How to Set Up a Dev Drive on Windows 11

As a developer, dealing with repositories containing thousands of files and directories can be challenging, especially when it comes to heavy I/O operations like builds. Fortunately, here comes the good news: Microsoft introduced a new storage volume feature set called Dev Drive, specifically designed for developers, offering enhanced performance and security on Windows 11. 

As the Redmond-based tech giant’s blog post noted, your system needs to run on Windows 11 and have sufficient available storage. Dev Drive should also not be used to store developer tools like Visual Studio, MSBuild, .NET SDK, Windows SDK, etc. These tools should be stored on your main C:\ drive.

Nevertheless, Microsoft has announced that this feature will be available in the Preview channel within this week, indicating that it may take some more time before it becomes widely accessible to the general public. We’ll keep you updated as we go. 

And, as spotted by Windows insider @PhantomOfEarth, if you have the For developers setting opted in, you will see all your Dev Drives within the Settings app. 

If you’re still curious how it will work, we’ll walk you through setting up a Dev Drive to supercharge your development workflow.

How to set up a Dev Drive on Windows 11?

1. Click on the Start menu and select the gear icon to open the Windows Settings window.

2. In the Windows Settings window, click on the System category and choose Storage from the left-hand sidebar

3. Click on Advanced Store Settings under the Storage section.

4. Within the Advanced Store Settings, locate and click on the Disks & Volumes option to open the configuration settings for your system’s disks and volumes.

4 In the Disks & Volumes settings, click on the Create dev drive option.

5. A setup wizard will guide you through creating your Dev Drive. Choose the appropriate size and follow the wizard’s instructions.

6. After specifying your Dev Drive’s size, follow the instructions provided by the setup wizard to finalize the creation. 

With the introduction of Dev Drive on Windows 11, developers now have a specialized storage volume to enhance their productivity. And, if you’re a developer on the market for some good browsers, we’ve also got you covered.

Before you leave, find out all about Windows SDK and start developing apps today! In case you want to know how to enable/disable Dev Drive Protection on your computer, we have a detailed guide to help you with that.

What do you think about the introduction of Dev Drive on Windows 11? Let us know in the comments!