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How can I remove duplicate drive letters in Windows 11?

Anonymous
2023-02-15T02:26:18+00:00

I used to have my computer backing up to Drive E External which is a G-Drive Brand External Drive. After installing windows 11, I eventually noticed it was no longer showing in MY COMPUTER. Today I checked my backup software and noticed it is no longer backing up to that drive.

The way I found out about this is I stuck in a USB stick and noted it said Drive E - Lexar (Formerly my External Drive) and I thought that strange. Then I found out I I could not safely eject the USB stick and my software and discovered my software was in the process of backing up my entire computer onto that little stick so I halted that process. I then also noted that my drive E was listed twice in Microsoft Explorer.

When I put in a USB stick, they both change to the STICK NAME i.e. E - Lexar instead of E - G-Drive.

I looked into this and learned I could rename Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders{F5FB2C77-0E2F-4A16-A381-3E560C68BC83} to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders{F5FB2C77-0E2F-4A16-A381-3E560C68BC83}.old and that would solve the problem, but that is for Windows 10.

But then I found out I have two Namespace directories - NAMESPACE and NameSpace_36354489 and both contain multiple folders and a DELEGATE folder.

To complicate matters, my external drive is a G-Drive, so I really should have delegated that to G not E just to simplify. Can it be changed?

Any smart humans here that can guide me through a fix on this?

Addendum. I just plugged in the stick again and got this, so I will rename External G-Drive (E) to External G-Drive (G) for Clarity, but I still have it showing up twice.

UPDATE - I renamed the External Drive and now get this. The Registry still looks the same, 2ith two DELEGATE FOLDERS files so that seems to be the big problem.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-04-25T04:45:48+00:00

    It goes back to 2017. 😎

    how can I remove a duplicate drives in navigation pane - Microsoft Community

    Thank you fg2001. I think in Windows 11 there is no "More Details" section. Only "Details" but there doesn't appear to be any tabs there at all, such as a GENERAL tab, nor File/Windows Explorer entry.

    In case you did not yet figure it out, it is still the same with Windows 11. 😎

    The instructions in the old original link for windows 10 have the 32Bit and the 64Bit case reversed. 🤣😵‍💫

    On your original post you were looking in the wrong place WOW6432Node:

    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE*WOW6432Node*\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders{F5FB2C77-0E2F-4A16-A381-3E560C68BC83}

    In the original link on the last post, they were suggesting to modifying both locations for 32 and 64 bits, but I think they simply had the 32 and 64 bits reversed. 😎😵‍💫

    The one to change for 64bit Windows 10 or Windows 11 is this one:

    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders{F5FB2C77-0E2F-4A16-A381-3E560C68BC83}

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-02-15T02:55:12+00:00

    UPDATE - I renamed the External Drive and now get this. The Registry still looks the same, 2ith two DELEGATE FOLDERS files so that seems to be the big problem.

    AFAIK that's a flaw in Windows 11, external and USB drives show up twice in the navigation pane but only once under 'Devices and drives'

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-02-15T13:32:03+00:00

    Thank you Sibro. I tried both methods indicated at the link provided. Neither work on Windows 11. apparently. I don't see where the file actually installed the key into the Delegate folder, either. Oh, well, now that I know it is just an annoyance, I'll just deal with it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-02-15T05:17:36+00:00

    I researched a bit and this is an issue with Windows 10 as well, I totally forgot about it.

    Anyway, I found a workaround that works at Windows 11 Forum using their "Remove" registry patch.

    Add or Remove Duplicate Drives in Navigation Pane of File Explorer in Windows 11

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2023-02-15T03:10:35+00:00

    Thank you, Sibro, Is there a workaround? It really isn't ideal. It's confusing. Would this be a good time to fix that before Windows 11 goes mainstream?

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