Force USB drives to certain drive letters?

[Slickone]

At work, any time I plug in a new USB storage device (thumb drive, card reader, camera, GPS), I have to get tech support come and assign that item a new drive letter, if they haven't already done so for that exact device. Meaning, any new thumb drive, even if other thumb drives have been assigned a new letter. I think because the USB devices try to take F, which is already a network drive. Since I'm not an admin, I can't assign letters. So instead of having to get an admin to reassign each device (which they wouldn't do all of them anyway), is there a way I, as a non-admin, can force anything that's plugged into the USB port to grab another letter besides F?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Windows really needs to drop that ridiculous DOS lettering system, but since they won't it looks like Drive Manager might solve your problem.

Another program that specifically targets USB drives is USB Drive Manager, though it is not free ($13.50).

 

[RebateMonger]

Your IT folks need to change the drive letter for the network drive. Having that low of a letter is going to cause more and more problems like you are having. Many PCs have things like built-in memory card readers that take the low drive letters. Conflicts with USB drives and network mapped drives are a frequent cause of support calls.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's a bug in Windows (XP at least) that I've seen. With a mapped network drive, installing a USB flash drive will cause Windows to re-assign the SAME drive letter (not a higher drive letter). This behavior is puzzling to me, because it still hasn't been fixed in SP3. Why doesn't Windows assign a fresh NEW drive letter, instead of one that is already in USE?

 

[boomerang]

When I was working I'd see this happen at boot-up. Co-workers would boot with a thumb drive attached. XP would assign a previously mapped drive letter to the thumb drive and then apps wouldn't work, or data was not available.

The cryptic error messages always through them for a loop.

 

[tcsenter]

It's a bug in Windows (XP at least) that I've seen. With a mapped network drive, installing a USB flash drive will cause Windows to re-assign the SAME drive letter (not a higher drive letter).

Not really a bug, its an intended behavior though one that Microsoft acknowledges some may not prefer:

New drive or mapped network drive not available in Windows Explorer


Not directly related, but may be of interest:

Overview of PNP enumeration and hard disk drive letter assignments in Windows XP

This explains why installing Windows XP with a USB card reader connected will give letters C, D, E, and F to the card reader (assuming four slots). Always plug the card reader after XP is installed, lest you aren't annoyed by hard disk letters starting around H or so (and it annoys me).

 

[JesseKnows]

Not really a bug, its an intended behavior though one that Microsoft acknowledges some may not prefer:

The KB article points to a hotfix that would prevent the issue from recurring most times.

 

[Nothinman]

Not really a bug, its an intended behavior though one that Microsoft acknowledges some may not prefer:

Seems to me they use the word problem and offer a hotfix, that seems to imply that it's a bug.

This explains why installing Windows XP with a USB card reader connected will give letters C, D, E, and F to the card reader (assuming four slots). Always plug the card reader after XP is installed, lest you aren't annoyed by hard disk letters starting around H or so (and it annoys me).

Yet more stupid behavior that would be avoidable if they'd just give you a little more control. How hard would it be to add a screen to the Windows installer to let you shuffle the drive letters around before you install?

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Seems to me they use the word problem and offer a hotfix, that seems to imply that it's a bug.

Hotfixes are not always bug fixes. In this case, it appears to be offered as a courtesy to those who want to change an intended default behavior:

By default, Windows XP assigns mapped network drives to the highest available drive letter, starting with drive Z, to avoid drive letter collisions. However, by default, Windows 2000 assigns mapped network drives to the next available drive letter after the drive letters that are assigned to local volumes and CD-ROM drives.

Some organizations may standardize practices on certain default behaviors, which when changed from one OS to the next, will encounter problems and want the old default behavior back. As stated in the KB article (and by Rebate Monger), the cause is network drives being assigned letters that are too low (e.g. F: in the OP's case), presumably by network admins who are accustomed to being able to do this on Windows 2000:

CAUSE
This behavior occurs if you map a network drive to the first available drive letter after the drive letters for the local volumes and CD-ROM drives. When you install a new device or volume, Mount Manager, which assigns drive letters to volumes, does not recognize the mapped network drive and assigns the next available drive letter to the new device or volume. This causes a collision with the existing mapped network drive.

The hotfix merely reverts XP's default behavior to be like Windows 2000, apparently for those too lazy to start assigning network drives at Z and work down:

WORKAROUND
To prevent this issue from occurring, when you map a network drive, assign the highest available drive letter to the mapped network drive.

It seems the most likely reason the hotfix hasn't been incorporated into Windows XP or released as general public is because its not really a bug, per se. Bugs aren't problems caused by admins who don't want to adopt practices that work within intended default OS behaviors. At least, I don't consider those bugs, but I'm not a software developer, either, so my opinion may not count for much.

 

[Nothinman]

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

That seems to say it all right there.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
That seems to say it all right there.

Me thinks you read too much into it. problem != bug

The same thing appears in just about all KB problem articles where the "problem" has been replicated or observed by Microsoft to affect those products, not necessarily caused by them. The same "Status" comment appears in articles where the problem was caused by a third-party driver and the resolution is to obtain support from the third-party. e.g.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314215/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307151/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307100/en-us


KB297694 has been around since at least 2003, based on the copyright date seen in the reposted KB article. You'd think Microsoft would be a little further along than a courtesy hotfix after five years, unless its an intended default behavior that Microsoft has no plans to change.

 

[Nothinman]

Me thinks you read too much into it. problem != bug

This is just semantics, but it seems to me that something described as a problem with a fix available is a bug.

 

[degibson]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Me thinks you read too much into it. problem != bug

This is just semantics, but it seems to me that something described as a problem with a fix available is a bug.

I'm forced to agree -- the hotfix page further suggests that future software updates will contain the hotfix ("...we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.").

I would conclude from the above that this 'intended behavior' isn't 'intended' anymore. Of course its not a bug -- those don't happen. Silly, stupid user.

 

[Nothinman]

And even if MS doesn't put the fix into future releases that doesn't mean it's not a bug. The OS is overriding a setting that the user has explicitely asked for, that should be considered a bug in anyone's eyes. I can understand why it happens, most likely the port of the kernel or service that picks the letter either doesn't have access to or just didn't check the console user's environment, but it still shouldn't be 'intended behavior'.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser
Windows really needs to drop that ridiculous DOS lettering system, but since they won't it looks like Drive Manager might solve your problem.

Another program that specifically targets USB drives is USB Drive Manager, though it is not free ($13.50).

Tried to get USB Drive Manager to install (as a service), but it won't. Guess you have to be an admin to install it. Though in my case, I wouldn't really need to install it if I was.

 

[Nothinman]

You need to be a local admin to add services. If you could get IT to install it for you that might work.