Should I remove WD Drive Utilities?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
2% remove it98% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #941
United States Rank #779
Reach 0.7315%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 12.77 days
376.85 days >
Average installed length: 198.00 days
Versions
| Version | Distribution |
| 2.0.0.69 |
0.01% |
|
| 2.0.0.63 |
0.05% |
|
| 2.0.0.54 |
0.03% |
|
| 2.0.0.48 |
0.04% |
|
| 2.0.0.44 |
0.06% |
|
| 2.0.0.26 |
0.25% |
|
| 2.0.0.25 |
0.90% |
|
| 1.4.0.92 |
2.89% |
|
| 1.3.2.2 |
10.05% |
|
| 1.3.1.2 |
0.01% |
|
| 1.3.0.18 |
8.81% |
|
| 1.3.0.17 |
0.87% |
|
| 1.3.0.16 |
2.30% |
|
| 1.2.0.85 |
1.32% |
|
| 1.1.0.51 |
22.54% |
|
| 1.0.7.3 |
7.62% |
|
| 1.0.6.3 |
11.51% |
|
| 1.0.5.7 |
2.77% |
|
| 1.0.5.6 |
0.01% |
|
| 1.0.4.11 |
3.23% |
|
| 1.0.3.3 |
24.73% |
|
Typically installed together
Other programs by Western Digital Technologies
WD Drive Utilities
What is WD Drive Utilities?
WD Drive Utilities and WD Security, are contained within the WD Drive Utilities and the WD Security zip files and installs custom Western Digital software for WD USB and FireWire enabled external hard drives. WD Drive Utilities software allows you to configure, manage, and diagnose your WD drive.
Overview
The most used version is 1.0.3.3, with over 98% of all installations currently using this version. Upon installation and setup, it defines an auto-start registry entry which makes this program run on each Windows boot for all user logins. A scheduled task is added to Windows Task Scheduler in order to launch the program at various scheduled times (the schedule varies depending on the version). The main program executable is WDDriveUtilities.exe. The software installer includes 21 files and is usually about 12 MB (12,577,750 bytes). WDUpdate.dll is the automatic update component of the software designed to download and apply new updates should new versions be released.
Program details
URL: support.wdc.com
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\Western Digital\WD Utilities\
Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{72E40002-8CEC-47C1-A099-83AC8E173BF0}
(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)
Estimated size: 12 MB
Language: English (United States)
Files installed by WD Drive Utilities
| Program executable: | WDDriveUtilities.exe |
| Name: | WD Drive Utilities |
| Path: | C:\Program Files\Western Digital\WD Utilities\WDDriveUtilities.exe |
| MD5: | 2fa074367604da8af076d2442d78ca1f |
Additional files:
-
WDDriveUtilitiesHelper.exe - WD Drive Utilities Helper
-
WD Quick Formatter.exe - WDQuickFormatter.exe (WD Quick Drive Format)
-
WDEncrypt.dll - WD Shared Libraries (WD Encrypt)
-
WDIO.dll - WD IO (32bit)
-
WDLocale.dll - WD Locale
-
WDLog.dll - WD Log
-
WDNet.dll - WD Network
-
WDUnzip.exe - WD Unzip
-
WDUpdate.dll - WD Update
-
WDUpdateRCW.dll - WD Update Runtime Callable Wrapper
-
WDUpdateUI.dll - WD Update UI
-
WDUPnP.dll - WD UPnP
-
WDUtilities.dll - WD Utilities
-
WDDriveUtilities.exe - WD Drive Utilities
-
DeviceDiscovery.dll - Device Discovery (DeviceDiscovery)
-
WDControls.dll - WDControls (WD Controls)
-
WDDM.dll - WDDM
-
DevicePlugin.dll - DevicePlugin
-
DeviceViewModel.dll - DeviceViewModel
-
MVVM.dll - MVVM
Behaviors exhibited
Scheduled Task
- WDDriveUtilities.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{DFDB1F80-CEAD-4738-B876-E7BE4005C8B7}' (runs on registration).
Scheduled Task (Boot/Login)
- WDDriveUtilitiesHelper.exe is automatically launched at startup through a scheduled task named DriveUtilitiesHelper_Reg_HKLMWow6432Run.
Startup File (All Users Run)
- WDDriveUtilitiesHelper.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'DriveUtilitiesHelper' which loads as C:\Program Files\Western Digital\WD Utilities\WDDriveUtilitiesHelper.exe.
How do I remove WD Drive Utilities?
You can uninstall WD Drive Utilities from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.
- On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:
- Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall a Program.
- Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs.
- When you find the program WD Drive Utilities, click it, and then do one of the following:
- Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall.
- Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program).
- Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove WD Drive Utilities.
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
|
|
USER ACTIONS
 |
Uninstall it 2%
Keep it 98%
|
|
|
GLOBAL RANK
 #941
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
| Windows 10 |
48.94% |
|
| Windows 7 |
45.94% |
|
| Windows Vista |
3.08% |
|
| Windows XP |
2.04% |
|
| Windows Server 2003 |
0.01% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
| Windows 7 Home Premium |
26.73% |
|
| Windows 10 Home |
18.26% |
|
| Windows 8.1 |
12.18% |
|
| Windows 7 Professional |
9.93% |
|
| Windows 10 Pro |
7.46% |
|
| Windows 7 Ultimate |
7.44% |
|
Geography
58.42% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
| United States |
58.42% |
| Canada |
6.01% |
| Germany |
5.54% |
| United Kingdom |
4.68% |
| France |
2.70% |
| Italy |
2.51% |
| Netherlands |
1.80% |
| Australia |
1.50% |
| India |
1.12% |
| Belgium |
0.85% |
| Spain |
0.83% |
| Sweden |
0.72% |
| Malaysia |
0.64% |
| Norway |
0.63% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
| Hewlett-Packard |
27.85% |
|
| Dell |
25.32% |
|
| Acer |
11.76% |
|
| ASUS |
11.75% |
|
| Toshiba |
6.37% |
|
| Lenovo |
5.32% |
|
| Samsung |
4.00% |
|
| GIGABYTE |
3.50% |
|
| Intel |
1.25% |
|
| MSI |
0.93% |
|
| Alienware |
0.72% |
|
| Medion |
0.71% |
|
Common models |
| HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... |
7.01% |
|
| HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook ... |
5.70% |
|
| ASUS All Series |
5.57% |
|
| HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... |
3.34% |
|
| Dell XPS 8700 |
3.31% |
|
| Dell XPS 8500 |
2.32% |
|
About Western Digital Technologies
Western Digital is one of the largest hard disk drive manufacturers and has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company.
Publisher URL: www.wdc.com