How-To

6 Ways to Open Disk Management on Windows 11

By Brian Burgess

Updated January 31, 2023

Need to quickly partition a new drive or change drive letter on Windows 11? You’ll need to use Disk Management. Here’s how to launch it on a Windows 11 PC.

If you want to create and resize partitions, initialize hard drives, change drive letters, and more on Windows 11, you’ll need to use the Disk Management tool.

There are a few ways you can use this tool—as well as open it. If you want to speed up your workflow, here are six different ways you can open Disk Management in Windows 11.

1. Search for Disk Management

To avoid clicking through menus, you can search for Disk Management and open it directly.

To open Disk Management using the search bar in the Start menu, use the following steps:

1. Click the Start button or press the Windows key.
2. In the Start menu, type disk management.
3. Select the Create and format hard disk partitions option in the Best match section.
4. That will directly open the Disk Management utility on the desktop.

2. Launch via Computer Management

Another way to open Disk Management is by using the Computer Management tool.

To use Computer Management to launch Disk Management:

1. Click the Start button to open the Start menu.
2. Type computer management, and select the top result.
3. When the Computer Management window appears, expand the Storage section from the left column. Under the Storage section, click Disk Management.
4. The Disk Management utility will open in the Computer Management utility.

3. Open Disk Management from the Power User Menu

Available items on the Power User Menu (eg. Windows key + X) have changed slightly in Windows 11. Still, you can right-click the Start button or hit Windows key + X to launch it and access Disk Management.

Launch Disk Management from the Power User menu using the following steps:

1. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + X to launch the menu and click on Disk Management.
2. The Disk Management tool will launch, and you can start the task you need to be done, such as moving your Windows 10 installation to a larger drive

4. Launch Disk Management from the Run Dialog

Another option you have available is launching Disk Management from the Run menu.

To launch Disk Management from the Run line, do the following:

1. Hit the keyboard shortcut Windows key + R to launch the Run dialog.
2. With the Run command open, type msc and click OK or hit the Enter key.
3. The Disk Management utility will launch on your desktop and be ready to use.

5. Launch Disk Management from PowerShell

If you prefer the command line way of doing things, you can open Disk Management from the PowerShell terminal. Use the following steps to launch it:

1. Hit the Windows key and type powershell.
2. Hover over the top result and select Run as Administrator from the right side.
3. Now, in the terminal, type diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
4. That’s it. The Disk Management utility will open on the desktop so you can use it.

6. Open Disk Management from Settings

You can also open Disk Management directly from Settings – it’s just named something different.

Use the following steps to open Disk Management directly from Settings on Windows 11:

1. Click the Start button and choose the Settings icon. Alternately, use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + I to open Settings
2. When the Settings app opens, type disk management in the search field at the top under your account icon.
3. After typing disk management, click the Create and format hard disk partitions option from the results. The Disk Management tool will open right up.

Using Disk Management on Windows 11

The Disk Management tool is a really useful tool to use on Windows 11. It allows you to quickly resize or delete partitions and change new drive letters. However, you can also change drive letters on Windows 11 by using the Settings app.

Windows 11 has other helpful built-in tools when it comes to maintaining your drives. For example, you can enable and configure Storage Sense to keep your drive clean. You can also reclaim drive space on Windows 11 with the Cleanup Recommendations tool.

If you’re not on Windows 11 yet, read about maximizing storage space on low-capacity devices.