Windows 7 - Drive not showing in My Computer

Hello everybody

I'm new to Windows 7 (Ultimate) and like to have a machine that runs nice and fast with no unessential items running in the background. Last night I did a bit of tweaking (mostly in gpedit.msc) and went a step too far, but I'm not sure which step I need to undo and haven't been able to find a solution in a 4 hour google session.

When I click on My Computer, the cupboard is bare. I have a 500gb drive partitioned into C:\ and D:\ and a DVD drive E:\. The right pane is empty, and when I plug in a USB drive it doesn't show either. When I click on libraries, I can manually enter C:\ or D:\ in the address bar but it's a bit inconvenient. I usually use Total Commander rather than Windows explorer, but it's been difficult to set up my downloads location etc as they don't appear in the available options. In device manager the disk is showing.

Self inflicted, I know, but I would be very grateful if anyone could come up with a (probably simple and I'm just missing it) solution.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Have you considered a System Restore to a time prior to your tweaking?

It isn't foolproof, but not far from it in my experience.

If System Restore doesn't work, then you'll need a Repair Install.

Windows 7 will not tolerate tweaking like this beyond normal system settings. It will always come back to bite you.

Hmm, seems like a rub it out and start again. Shame really, because I've got everything working very well apart from this one little problem.

I had feared that this may have been the answer. Thanks for confirming. Next time, I'll keep on re-booting and checking when I tweak to try and identify the culprit.

Thanks again.

As gregrocker said Windows 7 does it's own tweaking for optimal performance, and if left alone will give no problems.

Hello konini, welcome to Seven Forums!



It really is foolish to tweak Windows 7 as it does not need it and as has been said, it will get you in the end; you would probably be better off with a clean install and the best way to go about that is to wipe (secure erase) the Hard Disk Drive, have a look at the info below.

Be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

   Information

After you have made backups of everything you care to save and you want to do a real wipe "clean all" to the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) have a look at this tutorial at the link below, it over-writes everything, all the old Windows code including all the old Windows drivers, giving you the best possible space to install Windows 7 to; it goes hand-in-hand with a clean install.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7

Other tips for getting a purrfect reinstall: re-install windows 7