Accessing WinXP USB device functions

[farhadino]

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to figure out how winXP is assgning drive letters
when you plug in a usb drive such as a usb stick and what actually
happens if you are taking it out again.

I guess that everything is set in the windows registry but analyzing
the registry "traffic" in winXP (e.g. with RegMon) didn't take me very
far.

Originally, I was looking for a way to set the default drive letter
assignment for a certain usb device class (usb stick) and how to
re-initialize and quit the usb device when it's plugged in, preferably
through a handy icon click rather than pluggin the usb stick out and in
again or clicking around at the windows systray with the mouse.

Is there a solution?

Thanks,
Farhadino

 

[Uwe Sieber]

I have been trying to figure out how winXP is assgning drive letters
when you plug in a usb drive such as a usb stick and what actually
happens if you are taking it out again.

I guess that everything is set in the windows registry but analyzing
the registry "traffic" in winXP (e.g. with RegMon) didn't take me very
far.

Originally, I was looking for a way to set the default drive letter
assignment for a certain usb device class (usb stick) and how to
re-initialize and quit the usb device when it's plugged in, preferably
through a handy icon click rather than pluggin the usb stick out and in
again or clicking around at the windows systray with the mouse.

Using my USB drive letter manager you can define default
letters for USB drives:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

On this page you find a tool for save removal too,
RemoveDrive.

BTW: If you single left click the save removal tray icon,
then it is quite handy. I've doubleclicked it for years...


Uwe

 

[farhadino]

Hi Uwe,

really awesome work, mate! That's exactly what I needed.

There's just one thing missing - it might seem weird though, cause I
guess no one ever considered mounting a drive in windows manually, i.e.
mount it over the command line. At least I have never given a thought
to it.

So is there any possibilty to re-initialize an usb device once it is
removed (not physically) without first plugging it out and back in?

Thanks for your time,
Farhad

 

[Uwe Sieber]

So is there any possibilty to re-initialize an usb device once it is
removed (not physically) without first plugging it out and back in?

No, this is not part of the USB specs. It might be
possible by directely programming the USB chipset
but I've never seen a public tool for this.


Uwe

 

[farhadino]

No, this is not part of the USB specs. It might be

possible by directely programming the USB chipset
but I've never seen a public tool for this.

One should make a suggestion to the USB consortium for the next
version...

Farhadino