Allow non-admin user to format internal drive in Windows 10

Question

We have some notebooks (Lenovo T430 running Windows 10), that all have multiple HDDs. One is the normal System SSD and another SSD is in the Ultrabay. Both of these drives are seen as internal from the system.

Now some of our users should be granted the rights to format the second HDD (the one in the Ultrabay). But these users only have normal rights and are non-admin users.

I checked the Group Policies in gpedit.msc and i only found one for external Media that i could set and it doesn't work for the internal drives. What am i missing?

Answer 1

There a Local Group Policy (gpedit.msc) called "Perform volume maintenance tasks" described as :

This policy setting determines which users can perform volume or disk management tasks, such as defragmenting an existing volume, creating or removing volumes, and running the Disk Cleanup tool.

I have not tested if this permission allows formatting, but it does sound this way.

You may reach it via the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) :
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment.

You may add here the user's account. Currently the list only includes Administrators.

I suggest also that you furnish the user with a batch file for formatting the right disk, just in case.