How to Enable or Disable Automount of New Disks and Drives in Windows If you've ever plugged in a USB drive and wondered how it shows up instantly in File Explorer, that’s Automount at work. But in IT environments, that convenience can introduce real risks. In this video, we’ll explain what Automount is, why you might want to disable it, and how to configure it properly. Before we begin, be sure to subscribe to NinjaOne's IT Video Hub and our YouTube channel for more tech content like this. What Is Automount So what is Automount? In Windows, it's a feature that automatically assigns a drive letter to any new volume, whether it's a USB stick, external drive, or virtual hard disk. That's what lets it appear instantly in File Explorer when you plug it in. Sounds helpful, right? But here’s the catch: Automatically mounting every connected drive isn't always ideal, especially in managed IT environments. If your organization share systems across users or uses virtualized storage like SANs, Automount can create security risks and even drive letter conflicts. Two Ways To Enable Or Disable Automount To regain control, Windows offers two methods to enable or disable Automount: DiskPart or the Registry Editor. Method 1: Using DiskPart First, let’s cover DiskPart. Open an elevated Command Prompt or Windows Terminal. Type diskpart to launch the tool. Then, at the DISKPART> prompt, type automount to check its status. To enable Automount, type automount enable. To disable it, type automount disable. If you want to remove previous mount points, type automount scrub. Method 2: Using the Registry Editor Prefer using the graphical interface? You can also configure Automount through the Registry Editor. Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\mountmgr. Create or modify a DWORD (32-bit) Value named NoAutoMount. Set its value to: 1 to disable Automount, or 0 to enable Automount. Restart your system to apply changes. If disks don't appear after enabling Automount, restart your machine again or check Device Manager. Drives marked as “healthy” but missing a letter? Use Disk Management to assign one manually. One last tip: If your Automount settings keep reverting after reboot, check for Group Policy Objects or remote management tools that may be overriding your configuration. For more information, check out our official blog post on How To Enable Or Disable Automount Of New Disks And Drives In Windows, linked in the description below. Be sure to subscribe to NinjaOne's IT Video Hub and our YouTube channel for more tech content like this.