The Recommended section in Windows 11 displays items from disconnected external drives

The Recommended area can retain recent-item references even after an external drive is disconnected; that does not necessarily mean Windows believes the drive is still mounted. First confirm the drive is not visible in File Explorer or Disk Management, then test whether the Recommended item opens or simply shows an unavailable reference. In Settings, Personalization, Start, temporarily turn off recent-item recommendations and turn them back on after clearing recent activity if you want to refresh the list. Do not reconnect the drive merely to remove a stale entry. If a disconnected item remains indefinitely or exposes a path that should not be suggested, note the Windows build, drive type, and whether the files were recently opened from another app. Use Feedback Hub for a reproducible Start-menu recommendation issue. Avoid deleting files or editing the registry just to clear a recent-item reference.