Quite often, users of Windows operating systems are faced with the fact that a virtual drive appears in the system, although they did not install the emulator themselves. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this, but for some reason its presence in the system hinders many, and they are trying to get rid of such "implicit" equipment. The reasons for this phenomenon and how to remove the drive will be discussed later. But first, let's see why, in fact, we need such virtual equipment.
Virtual drive: what is it and why is it needed?
To begin with, this type of emulation was most demanded by gamers who copied original discs with games, the presence of which in the drive was a prerequisite for their work. But the copy was not saved on the disc, but was created in the form of files and folders on the hard drive. It is clear that the games, without detecting the presence of an optical disk in the drive, even if they were launched from the hard disk, did not want to be launched. With the advent of the ability to create and save copies as image files, the situation has changed. Now it was possible to insert such an object into a virtual drive, which looked as if an optical disk was physically present in the real drive . But in the early stages of using images to open them, the drives had to be emulated using third-party programs. But in the latest versions of Windows operating systems, the situation has changed dramatically. Even without the installed emulation program or application for working with image files, you can double-click on the file, and a virtual CD-ROM drive or DVD-drive is created automatically (it all depends on the original size or data type).
It goes without saying that at the end of work with the device, you can use the function to extract it through the PCM menu on the drive. But what if this device is present in the system initially? Where did it come from and how to remove a virtual drive? The explanation here is the simplest. Apparently, an unofficial distribution kit was used to install the OS, since after installing the official builds of the Windows operating systems, no virtual drives appear in the system, but are activated only when the image files are opened.
How to remove a virtual drive in Windows using system tools?
In principle, getting rid of such equipment using the tools of the operating system can be done in two ways. We consider cases when the drive is really active as a virtual device, but the image file did not open. To delete an unnecessary drive (and at the same time all the others, if there are several of them displayed), you can use the subst command, which is written in the Run menu. If you don’t like this option, you can run the corresponding executable file in the System32 directory.
An equally simple solution is to use the Windows search engine. The name of the command is entered in the field, after which it remains only to click on the result to execute the command (there will be a request for execution under it).
Alcohol program 120%
If we talk about removing a virtual drive using third-party programs, by and large, absolutely all applications created for working with image files and capable of emulating ordinary disk drives are suitable for this.
So, for example, in the Alcohol 120% application, you must use the general settings section and select the virtual disks item in the left menu.
The main window will immediately indicate the number of drives installed in the system. All that remains is to set the desired value and save the changes (by and large, you can disable them all by setting the current value to “0”).
UltraISO App
It is also easy to get rid of the presence of an unnecessary virtual drive using the UltraISO utility, the actions in which are almost completely identical to those described above.
Only in this program, not the item is used, but the tab of virtual drives, where their required number is set.
DAEMON Tools Utility
Finally, you can disable one or more virtual drives using the DAEMON Tools application. The principle is the same. However, you can do even easier.
If the application is active or, say, it boots with the system, you can access the desired function directly from the system tray, where in the RMB menu there will also be a delete item for one or all drives created or present in Windows.
Note: on ordinary drives or on creating virtual drives when opening image files, such actions will not affect any of the programs described.
Brief summary
Which of the proposed solutions is the easiest to use? It seems quite obvious that the easiest way is to execute the subst command. But if you have a need for such virtual devices (in a strictly defined quantity) to remain in the system, it is better to use one of the above programs, since the system command disables all drives.