No fixed media in "My Computer"

[sej111]

I went to run the defragmenter from "My Computer" on an XP machine, but the "C" drive doesn't appear, only removable media. The fixed media category isnÂ’t listed at all.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere itÂ’s possible to hide a hard drive, but canÂ’t remember how itÂ’s done. (NOTE: The user account I was using does have Administrator privileges.)

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Osiris]

To make changes to this policy for one of the seven default values: 1. Start the Microsoft Management Console. On the Console menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in.
2. Add the Group Policy snap-in for the default domain policy. To do this, click Browse when you are prompted to select a Group Policy Object (GPO). The default GPO is Local Computer. You can also add GPOs for other domain partitions (specifically, Organizational Units).
3. Open the following sections: User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and Windows Explorer.
4. Click Hide these specified drives in My Computer.
5. Click to select the Hide these specified drives in My Computer check box.
6. Click the appropriate option in the drop-down box.
These settings remove the icons representing the selected hard disks from My Computer, Windows Explorer, and My Network Places. Also, these drives do not appear in the Open dialog box of any programs.

This policy is designed to protect certain drives, including the floppy disk drive, from misuse. It can also be used to direct users to save their work to certain drives.

To use this policy, select a drive or combination of drives in the drop-down box. To display all drives (hide none), disable this policy or click the Do not restrict drives option.

 

[sej111]

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I found the correct window with no problem.

I discovered this hidden drive condition on a newer Dell machine, itÂ’s the first time IÂ’ve come across it. Do you you happen know why this was done?