The Virtual Disk Service is a Windows component that manages access to virtual hard disk (VHD) files. VHD files are used as virtual drives to expand storage or run virtual machines. The “There is no media in the device” error occurs when the Virtual Disk Service is unable to detect the VHD file or the physical drive it is located on. This can happen if the VHD file is corrupted, missing, disconnected, or the drive hosting it is offline. The error prevents the VHD from being mounted and accessed like a regular drive. This article will go through several troubleshooting methods to resolve this error and regain access to the virtual disk.
The source has not yet been cited. Please let me know if you would like me to add a citation for the introduction section.
Verify the Disk is Attached
The first step is to open Disk Management and verify the virtual disk is actually detected and listed. To open Disk Management on Windows 10 or 11, right-click the Start button and select “Disk Management”. Or, you can type “disk management” in the Windows search bar and click on the Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions result.
Once Disk Management is open, look in the lower panel for a disk entry with the name of your virtual disk. If you see the disk listed but it says “No Media” under the status, that confirms Windows detects the disk but cannot access it for some reason. However, if the disk is not listed at all, that indicates a problem with the disk attachment or drivers.
To troubleshoot an undetected disk, try disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable or shutting down and restarting the virtual machine. Additionally, updating disk and controller drivers as covered later may help get the disk recognized. If the disk still does not appear in Disk Management, the virtual disk configuration or interface may need attention.
Disk management is the first step to identify whether Windows detects the virtual disk hardware. Once the disk is listed, you can move on to the other steps to resolve the no media error.
Check Drive Letter Assignment
One common reason for the “Virtual Disk Service error there is no media in the device” is that a drive letter is not properly assigned to the virtual disk. Windows uses drive letters to identify and access disks. If a drive letter is not assigned, Windows will be unable to locate and mount the virtual disk.
To check if a drive letter is assigned:
- Open Disk Management by pressing Windows + R and entering “diskmgmt.msc”.
- Locate the virtual disk in the list. It may show up as “Unknown” or “Not Initialized”.
- Right click on the disk and choose “Change Drive Letter and Paths”.
- Click “Add” and assign a drive letter if one is not already set.
Be sure to avoid assigning a letter already in use. After assigning a drive letter, the virtual disk should display normally with its file system type and drive letter.
If no drive letter is shown even after trying to add one, there may be a deeper issue. Checking the Virtual Disk service status or verifying the disk initialization may help troubleshoot further.
Restart Related Services
One of the most common solutions for fixing the “Virtual Disk Service error there is no media in the device” is to restart the Virtual Disk service and other related storage services in Windows. The Virtual Disk service works with the disk management tools to mount and interact with virtual hard disks. If this service encounters an issue, it can fail to detect the virtual disk, resulting in the error message.
To restart the Virtual Disk service:
- Open the Run dialog by pressing Windows + R on your keyboard.
- Type “services.msc” and press Enter to open the Services management console.
- Locate the “Virtual Disk” service in the list and right-click on it.
- Click on “Restart” to stop and restart the service.
You may also want to restart the Storage Service for detection of disk hardware changes. Follow the same steps to locate and restart the “Storage Service” in the Services console.
After restarting these core Windows services related to storage and disk management, check if the issue is resolved and you can now access the virtual disk without errors.
If restarting services does not work, you may need to investigate other potential causes like driver issues, disk corruption, or problems with the virtual disk configuration itself. But restarting relevant services is one of the easiest first steps to try.
[1]
Run CHKDSK
One common way to fix the “there is no media” error is to run the chkdsk tool to check for disk errors. CHKDSK is a command-line utility built into Windows that scans drives and attempts to repair logical file system errors or physical disk surface errors. It can identify and attempt to repair issues that may be preventing the drive from being recognized properly.
To run CHKDSK on the problematic virtual disk:
- Open an elevated Command Prompt window.
- Type “chkdsk X: /f” where X is the letter of the virtual disk drive. The /f parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds.
- Allow CHKDSK to run completely. It may take some time to scan the disk and make repairs.
- After it finishes, close the Command Prompt window and check if the disk is now detected properly in Windows.
Running CHKDSK can potentially resolve file system corruption that may be the underlying cause of the “no media” error message. It’s one of the first troubleshooting steps to try when dealing with this issue on a virtual disk drive. See this guide for more details on using CHKDSK to address the problem.
Update Drivers
One potential cause of the “Virtual Disk Service error there is no media in the device” is outdated or corrupted drivers, especially for the storage controller and disk drives. Updating these drivers may resolve the issue.
First, open Device Manager by right-clicking This PC and selecting Manage > Device Manager. Expand the Disk drives and Storage controllers sections.
Right-click the storage controller device such as an AHCI controller or RAID controller and select Update driver. Choose Search automatically for updated driver software. Allow Windows to search online and install any available updates.
Next, right-click the disk drive showing the error and select Update driver. Again choose Search automatically and install any updates. Restart your computer afterwards.
If the native Windows update does not find a newer driver, visit your motherboard or storage device manufacturer’s website and download the latest driver from there. Install the driver you downloaded, restart, and check if the virtual disk error is resolved.
Updating drivers ensures maximum compatibility between your hardware and Windows, which may fix the virtual disk connectivity issues. Be sure to keep storage drivers up to date.
Change Virtual Disk Location
One potential solution is to move the virtual disk to a new location or drive. Sometimes the current location becomes corrupted or is having issues being accessed properly. Moving the VHD or VHDX file to a new folder, drive or storage location can resolve the “no media” error.
To change the location of a virtual disk file in Hyper-V Manager:
- Right-click on the virtual machine and select Settings.
- Go to the Hard Drive section and select the virtual hard disk.
- Click on the Edit button.
- Under Media, click Browse and select a new location to store the VHD/VHDX file.
- Click OK to save the changes.
Now start the VM, and Windows should be able to detect the virtual disk media properly in the new location. This resets the path and drive mappings so that the operating system recognizes the disk again.
Additionally, try moving the virtual disk to a different physical drive or partition. For example, if it’s on the C: drive, move it to D: or another available volume. Sometimes switching to a new drive resolves disk errors.
Expand the Virtual Disk
If the virtual disk is full or nearly full, you may need to expand its maximum size. This allows the virtual disk to grow larger and add more available storage space. According to VMware’s knowledge base article (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1004047), you can expand the size of a virtual disk from within vSphere Client by selecting the virtual machine, clicking Edit Virtual Machine Settings, selecting the disk, and using the Expand option to set a new larger size.
When expanding a virtual disk, leave a buffer of free space rather than maximizing the size. VMware recommends leaving at least 10% of free space to allow for snapshots and growth (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2058287). The maximum virtual disk size depends on the virtualization platform, with VMware supporting up to 62TB and Hyper-V supporting larger sizes. Expanding the disk may require allocating more storage on the hypervisor or datastore.
Convert to a Different Format
Converting the virtual disk format is another troubleshooting step that may resolve the “no media in device” error. Virtual disks can use either the VHD or VHDX format. Converting between the two formats may fix disk errors.
To convert a VHD to VHDX:
- Open Hyper-V Manager.
- Right-click the virtual machine and select Edit Disk.
- In the Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard, select the disk you want to convert and click Next.
- On the Choose Action page, select Convert and click Next.
- Select VHDX for the disk format and click Next.
- Browse to choose a location and name for the new VHDX file.
- Click Finish to begin the conversion.
The process is similar to convert a VHDX to VHD. This reformatting process essentially copies the data to a new disk file in the desired format, which can resolve corruption issues.
For more details, refer to Microsoft’s guide on converting between VHD and VHDX.
Conclusion
In summary, the “no media in device” error for virtual disks usually indicates some kind of corruption or disconnect. Trying the various troubleshooting steps like checking drive letter assignment, updating drivers, restarting services, running CHKDSK, and changing the virtual disk location or format may resolve the issue. If the error persists, you may need more advanced recovery tools to repair the virtual disk. Some key tips are checking disk management for signs of the drive, avoiding forceful disconnects, and maintaining good backups. With patience and gradually trying different solutions, the virtual disk should be restored. This error can be frustrating but is usually fixable.
