Windows 10 Windows 10, SSD and SATA hard drive letters missing from Windows Explorer

  • Thread starter Thread starter hansolocambo
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hansolocambo

Symptoms :
  • All hard drives are accessible. Everything looks fine in Directory Opus.
  • But in Windows Explorer, and in the system windows that open with actions such as File>Open, File>Save As, etc. : only USB hard drives are visible on the left pane.
  • All internal SSD and SATA hard drives are invisible.
  • I can access any hard drive, any folder, any file perfectly fine if I write down the drive letter manually or the path. But even then, current browsed folder/drive won't expand to my position in the drive's folder structure as it usually do.
  • "This PC" is gone. If I access it manually all it shows me on the right pane is "This folder is empty".
  • All I see in Windows Explorer (Left Pane) is Quick Access, Desktop shortcuts, USB hard drives. Everything else is gone.
  • Some softwares cannot open a file from its usual position in the drive. I get messages such as "file cannot be found". But if I move the file to the root, then I can open it, work on it, save it just fine. And move it back where it was manually when I'm done...

Things I tested :
  • In Disk Management all is fine. "Action>Rescan Disks" had no effect. All drives are healthy and have their usual drive letter assigned.
  • I tried changing a drive's letter. I could see that change in Dopus, but no effect on Windows Explorer.
  • In Windows Explorer > FolderOptions it's all as usual : no hidden folder, empty drive, etc is hidden; "Show drive letters" and so on is shown.
  • I ran the hardware troubleshooter but it went on without any error. All was "fine".
  • I checked the Registry (Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices) and all mounted devices have their drive letter assigned normally.
  • In Device Manager, I tried to update all Disk Drive drivers, but they were up to date.
  • I tried to restart in Safe Mode : same problem.

Info about the way I use that computer
  • I'm a 3D modeler for 25 years and I tend to always have the same collection of softwares installed. All those necessary for my workflow. I did not install anything new recently.
  • I have Bitdefender Total Security and my system has been clean of any malware, virus, etc for many years.


I don't know what to do anymore. But this causes some serious issues as some files attached to my work (textures of a 3D object, etc) are now appearing as missing in some 3D softwares. Even though the files are there, can be seen and opened in Dopus, ACDSee, even in Windows Explorer if I manually write down the path. But the missing drive letters cause problems in some programs that can't find files that are definitely there, in a ghost drive letter.

Just an example : RizomUV cannot open an fbx if it's inside a subfolder of those "missing" drives (error message along those lines : "cannot find the file"). But if I move the file to the root of that "ghost" drive, then RizomUV sees it.



This issue is very recent. Probably related to a Windows Update. I guess the solution is somewhere in the registry ?...


Any idea would be much welcomed :_(

Thanks !

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