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Please log in with your username or email to continue. Facebook Google wikiHow Account No account yet? Create an account Browse Articles Quizzes & Games All Quizzes Hot Community Quizzes Personality Quizzes Dating Simulator Learn Something New Support wikiHow Log in / Sign up Computers and Electronics Operating Systems Last Updated: June 25, 2026 Fact Checked Power User Menu Taskbar Search Bar Custom Shortcut Disk Management Tips This article was reviewed by Stan Kats and by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Dillon . Stan Kats is a Professional Technologist and the COO and Chief Technologist for The STG IT Consulting Group in West Hollywood, California. Stan provides comprehensive technology solutions to businesses through managed IT services, and for individuals through his consumer service business, Stan's Tech Garage. Stan holds a BA in International Relations from The University of Southern California. He began his career working in the Fortune 500 IT world. Stan founded his companies to offer an enterprise-level of expertise for small businesses and individuals. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 20,995 times. Disk Management is a tool used in Windows to, well, manage your disks. You can use Disk Management to partition and format hard drives, change drive letters, and much more. In this article, we'll teach you 7 quick and easy ways to open Disk Management on your Windows PC. Read on to learn more! Ways to Open Disk Management The fastest and easiest way to open Disk Management is by right-clicking the Windows menu in your taskbar and choosing Disk Management . Otherwise, you can open it with the taskbar search bar, Control Panel, Run, the command line, Task Manager, or a custom shortcut. Using the Power User Menu 1 Right-click the Windows Start menu in your taskbar. For Windows 11 users, this will be near the middle of your taskbar. For Windows 10 users, this option is in the bottom-left corner of the screen. #*You can also open the Power User menu by pressing Windows key + X . 2 Click Disk Management . It's in the top section of the menu. Once you click this option, Disk Management will open. [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source Using the Taskbar Search Bar 1 Type disk management in the taskbar search bar. For Windows 11 users, this will be near the middle of your taskbar. For Windows 10 users, this option is near the bottom-left corner of the screen. If you don't see the search bar, press the Windows key first. If you don't see the search bar, press the Windows key first. 2 Click Disk Management in the Start menu. Once you search for Disk Management, it will appear in the Start menu. Click it to open the program. Using the Control Panel 1 Open the Control Panel. To do this, search "control panel" in the taskbar search bar, then click Control Panel in the Start menu that pops up. 2 Click System and Security . It's the first option in Control Panel, and it has an icon of a shield and a pie chart. 3 Click Windows Tools . If you're on Windows 10, you'll see Administrative Tools instead. 4 Double-click Computer Management . This option is near the top of the window, and it has an icon of a computer with a toolbox in front of it. 5 Click Disk Management in the left-hand sidebar. Under the "Storage" header, you'll see the option for Disk Management . [2] X Research source Using the Run Dialog 1 Press ⊞ Win + R . This will open the Run dialog. 2 Type diskmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter . This will run the command to open Disk Management, and the program will open as soon as you press the ↵ Enter button. Using the Command Line 1 Open a command line interface. You can open Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt (cmd), whichever you prefer. Type the name of the command line into the taskbar search bar to look for it, then click on it in the Start menu to open it. You can also right-click on the Windows icon in your taskbar and click Terminal on Windows 11, or Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell on Windows 10. Type the name of the command line into the taskbar search bar to look for it, then click on it in the Start menu to open it. You can also right-click on the Windows icon in your taskbar and click Terminal on Windows 11, or Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell on Windows 10.

2 Type diskmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter . This will run the command to open Disk Management, and the program will open as soon as you press the ↵ Enter button. Using Task Manager 1 Press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + Esc . This will open the Task Manager . You can also press Ctrl + Alt + Del and click Task Manager , or you can right-click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager . 2 Click Run new task . This button is at the top of the window, across from the header that says "Processes." 3 Type diskmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter . This will instruct Task Manager to open a new Disk Management task, and the program will open as soon as you press the ↵ Enter button. Creating a Shortcut 1 Right-click on an empty space on your desktop. If you open Disk Management often and want a simple way to open it without needing to do anything other than click, you can create a custom shortcut to open it for you. 2 Hover the New option. This will open a pop-out contextual menu. 3 Choose Shortcut . It's near the top of the menu, below the Folder option. 4 Type diskmgmt.msc in the field. Under the label "Type the location of the item," you'll see a text field. This is where you'll enter "diskmgmt.msc." Click Next to move to the next page of the wizard. Click Next to move to the next page of the wizard. 5 Give the shortcut a name. By default, it'll be named "diskmgmt.msc." However, you can change the name to whatever you want. We recommend naming it something simple and easy to remember, like "Disk Management." Click Finish to create the shortcut. Click Finish to create the shortcut. 6 Double-click the shortcut you made to open Disk Management. If you ever want to delete this shortcut, just right-click it and choose Delete . Otherwise, you can drag and drop it wherever you'd like on your desktop. Disk Management Tips Disk Management can be used to complete a variety of tasks on your Windows computer. Here are some wikiHow articles to read to learn more: Create a hard drive partition . Remove a hard drive partition. Expand or shrink an existing hard drive partition. Create a thumb drive partition . Reallocate unused disk space. Reformat a secondary drive. Format a new M.2 SSD . Format your entire PC . Create a hard drive partition . Remove a hard drive partition. Expand or shrink an existing hard drive partition. Create a thumb drive partition . Reallocate unused disk space. Reformat a secondary drive. Format a new M.2 SSD . Format your entire PC . You Might Also Like ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/disk-management-in-windows-ad88ba19-f0d3-0809-7889-830f63e94405 ↑ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/manage-disks About This Article Send fan mail to authors Is this article up to date? Quizzes & Games You Might Also Like Trending Articles Trending Articles Take the Quiz. Face the Truth. 🔥 Are You More… 🤔 Featured Videos Hot Takes Only 🔥 Your Daily Dose of Fun 🎉 Computers and Electronics Operating Systems Do Not Sell or Share My Info Not Selling Info wikiHow Tech Help Pro: Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve