Remove Drive Letter for Encrypted Partition

I created a TrueCrypt partition on my machine that is assigned a letter when mounted through TrueCrypt. Through this drive letter TrueCrypt gives access to the files as if they were on any other drive, performing the encryption and decryption behind the scenes.

However, the encrypted partition itself is also recognized by windows and is given its own drive letter. Windows sees the partition and thinks it is unformatted and gives you the option to format it. I’d rather this “unformatted” partition not show up in Windows Explorer at all.

To get rid of this drive letter do the following: (This is for Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7 may be slightly different. If they are VERY different, email me or leave a comment with the correct procedure and I’ll update this post.)

1. Right-click “My Computer” and select Manage.
2. Select “Disk Management”.
3. Right-click the encrypted partitionand select “Change Drive Letter and Paths…”
4. Click Remove.
5. Click Yes to confirm.