diskpart.exe
Summary
Windows Disk Partitioning utility - manages disks, partitions, and volumes from the command line. Can be used destructively.
diskpart.exe is the 297th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 34,483 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by cmd.exe.
Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System3299.9%
- C:\Windows\SysWOW640.08%
- C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-diskpart_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.17415_none_59e3604169aa59c00.02%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 23be7acc592d63d1ef8016c5dee51dd77e8dbe2f594c319037bf22c719db982423.36%
- 5d25e239458c53bbccf3ecfd00946bbc06226c317395b749bd5866066b42c3fa21.22%
- fe7a9ea0905151a907e248e91655ec36d9481bf7db839aded6d0444a66d8d73019.73%
- bfd5377e93863aa5ccc8233c09be14c54ce7731062cba5bd319b2a1e2955ea1d10.23%
- 2ff5665b87450d2d81c61c3128de95418ea99a7b329c99b4ff16ec65dece2de26.12%
- ed44eb8f0c6307161abda887d7416f7e3e53c9d0338ab5d3bdbb171fa5f7148f5.99%
- b9aa0f0f7c8924bd38734b8de08d435fb2e73eeb16b89d4ea5bfe6f2ac06b54e5.18%
- d36c0ae236d0a48bfac674529659e5af6175a4f65975e4787e68e2d5dc4960f23.61%
- 2f13a1cb009f77ce7d1e9c808fba33e53ef69c8dfbacc02958e1c57dd7092a261.55%
- 19069ea696a4d80ed90af2fcbe41239e3041bb11812af51ee1d52b98732c1db70.76%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- QualysAgent.exe70.52%
- explorer.exe1.94%
- svchost.exe0.13%
- userinit.exe0.13%
- runonce.exe0.09%
- msiexec.exe0.04%
Top Parents
- cmd.exe99.88%
- msiexec.exe0.03%
- powershell.exe0.02%
- explorer.exe0.01%
- RuntimeBroker.exe0.01%
Top Children
- conhost.exe100%
Rare or environment-specific process names are omitted from ancestry tables. Percentages are of all observed relationships.
Security Analysis
What does diskpart.exe normally do?
Used by administrators for disk management tasks. Commonly seen during OS deployment and disk maintenance.
When is diskpart.exe suspicious?
Scripted execution with /s parameter (automated disk operations). Cleaning or formatting disks outside maintenance windows. Called by unusual parent processes.
How do attackers abuse diskpart.exe?
Ransomware and wipers use diskpart to delete volume shadow copies (delete shadows), clean disks, or remove recovery partitions to prevent recovery.
Detection guidance
Monitor for diskpart with clean or delete commands. Alert on scripted execution (/s flag) from untrusted locations.
False positive notes
System administrators and deployment tools (SCCM, MDT) legitimately use diskpart during imaging and maintenance.
Related Processes
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Data from EchoTrail's dataset of ~346M Windows process executions. Last extracted 2026-08-04.