Cannot access G drive

Question

I have not been able to access the G drive since the most recent update.

Answer 1

1

What type of drive is the G drive, is that an internal drive, or partition, or is it an external USB drive or USB flash drive?

2

Right click your Start Button and open Disk Management.

Expand the bottom pane in Disk Management so all drives and partitions are visible in that pane.

Please provide a screenshot of that Disk Management window.

Answer 2

The G drive may be unavailable either because Windows can no longer see the drive itself or because access permissions changed after the update.

Try these checks in order:

1. Confirm the drive is detected
   • Open File Explorer and check if G: appears at all.
   • If G: is an external USB/SD/UFS drive, make sure it has power and is firmly connected. If it’s on a network (for example, a mapped drive to a router or another PC), verify that device is powered on and connected to the network.
   • If the drive is network-based, confirm the PC still has a working network connection.
2. If G: is a removable or network drive
   • Unplug and reconnect the USB/SD device, or disconnect and remap the network drive.
   • For a mapped network drive, ensure the share still exists on the host and that the host PC is turned on and reachable.
3. If G: shows but “Access is denied”
   • This can happen if permissions or ownership on the drive root changed after an update.
   • For a non‑system drive, in File Explorer:
     1. Right‑click the G: drive → Properties.
     2. Go to the Security tab → Advanced.
     3. Open the Owner tab (or Owner field) → Edit.
     4. Change the owner to the current user account or an administrators group, then apply.
   • After taking ownership, ensure the account has Full control or at least Read/Write permissions on the drive.
4. If G: is a mounted volume and deletion fails with “Access is denied”
   • If the problem is specifically deleting folders on G: and they won’t go to Recycle Bin, use one of these workarounds:
     • Select the folders and press SHIFT+DELETE in File Explorer to bypass the Recycle Bin.
     • Or open Command Prompt as administrator and run:
       • rd /s /q G:\FolderName
     • These methods permanently delete the data, so ensure there is a backup if needed.

If none of these steps restore access, note whether G: is local, external, or networked, and what exact error message appears when trying to open it; that detail will narrow the next troubleshooting steps.

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References:

• Drive '<drivename>' not found
• Error message when you try to access the root of a drive after you leave HomeGroup in Windows 7 Release Candidate: "Access is denied."
• "Access Denied" When You Delete Folders from a Mounted Drive
• Error on a computer that has a USB device or SD card attached: This PC can't be upgraded to Windows 10