Windows 10

Windows 11 FAQ

Windows 11 Disks

1. How do I partition and format disks in Windows 11?

When you first install Windows 11, as part of the setup process, there is a Drive Setup screen which will allow you to create and format one or more partitions which you can install Windows on and others for data etc. In Windows itself, you can use the Disk Management snap-in (diskmgmt.msc) to partition, format, expand or shrink disks. Windows 11 requires the hard drive to be setup with Guid Partition Table (GPT) and UEFI enabled (see BIOS) with any legacy BIOS support disabled e.g. CSM Support.   

Disk management

Here there is a 100MB EFI system parition, a 151GB system parition and a 600MB Recovery Paritition.
Old style MBR disks has a 50MB System Reserved partition, a Windows system partition, 516MB recovery partition and possibly some extra data partition(s).

Here's an example dialog for shrinking D: drive by 50 GB:

Shrink drive

2. I have Windows 11 installed, but i need to reformat C:?

You cannot format C: while Windows is running. You can boot from the Windows 11 DVD or USB drive, use use the Drive Setup screen to delete and create new partitions for you. To boot from CD, you need to change the disk boot sequence in the BIOS (accessible when you first power up your PC) and make the CD/DVD ROM or USB drive first in sequence. If you do not have Windows 11 DVD, try your old Windows 10 DVD  (use Diskpart tool from Command prompt), a bootable Partition Manager or a GParted disc.

a) Boot from Windows DVD, select Repair Computer, Troubleshooting command prompt. Use following commands to remove all partitions and convert a MBR disk to GPT.

b) Enter DiskPart command.

c) LIST DISK.
d) SELECT DISK 0.
e) LIST PARTITION
f) SELECT PARTITION number then DELETE.  If unable to delete, run FORMAT to clear partition and then DELETE.  
g) Alternatively, use CLEAN to remove all paritions  
h) Type UNIQUEID to view id of disk, if its a short number it is using MBR, if a long string then its GPT.
i) If its a MBR disk, enter CONVERT GPT.
j) Type EXIT 

k) Shutdown PC. Reboot to begin re-installation of Windows. 

 

3. How do I use the built in CD/DVD Burning software?

Windows 10 has a built in CD/DVD Burning Engine installed. Which will allow you to burn music, video or data to CDs. It cannot be used to copy CDs or write to CDs as a big floppy which requires CDRW Packet software like DirectCD or burn to DVDs. Please purchase Roxio Creator or later or Nero Suite. To use Window's burner, you need to enable the CD/DVD Burning software via the properties of your CD/DVD-R drive in Explorer. Then in an Explorer window, you can select the files and folders you need to copy and copy them to the CD/DVD-R's dirve. When you have copied all the files you need to copy, select 'Burn to disc'. If you do not want to write these files, then select 'Delete temporary files'. For music, you can use Windows Media Player to read/write music to/from CD. More info is available in Help and Support pages.

4. I have added a new disk but it does not show in Explorer?

You need to partition and assign a drive letter before it will appear in Explorer. Open Disk Management and on the Action menu select Rescan Disks. If a disk is show but options are greyed out, then select Initialise disk to write signature to the disk so Windows can use it. Then you can use Change Drive Letter and Paths to assign a drive letter to your new drive or partition.. The disk will then appear in Explorer.

5. Can I backup my files to CD-R or DVD-R?

You can use free backup or burn tools to backup files to CD or DVD-R disks such as Burn Aware, Nero Backitup etc

6. Can I use other backup software other than the one in Windows 11?

Yes, try the many third party backup programs such as Retrospect, Ghost , Acronis True Image , Nero BackItUp or free backup tools from TechRadar.

7. I cannot read CD/DVD-RW discs in Windows 11?

You need to have a UDF reader/writer program such as the latest UDF packet writers supplied with Nero or Roxio Easy Media Creator tools.
Nero's InCD Reader is available for free for computers that do not have the Nero Suite installed.

8. I have added a new disk but its moved the driver letters around?

Windows will always allocate drive letters for Primary Partitions and some removable drivers before Extended partitions. So, I you have a hard disk with 1 primary and 1 extended partition (C:, D:), and add a second disk with a primary partition, the exended partition on the first partition will be moved up to a different letter (E:). Drive letters can be changed back using the Disk Management Administrative Tool.

a) Open Disk Management console.
b) Right click the disk or partition, select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
c) Click on Change button.
d) For 'Assign the following drive letter', select the new drive letter (A-Z) from the list.
e) Click OK
f) Click OK

9. I have a new hard disk, but it will only recognised xxGB of disk space?

This can be due to a limitation in the BIOS, you need to either change the Access Mode to LBA (Logical Block Addressing) 48 bit mode so that it can recognise drives over 137Gb, in the Standard CMOS Features screen. You should either upgrade the BIOS with a firmware update or buy a seperate IDE controller with 48 bit LBA functionality. More info on this is at 48 bit LBA wikipedia website.

10. Which file system should I format my hard disk with?

There are three filesystems: FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS. Windows can handle all three and you can use different file systems on the same or different disks if you wish. If you are formatting drives over 32Gb in size then I suggest you use NTFS or exFAT (for portability). Use FAT32 only if you are dual-booting with older versions of Windows. NTFS also supports File and Folder Security, Compressed files and folders and on Business editions you can use EFS (Encrypted File System) as well. The FAT format is usually used on floppy disks.

To convert a FAT32 volume to NTFS, use the convert command e.g. convert C: /FS:NTFS.

11. I have inserted a CD or DVD but it will not autorun?

You can change the autoplay settings via Start, Default Programs, Change AutoPlay settings.

12. I have inserted a blank CDR/CDRW or DVD disc but its not recognised?

If it says something like ' Unable to access the disk in drive D: Please make sure the drive is ready and the disk is not write-protected.' then your system does not have any Packet writing (UdF/CDRW) software installed. You must save your files to the Hard disc and then Burn the files to CD using Window's built in CD burning software. Note that Windows XP cannot burn to DVD discs either, you need third party software such as Easy Media Creator or Nero .
In some cases, if a new CD is inserted and the drive will not recognise it, then a Firmware update is required to update the software in the drive itself.

13. How do I convert my old MBR disk to GPT disk?

If you have a single partition with NO extended partitions you can use the mbr2gpt command to convert from MBR to GPT (Guid partition table). Otherwise you would be better off backing up the entire disk, boot from Windows disk into command prompt and run DiskPart and delete all the partitions using the Delee Partition n or    Clean command before coverting it to GPT by running Convert GPT.
To create a EFI partition use DiskPart to select a disk, then enter Create Partition EFI, then Format quick fs=fat32 to prepare it for Windows 11.

You can use the Bootsect tool in Windows 11 to fix the bootsector and master boot code.
The BCDboot and BCDEdit commands can repair and update the Boot files.

14. How do I do Disk Management from the command line?

If you need to do disk management, such as from the Recovery Console, then use the DiskPart command and you can do things such as Rescan, Add, Delete, Shrink or Expand partitions and so on.

15. How do I protect sensitive files and folders?

Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise comes with the EFS (Encrypted File System) and you can encrypt files so that only you can read them with your Private Key. To do this, open the properties of the file or folder and select Advanced and tick the box for Encrypt contents to secure data.If you are using encryption a lot, then I suggest you backup your Private key via the Certificates administrative tool (or run certmgr.msc).
If you have Home edition, then you need a third party tool.

16. How do I defragment my Hard disk?

Open Explorer, expand Computer, select a disk and click Properties, Tools and then select Defragment Now. Windows 10, now automatically defrags your hard disk for you, click on Defragment Now to see the schedule. Alternatively you can use the defrag.exe command line tool to defrag your hard disk and can be used to schedule defrags as well. Some open files, such as pagefiles, cannot be deframented.

Alternative Defragging programs include Norton 360 aka Norton Utilities , Defraggler and Auslogics Disk Defrag.

17. How do I create bootable CD or DVD disks?

Windows CD Recording software cannot create such disks, you will need a third party CD burning application such as Nero Burning Rom or Roxio Creative suite. This will allow you to read a floppy disk with the boot files on it and the CDROM drivers and allow you to boot CD or DVD disks. See instructions supplied with the application on how to do this.

18. How can I create ISO files or burn an ISO to CD/DVD?

A lot of CD/DVD software including Nero, Roxio Creator, Ashampoo Burning Studio will have that capability. But if you do not have those products then you can try the ImgBurn tool. To recover disks try ISOBuster.

19. How do I mount ISO disks on my desktop?

Windows 10 can mount ISO files for you by selecting the ISO file and select Mount and it will show up in Explorer.

20. Can I play DVD or Blu-ray movies on my DVD or Blu-ray drive?

Windows Media Player and Media Center can play most home made DVD or Blu-ray media but for commercial films you need third party tools to read the encrypted media. Programs include PowerDVD, WinDVD , VLC Player with additional libraries and Nero Blu-Ray Player (Nero Premium) and others to play them. If you have problems playing Blu-Ray discs, check for HDCP compliance for your PC and software using tools such as Cyberlink's BD & 3D Advisor tools.

Also, check your PC has upto date Graphics/Video drivers, a HD display with a DVI or HDMI connection, fast CPU and a Blu-Ray Player/Recorder device.

21. How do I format USB Drives?

Insert the USB drive into an available USB port, which are usually at the front and/or back or side of the PC. Windows will try to automount it so it will be visible on Windows Explorer. You can right click the drive and select Format.
If it is not visible, open Disk Management tool via the Start menu and once the drive appears, you can try formatting it.

 

Windows Explorer