiskPart.

(b) If you've got a CD_ROM & its letter was pushed from D: to E:,

use Disk Management to change it back as I posted on page 8.

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197 additional answers

Anonymous

2018-06-09T13:39:34+00:00

Why the Hell don't you send out a notice to affected users! I spent hours searching for a solution. I am upset but grateful for your fix. It worked!

Please send notices out! You have my email and the emails of many other Windows users!

Ron
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Anonymous

2018-06-09T17:47:05+00:00

Why the Hell don't you send out a notice to affected users! I spent hours searching for a solution. I am upset but grateful for your fix. It worked!

Please send notices out! You have my email and the emails of many other Windows users!

Ron

Many of us feel the same, but Microsoft is unlikely to send out a notice for several reasons. They don't know who the affected users are. Some Windows 10 users have been affected while others have not. In my home, only one of three Win 10 computers was affected by the sudden appearance of a partition accompanied by frequent annoying low-disk-space warnings. I have no idea why one computer was hit by this and the others were not. Many other users who have Windows 10 installed on an Intel SSD found that the Spring 2018 update is totally incompatible with their system. Two other brands of popular SSDs were also affected.

You can potentially reduce the chances of glitches caused by Windows 10 updates by delaying them. Search for "how to delay windows 10 updates". There are several tutorials available for this. Delaying the updates allows time for glitches to be reported and patched before you receive the update.

A more drastic approach is to prevent any updates. This involves the use of a second computer. Disconnect your Windows 10 from the internet by removing its ethernet network cable or by disabling its wi-fi. It only takes a minute to do this, and you can do a search for instructions or reply here and we'll give you a step-by-step. Obtain a second computer and muse it just for the internet. If cost is a problem check on Newegg.com and/or Amazon.com for "refurbished pc" or similar terms. There are many small office computers which have been de-commissioned and refurbished. We bought one last fall for $89 on Newegg.com. Now, many of them come with a 90-day warranty which is OK, especially for that price range. Some of them are "Microsoft certified" or some such claim, and they come with a full 1-year warranty. What you get is a small-ish office computer probably with an Intel Core2Duo processor, or a newer Pentium, or a Core i3. All of these are absolutely fine for internet and all normal everyday computer tasks. When you get one use Windows backup software to create a "System Image" and store that on a USB flashdrive/thumbdrive or an external plug-in hard drive. That way, if someone goes to bad websites and gets Windows infected with a virus/malware, you can easily restore a good copy of the whole system in about 10 or 15 minutes from the System Image backup.
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