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External Drive: Remove (disable/hide) the Virtual CD (VCD) on Windows or macOS


IMPORTANT: WD Smartware End of Support Notice! WD Smartware has reached it's end of support life cycle.
For more details, please refer to Answer ID 30039 WD Smartware End of Support and Answer ID 28740 WD Product Software Support Status

Before following these instructions, there are several things you need to consider:
  1. The Virtual CD manager only disables the VCD image. There is no way to remove it from the disk. Current versions of the VCD are only about 20 MB in size- this is about the size of a few pictures.
  2. Once the VCD is disabled you will be unable to access the WD SmartWare installer on the VCD image (on older model drives). You can download a copy of SmartWare from our website. How to install WD SmartWare on a Windows PC.
  3. Network drives such as the My Book Live family or My Cloud family which include the WD SmartWare software do not have a VCD. Because there is no VCD, these instructions do not apply to the product.
  4. The software will only show the Enable/Disable VCD option if the drive supports it. If this option does not appear, then you can't disable or enable the VCD on your specific model drive.
Topic
Instructions
Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP using WD SmartWare Click here for Instructions
Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP without using WD SmartWare Click here for Instructions
Mac OSX 10.5.x (Leopard), 10.6.x (Snow Leopard), 10.7.x (Lion), and 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) using WD SmartWare Click here for Instructions
Mac OSX 10.5.x (Leopard), 10.6.x (Snow Leopard), 10.7.x (Lion), and 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) without using WD SmartWare Click here for Instructions
Linux/Unix Click here for Instructions

 
Details
Answer ID 18331
Published 08/20/2018 02:36 AM
Updated 10/11/2023 10:58 AM

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