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Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 users are also experiencing a strange bug with SATA hard drives that has already been seen in Windows 10 (and Windows 8.1 and 7 in fact).
Neowin reports that Microsoft tells us the issue affects Windows 11 via a support document that discusses the glitch, and advises users on what can be done about it.
The bug causes an internal SATA drive – this can affect both hard drives and SSDs that are installed inside your PC via a SATA connection – to be recognized as removable media in the Windows taskbar, Unlike permanently attached drives (which of course, it’s pretty much).
Microsoft explains: “Whether or not a device is considered removable is determined by your system’s BIOS and how it marks the various SATA ports on the motherboard.
“The inbox driver directly observes SATA ports and marks devices connected to those ports as removable devices. Not all storage drivers do this, which can be a possible cause of corruption or data loss.” “
Analysis: A Fix Is Available, Luckily
The good news here is that many modern systems won’t be affected by the bug, as most SSDs these days aren’t SATA – and hard drives are a piece of technology that’s on its way out, and is pretty much doing a disappearing act. .
Still, that’s not to say there aren’t plenty of PCs with SATA drives in them, even if only an old hard drive is admitted into the mix for, say, media storage duties.
The good news is that Microsoft provides details of the fix in the support documentation. The first thing to do, as Microsoft advises, is to check for BIOS updates for your motherboard. If you don’t have the latest version, update to it, and keep your fingers crossed that this fixes the problem.
If it isn’t, or you’re already on the latest BIOS – don’t mess with installing any beta BIOS, by the way, it’s not worth the risk – then Microsoft has instructions for dealing with the problem manually here Creates an outline.
Note that you will have to enter a long command (which looks like a lot of gobbledegook) so make sure you get that right. It’s a bit fiddly, and involves tinkering with the registry, so one mistyped mistake can be bad news – just be very careful that you type in exactly what Microsoft says in the last step (Windows 8 or later For, which obviously includes Windows 11 users) .
