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phantom drive

About this tag
A phantom drive is a drive letter that appears in File Explorer or My Computer but does not correspond to any physical or virtual storage device. Common causes include leftover virtual drives from mounting ISO files, orphaned registry entries, or remnants of disconnected hardware like card readers. Affected users often see a drive with zero bytes used and free, and clicking it yields an access denied error. The drive typically does not appear in Disk Management or Device Manager. Solutions include using Disk Management to remove the drive letter, editing the registry to delete the corresponding key, or using third-party tools to clean up ghost drives. Windows 7, 10, and 11 users have reported this issue.
  1. S

    Windows 10 Phantom F Drive??

    I have a brand new clean install of Windows 10 Pro, I had recently installed Office 2019 from an ISO which was downloaded to the download folder, I installed from it's current location and all went well, activated product etc. Next time I went into "My PC" I saw my C drive (SSD), my D drive...
    • SteveSkal
    • Thread
    • activation clean install command prompt configuration disk cleanup disk management drive issues drive letter eject drive file system installation iso office 2019 phantom drive storage tech support troubleshooting usb virtual drive windows 10
    • Replies: 4
    • Forum: Windows Help and Support
  2. nitewulf

    Windows 7 Phantom Drive showing in Computer

    Somehow I've ended up with a "phantom" local disk Q showing in Computer. It shows as 0 bytes used and 0 free; it cannot be accessed. It does NOT show in either disk management or device manager. It is not my card reader which is removable drive F. I do not have an external drive connected of any...
    • nitewulf
    • Thread
    • computer device manager disk management ghost drive hard drive local disk phantom drive registry system restore uninstall apps
    • Replies: 4
    • Forum: Windows Hardware
  3. D

    Windows 7 Phantom local drive

    Hi, I've been fighting this one for some time and still haven't figured out what caused it or how to fix it. I have a P205 s-6287 Tosiba laptop, 4gb ram, windows 7 home premium 64-bit OS. Under the Computer icon I have a phantom local drive (Q) showing up. If I click on it "it is not...
    • donaldadkins
    • Thread
    • access denied card reader computer management device manager phantom drive registry toshiba troubleshooting usb adapter windows 7
    • Replies: 19
    • Forum: Windows Help and Support
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