C drive missing from Disck Management

Run "regedit" and select the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/MountedDevices" folder. See what is listed in the right pane.

Hey SIW2 here is what I see:

System Reserved can be hidden only by removing its letter in Disk Mgmt. If the repair recovered the MBR into C then SysActive isn't being used anyway and can later be deleted once you confirm C is "System Active Boot" partition.

Follow SIW2's guidance to see if you can force C/D to show in Disk Mgmt.

If not, I would run sfc /scannow to check system file integrity, and then if necessary a Repair Install

how do I force the C and D drive to show up in disk management?

If anyone knows, it will be SIW2. If not, I'd run the System File Checker then if neccessary a Repair Install.

Are you logging errors in Event Viewer>Admin View which could be clues?
Almost all logged errors now get multiple Google results.

I really hope SIW can help.


What should I be looking for in the Event viewer?

Did you have the hidden 100mb system partition ?

If you are certain you didn't, open regedit, delete the mounted devices folder and reboot.


Caution:

Only do that if you do not have the 100mb partition , and if your win 7 installation declares itself as drive C.

SIW2 said:

Did you have the hidden 100mb system partition ?

If you are certain you didn't, open regedit, delete the mounted devices folder and reboot.


Caution:

Only do that if you do not have the 100mb partition , and if your win 7 installation declares itself as drive C.

I'm not sure I understand. The 100mb partition never use to be in my computer, BUT it was visible in Disk Mngmnt together with partitions C and D on the same HD. -How do I know win7 declares itself as drive C? -Is it "dangerous" if the HD is not showing in disk mngmnt?

The 100mb partition doesn't have a drive letter by default.

That is why it wasn't visible in computer view, but was visible in Disk. Mgmt.

That is normal.

If you had that - it is still there - you just can't see it.

Don't delete the mounted devices folder in that case.


Try a free partition manager - FREE PW Home Edition and see what it says.


Paragon PM or HDM would be very useful - they have a function to adjust drive letters in the registry ( from the boot cd ) - they are not free, though.

stomper said:

What should I be looking for in the Event viewer?

repeat errors.

It's always good to work them through by googling text to fully educate yourself about the issue, then try the fixes suggested.

stomper said:

I'm not sure I understand. The 100mb partition never use to be in my computer, BUT it was visible in Disk Mngmnt together with partitions C and D on the same HD. -How do I know win7 declares itself as drive C? -Is it "dangerous" if the HD is not showing in disk mngmnt?

Install Partition Wizard disk manager and post back a screenshot of its full drive map and listings. Use Snipping Tool in Start Menu, attach file using paper clip in reply box.

It is unusual to not have active HD showing in Disk Mgmt, but still have it functioning. We need to see which partition holds the "System Active Boot" designation to know if the SysReserved partition has been cut out of the boot manager.

For now, it having a drive letter or not is unimportant - it may have been changed when you did the Repair and recovered the MBR into C, which is my guess.

Let's see the screenshot and we can tell you for sure.