Disk Management or diskmgmt.msc is one of the oldest tools in Windows. Although Microsoft hasn’t updated it for many many years, you can still find it in Windows 11 and Windows 10. It’s relatively easy to use and helpful when you need to manage the drives and partitions inside your computer without installing more advanced third-party applications. But, before using it, you need to know how to open it. So, here are all the ways to open Disk Management in Windows 11 and Windows 10:

1. Start Disk Management from the WinX menu

The fastest way to open Disk Management is to use the WinX menu. Right-click or press and hold on the Start button and, in the menu that opens, choose Disk Management.

Press Windows + X followed by K

If you want to achieve the same result using only the keyboard, press Windows + X, followed by K. The Disk Management window opens immediately.

Disk Management in action

TIP: Here are 7 things you can do with the Disk Management tool in Windows.

2. The Run command for Disk Management

Another quick method is this: press the Windows + R keys on your keyboard to open the Run window, and type this command:

The Run command for Disk Management

Press Enter or click/tap OK to run the command you’ve entered.

3. Open Disk Management from CMD, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal

Open Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal. It doesn’t matter which command-line environment you prefer. Then, type this command and press Enter:

Open Disk Management from CMD

The Disk Management window is opened in seconds.

TIP: If you like working from the Command Prompt, here’s how to use diskpart, chkdsk, defrag, and other disk-related commands.

4. Search for Disk Management or diskmgmt.msc

You can also use the Search bar in Windows 10 or the Search icon from Windows 11. Click on it and then type “disk management.” In the list of results, click or tap “Create and format hard disk partitions” to open Disk Management.

Search for Disk Management

You can also search for “diskmgmt.msc” and click or tap on the first result.

Search for diskmgmt.msc

5. Start Disk Management from Task Manager

Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Escape on your keyboard. If you’re using Windows 10 and the Task Manager opens in its compact view, click or tap More details. Then, click or tap File > Run new task. In the Create new task dialog box, type this command and click or tap OK:

Run diskmgmt.msc from Task Manager

In Windows 11, you won’t see the compact view. In Task Manager, click or tap “Run new task” in the Processes tab to access the Create new task dialog box.

The Task Manager in Windows 11 is a little bit different

6. Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) from File Explorer

You can also navigate to the physical location of Disk Management’s file on your disk. To do that, open File Explorer (Windows + E) and browse to:

diskmgmt.msc is found in the System32 folder

Double-click on the diskmgmt.msc file to open Disk Management.

7. Create a Disk Management shortcut

You can create a Disk Management shortcut by yourself and place it on your desktop or someplace else. To make the shortcut, right-click or press and hold on an empty space on your desktop, and choose New > Shortcut.

Right-click on the desktop and choose New > Shortcut

In the Create Shortcut wizard, enter diskmgmt.msc as the target.

Set the target to diskmgmt.msc

TIP: For help on this topic, here’s how to create shortcuts for files, folders, apps, and web pages in Windows.

8. Access Disk Management from Computer Management

Disk Management can also be accessed via the more complex Computer Management console. Here are 11 ways to open Computer Management in Windows. Disk Management is part of the Storage section of tools on the left side of Computer Management.

Disk Management is part of Computer Management

How are you using Disk Management?

I use the Disk Management tool in Windows to manage my computer’s partitions and drives. However, the activities I perform most often are changing drive letters and resizing partitions. What about you? Do you use it to format or delete drives? Comment below and share how you use Disk Management.