Show All Partitions in "Choose Device" Even If Hidden in Windows Explorer

[badardev]

Current behavior

When using the “Choose Device” option in VeraCrypt to mount an encrypted partition, the software currently relies on the disks that Windows displays in Explorer. Windows may not display partitions—for instance, if a partition is marked as “Offline” in Disk Management. Windows does not show disks and partitions in other cases as well. For example, if they have other installations of Windows, other operating systems, or they are formatted/encrypted in the way Windows cannot read. As a result, some partitions do not appear as a selectable option in VeraCrypt until the partition is made visible in Windows Explorer through some modifications.

Even worse, sometimes Windows offers to format a partition in order to make it usable. THE ONLY THING FOR A COMPLETE DISASTER IS TO ACCIDENTALLY CLICK FORMAT.

Making partitions visible in Windows explorer exposes it to the following risks:

There is no simple option to tell Windows to show or hide disks and partitions. For example, in one instance, I opened the Disk Management utility in Windows and observed that the disk containing the encrypted partition of another instance of Windows was marked "Offline." Changing it to "Online" did the trick and the partition showed up in Explorer. On the second instance, when I connected a disk containing another installation of Windows on an unencrypted partition, it did not show up in the Explorer even with an "Online" status in Disk Management.

Showing hidden partitions in VeraCrypt's device list poses no inherent risk. If a partition is not encrypted, mounting it via VeraCrypt will simply fail without causing any data loss or writing to the disk. In contrast, when an encrypted partition appears in Windows Explorer, it is susceptible to accidental modifications by the user, other applications, or malware.

Desired behavior

VeraCrypt should list all partitions available on a disk—even those that Windows Explorer hides—when the user selects “Choose Device.” This would allow users to mount encrypted partitions directly without the need for cumbersome and potentially dangerous tinkering needed to display partitions in Windows Explorer.

Screenshots/Mockup/Designs

Your Environment

VeraCrypt version: 1.26.7

Operating system and version:
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Version: 10.022621 Build 22621

System type: x64-based PC

Final Words

If there is no technical difficulty or a drawback, all the partitions should be visible and selectable when you choose "Select Device" in Veracrypt, regardless of whether Windows/OS displays them in the File Explorer or not.