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I am using an Inland 1TB SSD that I have slotted into my motherboard, which is an ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi).

As a part of my Windows 10 install, I created a partition for Windows, wanting to keep the remaining space separate. I set the size of the Windows partition (60 GB), and let it split into what should have been two partitions.

When it was done, however, windows had created three partitions: a C drive (Windows install), a D drive (very small amount of space), and an E drive (the remaining space). I do not know why this small D drive was created.

It was visible in File Explorer initially, but after the initial round of Windows updates, it has disappeared. Only C and E are now visible. I did not get a chance to actually look at the contents of D before this, and do not know if it was empty.

In Disk Management, I can see that the third partition is apparently unnamed, as seen in this picture: Disk Management Image

Right clicking on it only gives the "Help" option, so I cannot format it here.

However, in the Registry Editor, it is clearly named as the D drive, which you can see here: Registry Editor Image

How can I resolve this so that the D drive is visible? Depending on its contents, I may want to just delete it and reallocate the space.

As a side note, my HDD (Disk 0 in the above picture) is also detected but does not show up in the File Explorer either, but this may be unrelated to the SSD issue here, and may require its own post.

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2 Answers 2

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As a part of my Windows 10 install, I created a partition for Windows, wanting to keep the remaining space separate. I set the size of the Windows partition (60 GB), and let it split into what should have been two partitions.

When it was done, however, windows had created three partitions: a C drive (Windows install), a D drive (very small amount of space), and an E drive (the remaining space). I do not know why this small D drive was created.

The partitions that were created by the Windows installer, are the default partitions, that are typically created. The 500 MB partition is your WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) partition.

It was visible in File Explorer initially, but after the initial round of Windows updates, it has disappeared. Only C and E are now visible. I did not get a chance to actually look at the contents of D before this, and do not know if it was empty.

The WinRE partition is not typically assigned a drive letter.

However, in the Registry Editor, it is clearly named as the D drive, which you can see here: Registry Editor Image

I wouldn't worry about the existence of this key in your registry.

How can I resolve this so that the D drive is visible? Depending on its contents, I may want to just delete it and reallocate the space.

You shouldn't. The partition should not have a drive letter. You wouldn't have permissions to write to the partition even if you did assign a drive letter to it. You should be able to assign a driver letter within Disk Management, the only reason this wouldn't be possible, is if a flag is set to explicitly prevent it.

As a side note, my HDD (Disk 0 in the above picture) is also detected but does not show up in the File Explorer either, but this may be unrelated to the SSD issue here, and may require its own post.

You have not assigned the partition in question a drive letter.

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  • I have previously extensively explain the default partition configuration of Windows 10. How do I know that a drive that is not labelled 'recovery' is actually the recovery drive?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 23, 2020 at 21:19
  • Correct, I am not asking about removing it (I should have been clearer) - only speculating that WinRE was assigned the D letter initially before the process removed D from the "This PC" menu . My follow-up question is about extending the C drive even though I cannot free up adjacent memory, since the adjacent memory was turned into the WinRE partition. However, I have found this post which has some possible solutions in it: superuser.com/questions/1337959/…
    – A.Crane
    Commented Sep 24, 2020 at 3:00
  • I have seen commentary used for simple follow-up questions on the sister website StackOverflow fairly frequently, especially since people finding this in the future may have similar questions. I am not asking how to remove the partition, so I will not continue this discussion. I did not know it wasn't acceptable here.
    – A.Crane
    Commented Sep 24, 2020 at 3:05
  • @A.Crane - Your welcome to ask a detailed question, with regards to the question you asked within a comment, so a deleted answer can be submitted
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 24, 2020 at 19:00
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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing... :)

The registry entry you have shown will just be something left over from a previous configuration. In an ideal world it should not be there but for whatever reason, Windows has not removed it. Do not be fooled into thinking it must reflect an actual, currently present drive D.

The other view, in Disk Management, shows the small partitions Windows creates and marks as system reserved, and you should not try to make them visible or change them in any way.

By the way the reason your fixed disk is not showing up in File Explorer is that Windows currently thinks it is "unallocated". This could be for various reasons and, as you say, that issue warrants its own question and would need more information, such as what you know about it from previous use (like how it's formatted, how it's now connected, etc.)

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