Mount point folder paths let you use a drive as if it were a regular folder, making storage management more flexible. This article shows you how to assign a mount point folder path to a drive in Windows and Windows Server, using either Disk Management, the command line, or PowerShell. Also learn how to remove a mount point and review important considerations before you start.
Prerequisites
Before you mount a drive in a folder, make sure that you have the following prerequisites:
Administrator permissions to open Disk Management or Windows PowerShell with elevated permissions. If you don't have administrator permissions, you can ask a member of the Administrators group to mount the drive for you.
You must be a member of the Backup Operators or Administrators group to mount a drive or remove a mount point.
An empty folder on an NTFS or ReFS drive. You need to create a new empty folder to store the mounted drive. The folder can be on a basic or dynamic disk.
A volume formatted with NTFS or ReFS. You can mount a drive in a folder only if the volume is formatted with the NTFS or ReFS file system. If the volume is formatted with a different file system, you must first move or back up the files on the volume, and then reformat the volume with the NTFS or ReFS file system.
Mount a drive in an empty folder
You can mount a drive in an empty folder using Disk Management, the command line, or PowerShell.
Select the method that you prefer to use:
Select and hold (or right-click) the Start button, and then select Disk Management.
If you can't open Disk Management, in the search box on the taskbar, enter diskmgmt.msc. Select and hold (or right-click) diskmgmt.msc, and then select Run as administrator.
Choose the partition or volume that has the folder you want to mount the drive.
Go to Action > All Tasks > Change Drive Letter and Paths, then choose Add.
Select Mount in the following empty NTFS folder option.
Select the Browse button to locate the folder.
After you select the folder, choose select OK.
Select OK in the Change Drive Letter and Paths dialog box to finish.
You can also mount a drive in an empty folder using the command line with the diskpart utility.
To help you navigate the steps, here are terms used by diskpart:
| Term |
Description |
| list volume |
Displays a list of basic and dynamic volumes on all disks. |
| select volume |
Selects the specified volume, where volumenumber is the volume number, and gives it focus. If you don't specify a volume, the select command lists the current volume with focus. You can specify the volume by number, drive letter, or mount point folder path. On a basic disk, selecting a volume also gives the corresponding partition focus. |
| assign |
Assigns a drive letter or mount point folder path to the volume with focus. If you don't specify a drive letter or mount point folder path, the next available drive letter is assigned. If the drive letter or mount point folder path is already in use, an error generates.
Using the assign command, you can change the drive letter associated with a removable drive.
You can't assign drive letters to boot volumes, or volumes that contain the paging file. Also, you can't assign a drive letter to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partition, EFI system partition, or any GPT partition other than a basic data partition. |
| mount= path |
Specifies an empty, existing NTFS folder where the mounted drive resides. |
To mount a drive in a folder using the command line, follow these steps:
Open a command prompt and type diskpart.
At the DISKPART prompt, type list volume, and select Enter. Make note of the volume number of the drive you want to mount to the folder.
At the DISKPART prompt, type select volume <volumenumber>, and select Enter. Make sure to specify the volume number in the command.
For example: select volume 5
At the DISKPART prompt, type assign mount=<path>, and select Enter. Make sure to specify the full path in the command.
For example: assign mount="C:\Demo Drive"
To mount a drive in an empty folder using PowerShell, follow these steps:
In the search box on the taskbar, enter Windows PowerShell.
Select and hold (or right-click) Windows PowerShell, and then select Run as administrator.
Get the disk number of the drive you want to mount using the Get-Disk cmdlet to list all disks and their properties.
Get-Disk
Get the partition number of the drive you want to mount using the Get-Partition cmdlet to list all partitions on a specific disk. Replace <disknumber> with the actual disk number you found in the previous step.
Get-Partition -DiskNumber <disknumber>
Add the mount point folder path using the Add-PartitionAccessPath cmdlet. Replace <disknumber> and <partitionnumber> with the actual disk and partition numbers you found in the previous step.
# Variable specifies the path to the empty folder where you want to mount the drive
$mount_path = "C:\Demo Drive"
# Mount the drive in the specified folder
Add-PartitionAccessPath -DiskNumber <disknumber> -PartitionNumber <partitionnumber> -AccessPath $mount_path
Tip
To modify a mount point folder path, remove it using the step in the following section, and then create a new folder path using the new ___location. You can't modify the existing mount point folder path.
If you're using Failover Cluster, use Event Viewer to check the System log for any Cluster service errors or warnings indicating mount point folder path failures. These errors display as ClusSvc in the Source column and Physical Disk Resource in the Category column.
Remove a mount point
To remove the mount point so that the drive is no longer accessible through a folder, select the method that you prefer to use:
To remove a mount point folder path using Disk Management, follow these steps:
Open Disk Management. In the search box on the taskbar, enter Computer Management, and select Disk Management
Select the View menu, and then select Drive Paths.
Select the drive path from the list, and then choose Remove.
To remove a mount point folder path using the command line, follow these steps:
Open a command prompt and type diskpart.
At the DISKPART prompt, type list volume, and select Enter. Make note of the volume number of the drive you want to remove the mount point from.
At the DISKPART prompt, type select volume <volumenumber>, and select Enter. Make sure to specify the volume number in the command.
For example: select volume 5
At the DISKPART prompt, type remove mount=<path>, and select Enter. Make sure to specify the full path in the command.
For example: remove mount="C:\Demo Drive"
To remove a mount point folder path using PowerShell, follow these steps:
In the search box on the taskbar, enter Windows PowerShell.
Select and hold (or right-click) Windows PowerShell, and then select Run as administrator.
Get the disk number of the drive you want to remove the mount point from using the Get-Disk cmdlet to list all disks and their properties.
Get-Disk
Get the partition number of the drive you want to remove the mount point from using the Get-Partition cmdlet to list all partitions on a specific disk. Replace <disknumber> with the actual disk number you found in the previous step.
Get-Partition -DiskNumber <disknumber>
Remove the mount point folder path using the Remove-PartitionAccessPath cmdlet. Replace <disknumber> and <partitionnumber> with the actual disk and partition numbers you found in the previous step.
# Variable specifies the path to the empty folder where the drive is mounted
$mount_path = "C:\Demo Drive"
# Remove the mount point folder path
Remove-PartitionAccessPath -DiskNumber <disknumber> -PartitionNumber <partitionnumber> -AccessPath $mount_path