How to delete a partition on Windows hard drive?

Suppose for some reason, for example, if you do not want to use a partition on your hard drive or a faulty partition forces you to delete that partition, then you can follow the steps below to delete it. a partition on the hard drive.

Warning: Deleting a partition will permanently delete data stored on that partition.

Instructions for deleting partitions on hard drives using Disk Management

First, start Disk Management. A quick way to do it in Windows 11 or Windows 10 is from the WinX menu. Use the keyboard shortcut Win + X or right-click (press and hold) the Start button on the taskbar to open it. Then, in the WinX menu, select Disk Management.

In the Disk Management window , find the partition you want to delete and right-click it (or press and hold it if you're using a touch screen). You can do this in the volume list at the top of the Disk Management window .

You can also do the same in the list of drives and partitions displayed at the bottom of the Disk Management window. In the right-click menu, select Delete Volume.

The 'Delete simple volume' prompt is displayed, warning you that deleting the partition will delete all data on it. Before clicking Yes to continue, make sure you have backed up all important data on that partition. Otherwise, you will lose it.

A moment later, Disk Management will delete the selected partition. Now you can see it is marked as unallocated, like in the screenshot below.

All operations are completed and you can now close the Disk Management application.

How to delete partition using DiskPart in command line

If you love the command line, you can use Command Prompt or PowerShell. Start the application you like or launch it in Windows Terminal. Then, follow the steps and use the following commands to delete partitions that you no longer need or want:

The first command is the command to start the disk partitioning tool:

diskpart

The second command you need to run is:

list volume

This command lists all volumes (partitions) on your Windows computer or device. Determine the number of partitions you want to remove. Look for it in the Volume ### column .

Once you have identified the volume/partition to delete, you must select it. To do that in DiskPart, run this command:

select volume #

Replace # with the actual number of the partition you want to delete. The example below wants to delete partition F. Its partition number is 5 , so the command goes like this:

select volume 5

Now it's time to run the command to delete the actual DiskPart partition. The command to delete the partition with the number you selected earlier is:

delete partition

The selected partition will be deleted immediately.

IMPORTANT NOTE : There are some special partitions that Windows usually does not allow you to delete. For example, as a general rule, you cannot delete protected partitions such as Windows Recovery partitions or OEM partitions created by your computer manufacturer. However, you can bypass Windows protection by using a required argument to the delete partition command in DiskPart. If you want DiskPart to force delete a partition, after you select it, run this command:

delete partition override

If you want to continue working in the opened command line application, close the DiskPart tool by entering the following command:

exit

Otherwise, just close Command Prompt, PowerShell or Windows Terminal.

TIP : If you want to know more about the DiskPart command line tool and how to use it in Windows to manage partitions and drives, read this guide.

How to delete partition using PowerShell

PowerShell provides another way to delete partitions from the command line. However, this method does not work in Command Prompt. Here's how it goes:

Launch PowerShell with admin rights or open it in Windows Terminal if you prefer. Then, run this command:

Get-Volume

PowerShell will then display a table with all the partitions found on your Windows computer.

To delete a partition, run the command:

Remove-Partition -DriveLetter #

Replace the # character in the command with the actual drive letter of the partition you want to delete. For example, you want to delete the Backup partition on your computer and its letter is F , so the command to run is:

Remove-Partition -DriveLetter F

PowerShell then asks you to confirm that you want to delete the specified partition. Type Y and press Enter to perform the action.

A second later, the partition will disappear from your drive.

David Pac

Update 23 July 2024