How to remove a virtual drive in Windows

Some users may need to remove a virtual disk (drive, floppy drive) that is displayed in the Explorer of the Windows operating system. Sometimes, several virtual drives are used on the computer, all of them are displayed in the file manager window.

Therefore, in such situations, users have questions about how to remove a virtual drive so that it is not visible in the Explorer window, especially in cases where several virtual drives were used on the PC.

Working in Windows, users create a virtual drive (disk drive) to open a disc image file, without using a physical CD / DVD drive on the computer and inserting media – an optical laser disc. This is necessary in some situations.

Using a system tool or third-party software, a virtual optical drive is created on the computer. The Windows operating system detects a virtual drive and works with it like a normal physical drive.

You will need to create a virtual drive in the following situations:

• if there is no physical CD / DVD disk on the computer;
• to open a disk image directly on a virtual disk;
• to install a program, launch a game, etc.

Computer games, programs, operating systems are saved as a file with the extensions “.ISO”, “.NRG”, “.MDF”, “.IMG”, etc. In fact, this is a complete copy of an optical CD / DVD disc in the form of one file.

To open a disc image on a PC, you first need to burn the disc image to optical media (CD / DVD disc), and then insert the burned disc into the computer’s drive. Virtual Disk eliminates the need to burn a disc image to an optical disc. The image is mounted directly on the virtual disk.

How to remove virtual drive after use? There are several ways to remove a virtual drive from Explorer, depending on how exactly the virtual drive was created on a particular computer.

For example, if a user is interested in the question of how to remove a virtual drive in Windows 7, then he will have to use the installed programs with which it was created. Starting with Windows 8 and above, the operating system has a built-in tool for working with disk images.

First, let’s see how to remove a virtual drive in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, and then remove the virtual drive created using the most popular programs: UltraISO, Daemon Tools Lite, Alcohol 120% used for these purposes.

How to remove a virtual drive in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8

In this instruction, we will analyze how to remove a virtual drive in Windows if the virtual drive was connected using the operating system tool.

Connecting a virtual optical disk in Windows is as follows:

1. Right-click on the disk image you want to open on your computer.
2. Select “Connect” from the context menu.

A virtual drive will appear in Explorer with the disk image mounted.

To disable a virtual drive in Windows, follow these steps:

1. In the Explorer window, right-click on the virtual drive. In this case, an image of the Windows operating system was connected there.
2. In the context menu that opens, click on the “Extract” item.

The virtual drive will disappear from Explorer.

If third-party software was used to create a virtual drive in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 operating systems, you will have to remove the unnecessary drive using the appropriate application. Disabling the virtual drive is done in the settings of the program that created the optical drive.

How to remove a virtual drive in UltraISO

Now we will try to delete a virtual disk in the UltraISO program. The application is often used to work with disk images, to create bootable flash drives, etc.

When you install the UltraISO program on your computer, a virtual CD drive is created. If necessary, the user can create several virtual drives in UltraISO.

Follow these steps to remove the virtual drive created in UltraISO:

1. Run the UltraISO program as an administrator (this is a mandatory requirement).
2. In the main window of the UltraISO program, enter the “Options” menu, select “Settings …” in the context menu.
3. In the “Settings” window, go to the “Virtual Drive” tab.
4. In the “Number of devices” parameter, select “None”, and then click on the “OK” button.

The virtual drive will no longer show up in Windows Explorer.

How to remove virtual drives in Daemon Tools Lite

Many users use DAEMON Tools Lite on their computers. This is a free version of DAEMON Tools.

The program can create up to 4 virtual disks. Daemon Tools Lite creates virtual BR-ROM disks.

If necessary, you can delete a virtual disk in Daemon Tools as follows:

1. Open the main window of Daemon Tools Lite.

2. Move the mouse cursor to the desired virtual drive, click on the red cross to disable the virtual drive.

After applying the settings, there will be no virtual disk in Explorer.

How to delete a virtual drive in Alcohol 120%

Some users use the Alcohol 120% program (there is a free version – Alcohol 52%) to create virtual drives on a computer. The program creates virtual BD-ROM drives on the computer.

To disable the virtual drive, you will need to enter the Alcohol 120% program settings:

1. In the main window of Alcohol 120%, go to the “Settings” section (on the right side of the window), click on the “Virtual Disk” option.
2. In the settings window, in the “Number of virtual disks” parameter, select the value “0”.
3. Click the “OK” button to apply the settings.

Windows Explorer no longer has a virtual drive.

Article Conclusions

Using the built-in tool of the Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 operating system, you can connect a virtual drive to open a disk image. In other cases, a virtual drive is created by third-party applications, such as UltraISO, Daemon Tools Lite, Alcohol 120%.

If the user needs to remove the virtual drive from Explorer, he can disable the virtual drive from the Windows context menu, or from the settings of the corresponding program with which the virtual drive was created on the computer.