Solved Mystery Drive Q: shows in Explorer; can't access or delete

[richs]

My daughter has a VAIO computer given to her used. It's running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

Windows Explorer shows a drive Q: which I cannot access. That is, clicking on it brings up a dialog box saying "Q:/ is not accessible. Access is denied". This box comes up even if I open Explorer as an Administrator.

Right-clicking on it and selecting "Properties" brings up the usual window, but shows a blank name, indicates it is a "local disk", and has 0 bytes used space and 0 bytes free space. Selecting the Security Tab shows that the system is "unable to display current owner". Any attempt to change the current owner results in a box indicating that the system is "Unable to set new owner on System Disk (Q:\). Access is denied". This even though I opened Explorer as an Administrator.

Disk Management under Computer Management in Administrative Tools shows only a single hard drive (C:\ - the boot drive) and the CD-ROM drive. So the system does not associate Q:\ with any hard drive. In any case there is only a single hard drive in the laptop.

How can I eliminate this spurious Q:\ drive from showing up in Explorer? My daughter uses a utility program called TuneUp which is complaining that this drive needs attention because it is "full" and I'd like to clean this up for her.

 

[Britton30]

It may be from an external drive the previous owner had. With Tune Up Utilities got to System Control/Drives/Advanced, from there you should be able to select what drives show in Explorer. Uncheck Q;\ and reboot.

 

[richs]

Thanks, Britton. This covered up the first problem, that of having a mystery drive show up in WE, but still left the issue in TuneUp. I can ask TU to "hide" the problem indefinitely, to cover this up as well, but it seems that Windows still thinks there is a Q drive, and would of course not allow that drive letter to be used in the future. This is not a big problem to me but I am curious as to how to get Windows itself to forget this drive.
Thanks for the prompt response, and if you have any ideas about how to get W7 calmed down I'd be glad to have them.

 

[Neutron16]

There might be some software installed that uses the Application Virtualization (App-V) technology. Thus, having Q: (R: for some systems) drive is normal.
Microsoft Office Starter 2010 uses this technology for sure.

In case of Office Starter 2010 you might find this advice useful.

 

[Britton30]

This could be a flash card slot showing as a drive too, but they should be in alphabetical order.

 

[richs]

Hello all,

I tried to do a USB drive cleanup using a utility for that, and it worked but the Q drive returned at once. I then tried to delete the drive by editing the registry (system/mounted devices) but the deletion again did not "take" after reboot. I then read that it is created by Office 2010 "Click and Run" as suggested by Neutron16. As my daughter was given the computer I don't think she got the account for the Office and I don't think I can move to MSI mode.

So I am taking Britton's advice and using TuneUp Utilities to stop display of the Q drive, and hiding the (phony) problem of it being "full".

Thanks to all, I consider this problem solved now.

 

[Britton30]

Good to hear Richs, sorry we couldn't come up with a real "fix".

 

[gregrocker]

Is this the original factory install? Most tech enthusiasts would never run such a corrupt install which throttles Win7 native performance, but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

If not I'd at least Clean Up Factory Bloatware

 

[richs]

Hi Gregrocker,
I imagine it is an original install; as I said in my first post, the laptop was a gift to my daughter and I don't know the source. She did not get any OS disk with it, and I use W7 Pro, not Home Premium, so I didn't have a disk to do a clean install. She is only here for a couple of days on a visit and I didn't want to get into a complete reinstall in case I had problems finding the source of some of her programs. I did uninstall a number of suspicious programs she assured me she had no use for, and used msconfig to comb the startup list for useless entries. I would have uninstalled the offending MS Office but left it there in the end as the computer was running much faster after cleaning it up and she was in a hurry to get away at that point.
Thanks for the links to the instructions - I'm sure they'll be useful to me in the future.
Aloha from Maui, Hawaii

 

[gregrocker]

Hey Rich. Glad to know your daughter's PC is working fine. Let her know she can sign on here any time to get help with it.

Any time you need to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 or even Repair Install the installer for your licensed version is provided in the tutorial.

 

[AddRAM]

It`s a virtual drive, a program such as PowerIso will install it if you do not uncheck during the install. This issue is older than Windows 95. LOL.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I then read that it is created by Office 2010 "Click and Run" as suggested by Neutron16.

Yep, that was the cause. I thought you could uninstall the Click And Run portion of Office 2010, which would remove that drive but not the functionality of Office 2010, but I am not remembering well enough to be certain.

 

[gregrocker]

Often this is a trial version of Office that's never activated and should be uninstalled along with the other preinstalled crapware. Clean Up Factory Bloatware

Office now has a free web version with light advertising, or Open Office is always a good free compatible choice.

 

[richs]

Thanks to all for the help. I really appreciate it - and so did my daughter!

Aloha from Maui

richs

 

[Britton30]

You're welcome! Wish I was in Maui at the moment.

 

[gregrocker]

Restore my soul at Hookipa Beach!



Hike across the moon's surface for 2 days in Haleakala Crater



Come out the other side at the end of the Road to Hana!

 

[Britton30]

Nice thoughts Greg.