How To Hide and Reveal Drives in Windows File Explorer.

Windows automatically assigns letters to your drives and partitions. But there may be a situation where you don’t need a drive letter-for example, should you want to ‘hide’ a drive from other users of your PC. Or, if you’re using a dual-boot system, you can hide your other operating system partition so it doesn’t show up as a drive within File Explorer.

Hiding the entire Drive is a good practice if you want to hide many files from the users of your PC. You can put all your secret files together in a specific Drive and hide the entire drive. 

Hide Drive Using Command Prompt.

To do this, click on Start and search for cmd, right-click on the Command Prompt option shown as a search result, and click on ‘Run as administrator.

Now, use the ‘mountvol’ command, followed by the letter of the drive you want to hide, then the /d switch. For example, to hide a G drive, enter mountvol G: /d.

After this, press Enter, and your chosen drive will be hidden from File Explorer.

There are many different ways to hide the drive in Windows but you have to go through so many steps which we have done in just one step using Windows Command Prompt.

Reveal Hidden Drive in Windows.

You can also reverse the process using Windows’ Disk Management tool.

Right-click Start and select Disk Management, then scroll to the drive you need to reassign a letter to in the Volume list in the top pane.

Right-click it and select ‘Change Drive Letter and Paths’. (“New Volume” without any letter assigned to it is your Hidden Drive).

Click Add, select the letter you want from the drop-down list, then click OK.

Now you can see that hidden drive in your Windows File Explorer. You do this trick and keep your private files hidden from the other users of your PC. 

How To Turn any Folder into a Drive using Windows Command Prompt.

Windows only recognize partitions or physical drives as separate drives. However, using the ‘subst’ command you can turn any folder into a virtual drive that shows up with its own drive letter in File Explorer.

This is useful if, for example, you have a folder with specific types of files, such as pictures, or videos that you want to treat as a separate drive, for example. It also helps you to manage your files better in Windows PC.

To do this, type subst, followed by the drive letter you want to use, then the path of the folder. So typing subst G: C:\Users\Username\Videos (replace Username with your Windows account name) will create a virtual drive dedicated to hosting the contents of your Videos folder.  

If you want to remove the virtual drive, simply type subst, followed by the drive letter, then the /d switch-so, in my example above, typing subst G: /d will remove the virtual drive, but the contents will remain intact in its original location (C:\Users\Username\Pictures in this case).

How To Open Your WiFi Router’s Settings .

There are so many changes that you can make through router’s settings like changing your network name, changing network password, creating a guest network, changing security settings, and many other options.

The process for accessing your router’s settings is the same for most makes and models, but there are some exceptions. In most cases, you just type the relevant router-settings address (or the router’s IP address) in your web browser. This can usually be found somewhere on the router itself (check the underside) or in the manual.

Find the Router’s IP Address.

192.168.1.1 is the IP address of most of the routers but it is not the same for all. You can confirm your router’s IP address using Windows Command Prompt.

Press Windows key, type cmd in the search box, and press Enter. Inside Command Prompt Window, type ipconfig and press Enter.

Scroll through the result until you find an entry named ‘Default Gateway’ and the number listed next to it is your router’s IP address.   

You can try connecting to your router via HTTPS rather than HTTP (https://192.x.x.x.) because this is more secure, but you may find the protocol isn’t supported by less security-conscious manufacturers.

Find Wi-Fi Router’s Password. 

The username and password you need to log in should be printed there on the router itself unless you’ve already changed these details.

If you have never changed the router’s login detail, they will be ‘admin’ for username and ‘admin’ for a password. These are the default username and passwords for all routers but you should change the default admin password of your router.

If you are not going to change the default password, then someone can easily walk up to your router settings and can access your personal information without you knowing about it.

Suppose, In case, you have changed the router default password and now you don't remember your WiFi router password then you can refer to my blog post on how to recover forgotten WiFi passwords. In that post, I have explained how you can check your wireless network name and recover your password using Windows Command Prompt.

Different Router’s IP Address example.

For example, the address for Virgin Media’s Super Hub is http://192.168.0.1 or 192.168.100.1, if you’re using Modem Mode). You’ll find detailed instructions for it at bit.ly/vhub468.

For BT’s Smart Hubs, the address is 192.168.0.1, and TalkTalk’s Wi-Fi Hub settings can be accessed at 192.168.1.1.

Some standard IP addresses are:

• Apple: 10.0.1.1
• ASUS: 192.168.1.1
• Belkin: 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1
• D-Link: 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1
• Linksys: 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1
• Netgear: 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.0.227