How do I prevent a disk partition from being shown in Windows Explorer?

Question

Assuming I have a 100GB drive and I want to put reinstallation software using 1GB. I would like that 1GB to he hidden - not from users but from the OS. Assuming Windows XP and later. Is there a series of API calls I can use to do that? What other techniques are there to 'hide' a portion of a hard drive?

Answer 1

Simply assign the hidden flag to that partition. gparted does that quite well.

Alternately change its type to compaq diag.

Answer 2

If it is GPT style disk, you can change GPT type GUID to OEM GUID. That will make that partition hidden from all the disk tools (Explorer, Disk Mgr etc).

Answer 3

From the first google search for "hide a drive in Windows"

How to hide a drive in Windows XP:

1. Click Start -> Run type regedit in the box and click OK

2. Navigate to:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\ Explorer 

3. From the menu, navigate to Edit -> New -> DWORD Value

4. Name the New Value NoDrives
5. Next, Right click NoDrives and select Modify, now check the Decimal option and under Value Data enter a decimal value for the drive you would like to hide. For example to hide C you would enter 4. See the list below for more values: * A=1 * B=2 * C=4 * D=8 * E=16 * F=32 * G=64 * H=128 * I=256