The essentials
Quick reference
One focused task per row. Jump to the related section for complete, working examples.
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| List volumes | list volume | View examples |
| Select a volume | select volume 7 | View examples |
| Show all volume paths | detail volume | View examples |
| Assign a drive letter | assign letter=R | View examples |
| Assign the next free letter | assign | View examples |
| Remove a drive letter | remove letter=R | View examples |
| Assign a folder mount point | assign mount=C:\Mounts\Archive | View examples |
| Remove a folder mount point | remove mount=C:\Mounts\Archive | View examples |
| Remove every path | remove all | View examples |
| Show automount state | automount | View examples |
| Enable automount | automount enable | View examples |
| Disable automount | automount disable | View examples |
| Scrub stale mount data | automount scrub | View examples |
| Suppress a default letter | attributes volume set nodefaultdriveletter | View examples |
| Allow a default letter | attributes volume clear nodefaultdriveletter | View examples |
| Verify final paths | detail volume | View examples |
Drive letters and folder mount points are names for volumes, not volume identity. Changing either can break applications, services, shares, scheduled tasks, backup policies, and user shortcuts even when the filesystem remains intact. Resolve the selected volume to its disk and partition, inventory every current path, coordinate consumers, and verify the new path before removing the old one.
Step by step
Detailed examples
Identify the volume independently of its path
Letters can be reassigned and labels can be duplicated. Match volume number with unique identity where available, disk, partition, filesystem, size, label, and application owner. Detail volume shows paths and related disk information. Capture this output before changes so rollback restores the exact previous paths.
list volume
select volume 7
detail volume
attributes volume
rem Stop if disk, partition, size, filesystem, or owner is unexpected.Coordinate every drive-letter change
Assign fails if the requested letter is occupied. Windows also restricts letters on system, boot, paging, OEM, and non-basic-data GPT partitions. Before removal, search services, shares, tasks, applications, scripts, and backup jobs for the old path. Keeping old and new paths temporarily can simplify migration when the workload permits it.
select volume 7
detail volume
assign letter=R
detail volume
exit
Test-Path R:\Use empty NTFS or ReFS folders as mount points
The host folder must already exist, be empty, and reside on an NTFS or ReFS volume. A folder mount point avoids consuming a drive letter but inherits availability dependencies from both the host volume and mounted volume. Removing the mount point does not erase the mounted data; remove all is broader and can disconnect every path.
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path C:\Mounts\Archive -Force
Get-ChildItem -Force C:\Mounts\Archiveselect volume 7
detail volume
assign mount=C:\Mounts\Archive
detail volumeTreat automount as a system-wide policy
Automount affects newly discovered basic volumes, not just the selected volume. Disabling it can be appropriate for imaging, forensics, or controlled server storage, but can surprise operators and automation. Scrub removes stale mount metadata for volumes no longer present; it is not a general cleanup command for active mounts. Record the prior state before changing it.
automount
list volume
rem Change policy only under a host-wide storage standard.Use volume attributes for persistent intent
The nodefaultdriveletter attribute prevents normal automatic letter assignment on supported basic GPT volumes. It does not hide data from administrators, enforce security, or remove an already assigned path. Pair it with explicit path removal only after verifying the volume type and consumer impact.
select volume 7
detail volume
attributes volume
attributes volume set nodefaultdriveletter
attributes volumeTest paths and consumers before closing the change
Repeat detail volume and list volume, then test the filesystem path, expected permissions, service startup, shares, backups, monitoring, and application access. When migrating a path, verify the new path first and retain a documented reversal command. A successful assign or remove only proves the mount-manager change was accepted.
detail volume
list volume
exit
Get-Item C:\Mounts\Archive
Get-ChildItem C:\Mounts\Archive -Force | Select-Object -First 10Sources and further reading
References
Authoritative documentation used to verify and expand this cheat sheet.
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