dismount a volume in Windows 11 and mount it back

Today I will explain to you How to unmount a volume in Windows 11 and mount it again?

In this tutorial, we will show you how to unmount a volume in Windows 11/10 and remount it. When a logical drive or volume is mounted, we can access its files and folders and other data in the Windows operating system. By default, Windows automatically mounts a new drive or volume by assigning it a drive letter. A unique volume GUID (a 36-character hexadecimal number) is also assigned to easily identify the volume even if the drive letter is not assigned. Those who do not want Windows to automatically mount new drives can unmount a volume with a few simple steps.

How to unmount a volume in Windows 11 and mount it again?

What happens if you unmount a volume?

Once you unmount a volume (a hard drive volume, USB drive volume, etc.), Windows removes the volume mount point for that volume. The drive becomes inaccessible as the volume's file system is not available for reading and writing. The drive letter also becomes unassigned, so it can be used by another volume. However, your data remains safe. You can manually mount a volume when needed and you will have access to all the data again.

How to unmount a volume in Windows 11 and remount it?

There are two native options to unmount or unmount a volume in Windows 11 and remount it when needed. These are:

Unmount a volume in Windows 11 using Disk Management utility

Unmount a volume in Windows 11 using Windows Terminal.

Let's look at both the options.

1] Unmount a volume in Windows 11 using Disk Management utility

Disk Management is a system utility to create partitions, mount and unmount a drive, convert an MBR disk to GPT, and more. The steps to unmount a volume using the Disk Management tool are as follows:

Open the Disk Management tool and you will see a list of volumes in its interface

Right-click on a disk or volume

Click on the Change Drive Letter and Paths option. A small box will appear

Click the Remove button

A Disk Management confirmation box will open

Press the Yes button to confirm that you want to unmount the volume.

Now you won't see that volume in the This PC section, the File Explorer navigation pane, etc.

Mount an unmounted volume using the Disk Management utility

Here are the steps:

Connect the unmounted volume

Launch the Disk Management utility

Right-click on the unmounted volume

Select the Change drive letter and paths option

Press the Add button in the box that appears

An Add drive letter or path box will open

Select the Assign the following drive letter option and use the drop-down menu to select a letter. If the last assigned letter is available, you can select it. Otherwise, choose a different drive letter. Here, you also have the option to mount the drive as a Folder. But, to mount the volume with a drive letter, you must use the first option

Press the OK button.

2] Unmount a Volume in Windows 11 Using Windows Terminal

Use the following steps to unmount a volume in Windows 11 using Windows Terminal:

Connect the volume or drive

Open Windows Terminal as an administrator. Right-click on the Start button and select the Terminal (Admin) option

Launch a Command Prompt profile in a new tab

Now, we will run a command that will include:

mountvol command: which creates, lists, or deletes the volume mount point

The letter of the drive or volume that we need to unmount and

The /P parameter which removes the volume mount point from the specified directory, disconnects the basic disk, and makes it unmountable. So, let’s say you want to unmount a drive H. The command is:

mountvol H: /P

Remember to replace H: with the current drive letter. The drive will be unmounted successfully.

Mount a Volume in Windows 11 Using Windows Terminal

As we mentioned at the beginning, a volume GUID (or unique volume name) is assigned to each mounted volume. Even if a volume is unmounted, the volume GUID helps in remounting the drive. So, we will use the volume GUID and the mountvol command in Windows Terminal to mount the drive along with a drive letter. Here are the steps:

Connect the unmounted volume

Start a Windows Terminal with elevated privileges

Open a Command Prompt profile

Run the mountvol command. This will display the volume GUIDs per disk along with the volume letter

Look for a volume with the text *** NO MOUNT POINTS *** or *** NOT MOUNTABLE UNTIL A VOLUME MOUNT POINT IS CREATED ***. This is the unmounted volume. Copy the GUID of this volume. Now, there is a problem. Multiple volumes (such as the recovery partition, EFI system partition, etc.) could have the same text.In that case, it is difficult to identify the exact volume you need to remount. To avoid this situation, you need to be proactive and copy the drive GUID before the unmounting process using the mountvol command

Now, to remount the drive, run the command with mountvol, a drive letter (for example, H), and the volume GUID. The command would be:

Mountvol H: ?Volume{8b9d896f-0c6d-11ef-b3d3-40b03400db19}

That's it!

Do you want to force a dismount on this volume?

When you use the CHKDSK command with the /f or /r parameter for a volumeIf the volume is in use and I use it, you may receive this message:

Chkdsk cannot be run because another process is using the volume. Chkdsk can be run if this volume is unmounted first. ALL OPEN DRIVERS FOR THIS VOLUME WOULD BE INVALID. Do you want to force an unmount on this volume? (Y/N)

If you press Y, you will be able to continue. It will first unmount the volume (making it inaccessible), examine the basic file system structure, etc., and complete the file system scan.

Once the process is complete, the volume will be ready to use again.

How to dismount a volume in Windows 11 and mount it back?