How to make new USB devices not use the next available physical drive letter in XP?

[David Lewis]

When a regular user (not admin) inserts a USB thumb drive or Camera into his computer the
computer assigns it the next physical driver letter. Local HD is C:, D: is the CD-ROM, but
E: is a network shared drive. So XP always uses E: as the drive letter for the USB device
even though E: is already mapped to a network drive. How can I force XP to use say
F: or start at the end like Z:? Changing the network drive to another letter is not possible
because E: is for Autocad files. Autocad files are dependant on paths so changing the
drive letter is not possible. It was incredibly short sighted by the original admin, yes I know

 

[Oldguy]

If User has Admin Privileges you can try the following.
(If not Logon as Administrator and then do the following.)
With the camera attached to USB port and in your case appearing as E drive:

Right click on My Computer and select: Manage
Select: Disk Management
Locate the Camera USB Drive and Right Click.
Change drive letter.
Disconnect then reconnect the drive to confirm.

I use this system with two cameras and a removable hard drive tray that I
use with three different old ( small) hard drives and all drives have
different letters when connected.

Works for me on XP PRO.
Hope it works for you too.

Oldguy

 

[Bob I]

For Auto-assign of drive letters Windows Starts at Z for network drives,
and A for Local drives. If one wants "automation", then one follows
convention. Help and Support will explain this in detail.

 

[David Lewis]

no local admin privileges

"Oldguy" <[email protected]>
|>If User has Admin Privileges you can try the following.
|> (If not Logon as Administrator and then do the following.)
|>With the camera attached to USB port and in your case appearing as E drive:
|>
|>Right click on My Computer and select: Manage
|>Select: Disk Management
|>Locate the Camera USB Drive and Right Click.
|>Change drive letter.
|>Disconnect then reconnect the drive to confirm.
|>
|>I use this system with two cameras and a removable hard drive tray that I
|>use with three different old ( small) hard drives and all drives have
|>different letters when connected.
|>
|>Works for me on XP PRO.
|>Hope it works for you too.
|>
|>Oldguy
|>
|>|>> When a regular user (not admin) inserts a USB thumb drive or Camera into
|>> his computer the
|>> computer assigns it the next physical driver letter. Local HD is C:, D:
|>> is the CD-ROM, but
|>> E: is a network shared drive. So XP always uses E: as the drive letter
|>> for the USB device
|>> even though E: is already mapped to a network drive. How can I force XP
|>> to use say
|>> F: or start at the end like Z:? Changing the network drive to another
|>> letter is not possible
|>> because E: is for Autocad files. Autocad files are dependant on paths so
|>> changing the
|>> drive letter is not possible. It was incredibly short sighted by the
|>> original admin, yes I know
|>>
|>

 

[David Lewis]

The E: drive cannot be changed.
I need the USB drive to be auto assigned to something other then E:

Bob I <[email protected]>
|>For Auto-assign of drive letters Windows Starts at Z for network drives,
|>and A for Local drives. If one wants "automation", then one follows
|>convention. Help and Support will explain this in detail.
|>
|>David Lewis wrote:
|>
|>> When a regular user (not admin) inserts a USB thumb drive or Camera into his computer the
|>> computer assigns it the next physical driver letter. Local HD is C:, D: is the CD-ROM, but
|>> E: is a network shared drive. So XP always uses E: as the drive letter for the USB device
|>> even though E: is already mapped to a network drive. How can I force XP to use say
|>> F: or start at the end like Z:? Changing the network drive to another letter is not possible
|>> because E: is for Autocad files. Autocad files are dependant on paths so changing the
|>> drive letter is not possible. It was incredibly short sighted by the original admin, yes I know
|>>

 

[Bob I]

Bummer!