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

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 !

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

How to : Hard drives used to show in Windows and are now missing [visible in BIOS]

Skip to bottom for resolution:
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I had a scare today that in hindsight, I possibly could have avoided. I am not certain that I caused the issue, however decided I wanted to share the resolution with my comrades at TPU and hopefully others in the future.
Searching for this type of subject, is difficult as any work around or solution is often piled under results that are for a similar issue though not quite this scenario.

I was changing power supplies and realized I was short of the remaining required SATA power cables. This meant I could only power on my SSDs(normally two SSD, two HDD). After finishing, I had the system up and running for a few hours doing various things when I stumbled across some more SATA power cables. I took the machine down, hooked up the SATA>HDD and booted the system.

Windows did not see the mechanical drives in Explorer. I checked the following :

• Are the drives getting power? Yes I can hear/feel them slightly humming. Good sign.
• Are the drives showing in Device Manager under Disk Drives? No only my SSD show.
• Are the drives showing in Administrative Tools> Computer Management > Disk Management? No only my SSD show.

Turned off the system. I checked the following :

• SATA connections at the motherboard and the hard disks. Connections are firm.
• Double checked in BIOS that they were visible.

I booted Windows again and this time listened intently for that classic crunch sound of the drive head doing it's work. I heard nothing.

A coffee later ( I don't drink coffee, was very stressful times - Defcon 2 I would say) I took stock of what I knew :

• There's power
• There's SATA data transmission
• BIOS has given us a green light
• I didn't do any thing to my knowledge that would trash the drives.

It occurred to me I may have confused Windows, and I remembered that sometimes devices can be hidden (what causes this could be a myriad of reasons that I am unaware of).


Solution :

• Open Control Panel > Device Manager

other ways to reach the Device Manager :

• Start Menu > Run and type mmc devmgmt.msc
• Start Menu and type Device Manager in the search box
• Start Menu and type mmc devmgmt.msc in the search box

• At the top of the Device Manager, click on View and then Show Hidden Devices.
• Down in the main window of the Device Manager, press the arrow or plus (+) sign to the left of the section Disk drives. It will open the list of drives, including any that are hidden. These will be colored with grey text. You should see some familiar models in there, hopefully your missing hard disks and there may be several entries for each (meaning there's duplicates).
• Right click on each of the grey entries that relate to your missing device(s) and select Uninstal (do this for every instance or copy of your missing drives).
• Agree to the OK or Cancel prompt that you receive.
• Reboot your system.

As your system prepares to enter Windows, you will never have been more happy to hear the nasty crunch of mechanical hard disks as the little HD men go to work inside your storage devices.

 

Windowed Hard Drives

On the contrary, showing off "slow tech" by adding a window to a hard drive is a "dumb" idea. Do you really want to be showing off a whole "7200-10000 RPM of power" or would you rather show off a plain SSD drive? (If you really desire to "show off")

Adding any window to any drive is just stupid. I just suggested an easier option for you since manufactures don't put windows on the latest hard drives.