Drive-letter madness

[Guest]

Here is my configuration:
-Dell D610 laptop
-Windows XP Pro with updates
-Drive letters
-C: boot hard disk with XP installation, etc (i.e. the main disk)
-D: DVD/CD RW drive, removeable from the bay (I don't remove it, though)
-H, I, J, U, V, W, X: mapped network drives

Problem: I want to plug in a Western Digital 40 Gb USB 2.0 drive
Things tried/Behaviors observed:
-Plug in the WD USB drive / the USB connection is recognized but the drive
is nowhere accessible from Windows Explorer; clicking the-safe removal icon,
the drive comes up as a removeable USB storage device
-Disconnect network drives H: and I: :/ H disappears cleanly; I: still shows
in Windows Explorer with the name of the network drive; however, when looking
at its contents, the network drive (still with its original name, mind you)
actually has the contents of the WD USB drive--and no, it did not have the WD
USB drive contents before removing it as a network drive; I checked all
drives before doing the removals.
-Safe removal of the WD USB drive / Succeeds; I: is still showing in Windows
Explorer under the original, network-drive name but when trying to display
its contents, a warning box comes up basically saying that it is not
connected to anything

It looks like the XP drive-letter assigning between network drives and USB
drives is screwed up, or am I attempting something that I shouldn't expect to
work?

Sweatice

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Here is my configuration:
-Dell D610 laptop
-Windows XP Pro with updates
-Drive letters
-C: boot hard disk with XP installation, etc (i.e. the main disk)
-D: DVD/CD RW drive, removeable from the bay (I don't remove it, though)
-H, I, J, U, V, W, X: mapped network drives

Problem: I want to plug in a Western Digital 40 Gb USB 2.0 drive
Things tried/Behaviors observed:
-Plug in the WD USB drive / the USB connection is recognized but the drive
is nowhere accessible from Windows Explorer; clicking the-safe removal icon,
the drive comes up as a removeable USB storage device
-Disconnect network drives H: and I: :/ H disappears cleanly; I: still shows
in Windows Explorer with the name of the network drive; however, when looking
at its contents, the network drive (still with its original name, mind you)
actually has the contents of the WD USB drive--and no, it did not have the WD
USB drive contents before removing it as a network drive; I checked all
drives before doing the removals.
-Safe removal of the WD USB drive / Succeeds; I: is still showing in Windows
Explorer under the original, network-drive name but when trying to display
its contents, a warning box comes up basically saying that it is not
connected to anything

It looks like the XP drive-letter assigning between network drives and USB
drives is screwed up, or am I attempting something that I shouldn't expect to
work?

Sweatice

Your problem is caused because your mapped network drives
use the low letters of the alphabet, thus creating a conflict with
USB drive letters. Push them beyond P: and your madness
will resolve to delight!

 

[NoStop]

Your problem is caused because your mapped network drives
use the low letters of the alphabet, thus creating a conflict with
USB drive letters. Push them beyond P: and your madness
will resolve to delight!

Actually the reason the OP has problems like this is because some idiot at
MickeyMouse decided that mapping network drives like this made sense. Of
course, little that MickeyMouse produces makes much sense.

 

[Bob I]

Network auto goes Z->A , Local goes A->Z, Auto does just fine. Problems
arise when people arbitrarily assign letters willy-nilly.

 

[Guest]

I'll try moving the network drive letters beyond P: when I am back in the
office next week.

Bob, what do you mean by "Network auto"?

Finally, shouldn't the network drive-mapping dialog give some guidance on
these pitfalls, rather than just letting you fall right it?

Thanks to all,
Sweatice

 

[Bob I]

Please click Start, Help and Support, enter "Drive Mapping" as the
search term and click the first link. Read the instructions and the
Notes as to how letters are assigned. Then please observe that if you
follow the instructions that the very first network drive letter to be
assigned will be Z or the closest available one to Z.