How to remove the HP Launcher CD partition

[ArthurKotb]

I have an HP 2TB external HDD. It hasn't been used for a while  but was working before. I attached by USB to my WIN11 laptop and in File Explorer (FE) it shows as a CD. I attach to a WIN7 laptop and it also shows as a CD but it has another driver letter for the contents. I have moved off all of the files I can and have tried to format the drive. That worked but the partitions remain. I used a WIN10 laptop to remove the partition for the visible files and that was successful. The CD partition remains

The CD partition has 2 files: autorun.inf and HPLauncher.exe. Both are hidden and read only files. I am the administrator and cannot delete either nor is there an option to delete the CD partition from the drive.Compatibility mode for WIN7 and Vista does nothing

At this point I'd like to delete everything and repartition the drive, since I've saved everything I can.

[zoey7886]

@ArthurKotb, Welcome to the HP Support Community!  

Thanks for reaching out about your query regarding Removing the HP Launcher CD Partition from an External HDD! 

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution.  

To remove the HP Launcher CD partition from your HP external HDD, you can use the Disk Management utility in Windows. Here are the steps to achieve this:

Open Disk Management:

• Press Win + X and select Disk Management from the menu.

Locate Your External HDD:

• In the Disk Management window, find your external HDD. It should be listed as a volume with a partition resembling a CD/DVD drive.

Delete Partitions:

• Right-click on the partitions associated with the external HDD (particularly the one showing as a CD) and select Delete Volume. Confirm this action.

Create a New Simple Volume:

• After deleting the partition, right-click on the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
• Follow the prompts to allocate the desired size and format the drive, ensuring it will be recognized as a regular external storage device.

Formatting:

• If Disk Management does not allow you to delete certain partitions, you can use the Command Prompt as an alternative.  

Hope this helps! 

Take care, and have an amazing day!  

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, Please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!  

Regards, 

[ArthurKotb]

Hi Zoey, thanks for your reply.

I have tried Disk Management and DISKPART on the CMD line. Neither of them worked. The option to delete the partition is greyed out in disk management and in DISKPART it won't delete the volume. After reading numerous posts from various sites it's my understanding that the CD Drive entry in File Explorer is not actually on the HDD but is a module on the board in the HDD case. One site said you can remove the HDD from the case and connect to the USB port to delete the partition, then create a new one but the CD Drive remains.

My initial problem was that I could not see the drive with my files on my WIN11 laptop, only the CD entry. On my WIN7 laptop I could see both. So I started copying all my files from the HP HDD to another, larger external HDD. This took a very long time, a couple of days. Even then, some of the files were too large (some video files). (This drive was initially for my teenage son and his Sega/Nintendo games, files, videos, etc. )

After I got everything copied over to the other drive I was able to delete that partition in Disk Management, then create a new one. I wasn't able to do anything with the CD drive partition but now I was able to see the large disk on my WIN11 machine, which solved the problem for me. I'm able to use the drive again and will just ignore the CD drive, which is read only and nothing can be deleted. There are only 2 very small files.

[zoey7886 · Accepted solution]

@ArthurKotb, thanks a ton for the detailed update—and for your patience throughout this process!

You're absolutely right in your findings. That stubborn "CD Drive (HP Launcher)" is part of a virtual CD (VCD) embedded in the external hard drive's firmware or enclosure chip—so it's not living on the main drive platter itself, which explains why:

You can't delete or format it via Disk Management or DISKPART.

It still appears even after wiping all visible partitions.

It behaves consistently across multiple Windows versions.

Some older HP or branded external drives include such virtual partitions to auto-launch backup software. They’re baked into the device’s controller and unfortunately, can’t be removed through standard Windows tools.

You're doing the right thing by ignoring it, especially since:

It’s read-only.

It’s tiny and no longer affects access to your main drive space.

Hope this helps! 

Take care, and have an amazing day!  

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, Please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!  

Regards, 

[ArthurKotb]

For some reason the main drive didn't show up on my WIN11 laptop until after I moved off all the data I could from it (using my WIN 7 laptop), deleted the partition and then recreated it. It's working fine now. Thanks for confirming.