How to fix internal drives showing up as removable on Windows 11
There is a clear distinction between internal, or fixed, hard drives and removable drives. The most common difference is that removable drives are usually connected to outside ports of the device. Removal devices may be external disk drives, optical disc drives or memory cards and sticks.
There are other differences, including that removal drives tend to get power from the USB port they are connected to or an external source and that they may be disconnected from Windows using ejection.
Internal hard drives may sometimes show up as removable drives in Windows. The issue has plagued Windows users for a long time. A page on Microsoft's support website confirms that Windows 7 to Windows 11 operating systems may experience the issue.
Microsoft notes that it is not Windows that is assigning the wrong classification to internal drives. The BIOS of the device is responsible for classifying connected drives. Microsoft writes: "The inbox driver directly inspects SATA ports and considers devices connected to those ports marked “external” as removable devices." Failure to do so may lead to corruption or data loss, according to Microsoft.
Changing the SATA drive classification from removable to internal
Microsoft recommends to update the computer's BIOS first to see if a newer version addresses the issue. It is necessary to check the website of the manufacturer of the device and/or motherboard to find out if a BIOS update is available.
One of the easier options to find out about the model of the motherboard is to run the following command in Terminal: wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer,version,serialnumber
It displays the manufacturer and product ID in the response. All that is left to do is visit the website of the manufacturer and search for BIOS updates. A search like "manufacturer model BIOS update" should do the trick in most cases.
Updating may work, but not all the time. If there is no update available or if the update does not address the issue, Windows admins may override the classification in the operating system.
The following steps are required for that:
- Use the Windows-X command do display the administrative menu and select Terminal (admin).
- Confirm that you want to launch the Terminal application with elevated rights.
- Load devmgmt.msc in the window.
- Expand Disk Drives and locate the drive that is listed as external by the BIOS and Windows.
- Right-click on the drive and select properties.
- Write down the bus number displayed under Location in the window that opens.
- Run the following command in Terminal afterwards and replace X in the command with the bus number that you looked up in step 6: eg.exe add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci\Parameters\Device” /f /v TreatAsInternalPort /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d X
- Restart the device.
Windows 11 should no longer list the internal drive as external after the reboot. Repeat the process for any other drive that is classified wrongly. (via Neowin)
There is not still W11 23H2 and these instructions are nonsense by now. :[
It worked for me just fine. You’re probably not following the instructions clearly.
Just tried the password option and the OOBE option and didnt work.
Worked perfectly. Thank OP.
Worked perfectly for me just now. Specifically, the regedit option.
Is this cut and paste from a Microsoft PR paper, because it 1000% BS:
“By listening to user insights, Microsoft has demonstrated its commitment to refining the Windows experience based on real-world needs.”
Windows 11 is proof they don’t give a s*it.
Worked for me just now
I agree! Windows 11 was a downgrade to me and I kept all 8 computers in our family on Windows 10 as a result. They didn’t listen to any customers. The taskbar was THE main reason I stayed away from Windows 11. With 6 monitors, it is impossible to navigate so many browser tabs, without the feature. I will try the new version in the virtual box to see if it is worth it yet.
Microsoft did a terrible job with this implementation.
They simply need to employ the creator of StartAllBack to fix Windows. He is smarter and more talented than the entire campus of Microsoft employees.
lol
Thank you so much! I work in IT and this is extremely useful information!
Thanks man. The second method worked great!
I used the second method, and i got exactly what i expected.
Using the Bypass 2: Use a banned email address email worked fantastically as I had gone to far to use the bypass 1.
I will be back when I next have a problem.
Keep you the great work
W11 File Explorer is the worst crap ever done. W11 is the biggest shame ever.
Just one more reason for me to go to Linux when Windows 10 ages out.
@ MarineRecon,
Be careful which Linux distro you choose. Some of them don’t include the Wayland protocol which is a security issue i.e. apps can copy, paste and inject data without user interaction.
It’s included in Fedora: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/latest/system-administrators-guide/Wayland/
How about a DARK MODE for your website? That would be oh so nice.
Something like this : [https://img.justpaste.me/image/8617] maybe?
Done with ‘Dark Reader Extension for ? Firefox’ [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/]
This comment was written on [https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-installation-has-failed-how-to-fix-this-upgrade-error/#comment-4573155}
Definitely NOT! Once you get older and your eyesight starts to fail you’ll positively loathe dark mode.
Not sure what eye problems *you’re* having, but for me the exact opposite is true. Dark Mode is MUCH easier on my Eyes.
BTW- I’m 52, and have worked in IT all my life. Been staring at monitors for hours each day, most days of the week since the late 1980’s.
Microsoft completely ruined File Explorer by converting to XAML/WinUI/whatever new bloated modern garbage. Its worse than it ever was.
i tested it on win10 current edition. speeds up explorer like a charm
SO what is the priority numbers to give preference to ethernet over wireless?
Worked very well happy to have Windows Photo Viewer back in action in Windows-11
Worked for me (registry option) thank god, I can use the search option to find things on my computer again. Thank you so much!
Install Everything Search and dispense with Microsoft’s crappy search tool. https://www.voidtools.com/
Martin wrote an article on it: https://www.ghacks.net/2020/10/09/add-everything-search-to-the-windows-taskbar-for-even-faster-searches/
I presume the text “WindowsCopilot,,” is a typographical error (2023/09/17/how-to-disable-windows-copilot-in-windows/). The broken comment system unfortunately looks like it is populating itself via AI autopilot.
Hopefully, this Windows Copilot nonsense fails even more spectacularly than Cortana. Who requested this? We want all of the UX features removed back in 11, not this copilot nonsense.
I really don’t mind all of these Windows enhancement but Microsoft get one thing very wrong. ‘Opt in’, is far better than seek information and work to disable.
Turn off Windows Copilot entirely is not good enough.
How to uninstall Copilot entirely ?
@ ilev,
Use Gpedit or the registry. Explained in this article: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/17/how-to-disable-windows-copilot-in-windows/
With that snake oil salesman Panos gone, hopefully Windows can return to a normal desktop operating system without all the insanity it has right now in Windows 11.
Can we please stop being ‘politically correct’ (lying) and call them ads again instead of ‘suggestions’?
@ Martin,
Does your gpedit hack also turn off all the other “subscribed content” shown in the registry screenshot? Do you happen to know what all those are?
Thank you, I used the fake email option, it worked great.
I wish I had read this article a few months ago, as I purchased two refurbished Windows 10 Pro PCs to replace two older ones. The 1st one I entered an existing Microsoft account I had and it imediately setup OneDrive, adding it to the path names for the common folders such as Documents, Music, video, etc. I tried to just disable OneDrive but then had odd problems finding my data copied from another older PC. long story short I was able to remove all the entries from the registry after un-installing OneDrive.
The second refurbished PC I didn’t connect the WiFi adapter so during installation I was able to click on the no Internet option. Basically I did as you suggested above; set up a local login, disabled OneDrive from running on bootup, and eventually unInstalled it. No problems with folder paths, etc.
The registry option worked for me, but only me, not any other users. How do I make this apply to all users? Yes, I have admin rights.
Just decided to create a Windows 11 system image (went OK) and then went to look for this Co-Pilot crap, but it’s nowhere to be found on my system even though I’ve got the Pro version.
What I did find though in User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Cloud Content was the option to turn off all that Spotlight stuff. Glad to see the back of that anyway.