Windoze Explorer won't show USB drive

[efffemm]

I bought a Lexar Jump Drive and plugged it in to my PC that runs
Windows 2000. It detects the drive and I get the arrow icon in
system tray for unmounting the drive. But when I run Windows
Explorer it doesn't show any USB drive, just floppy, hard disc
and CD-RW drives. If I open a command prompt then type DIR H:
I can see the contents of the USB drive. Also if I go
Start -> Run then type in some exe file on H: drive, it runs
from the USB drive. I rebooted with Jump Drive connected, but
Windows Explorer is still asleep on the job.
What can be fouled up?

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, efffemm.

Run diskmgmt.msc to use Disk Management. (I'm still amazed at how many
users - even computer veterans - have not yet found this utility, nearly
seven years after it was introduced in Win2K! I find this so useful so
often that I keep a shortcut to it in my Quick Launch toolbar.)

In Disk Management, you can assign drive letters, create and delete
partitions, format them, change their names.... Among other tasks, you can
assign a semi-permanent drive letter to your USB drive. I say "semi", first
because you can always change the letter here, and second because the letter
gets changed unintentionally sometimes, such as when you boot up with some
new hardware wanting to use that letter. Generally, though, you can assign
a letter that will survive reboots, as well as removal and reinsertion of
the USB drive.

You might also want to right-click on the drive (Disk 3?) in Disk
Management, then click Properties | Policies and choose whether to optimize
that drive for quick removal or for performance.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail 7.0 in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, again, efffemm.

You DIDN'T hide Drive H: by using TweakUI, did you?

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail 7.0 in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[efffemm]

Hi, again, efffemm.

You DIDN'T hide Drive H: by using TweakUI, did you?

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail 7.0 in Vista Ultimate x64)

I ran TweakUI and yes it showed drive H: was only one not selected, and
the USB
drive wanted to go there (hard and optical drives taking C-G)

Out of curiosity I went to old PC with Win98SE and installed the Jump
Drive driver,
and found that it didn't show up in Windows Explorer. So I reach for
TweakUI again,
and find that one drive letter is not selected, guess which? The one
that USB drive
uses. Strange coincidence huh?
I am sure that I never disabled any drive letters before.

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, efffemm.

I'm glad you solved the mystery - and thanks for reporting back.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail 7.0 in Vista Ultimate x64)