Some users prefer placing shortcuts to frequently accessed apps, folders, and websites on the Windows desktop so that they can access them quickly and easily. If you are one of them, you might also like to create a desktop shortcut to a drive on your Windows 11 PC.
Luckily, just like apps and folders, creating a desktop shortcut to a drive is easy and can be done with a few clicks.
The following are the two easy ways to create a drive shortcut on your Windows 11 desktop.
NOTE: In addition to internal drives, you can use these methods to create desktop shortcuts to USB or external drives. However, once you disconnect the USB drive, its shortcut on the desktop will continue to appear. You need to manually delete it.
Method 1 of 2
Create a drive shortcut on the desktop in Windows 11 via File Explorer
Step 1: Open This PC in the File Explorer to see all drives.
Step 2: Perform a right-click on the drive that you want to create a shortcut on the desktop, click Show more options and then click the Create shortcut option.
Step 3: When you get the following dialog with the “Windows cannot create a shortcut here. Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?” message, click the Yes button to create the selected drive’s shortcut on the desktop.
Clicking on the drive shortcut on the desktop opens the root of the drive.
Method 2 of 2
Create a drive shortcut on the Windows 11 desktop using the Create Shortcut wizard
Windows 11 and earlier versions ship with a built-in tool called Shortcut Wizard that helps you to create a shortcut to almost anything on your desktop. Here is how to use it.
Step 1: Perform a right-click on an empty spot on the desktop, click New, and then click Shortcut to open the Shortcut Wizard.
Step 2: In the Type the location of the item field, type the drive letter of the drive along with the colon attached to it, and then click the Next button.
For instance, to create a shortcut to the drive “C” on the desktop, you need to type C: in the field.
Step 3: Finally, type a name for the shortcut so that you can easily identify it, and then click the Finish button to create the drive’s shortcut on the Windows 11 desktop.
If you are getting the “The drive or network connection that the shortcut Drive Name refers to is unavailable” message, it’s likely because you have disconnected the USB drive for which you had created a desktop shortcut.
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