USB pendrive versus network drive :(

[Aureliano Nale]

Hi,

I´am having this problem since the first time i used a pen drive on windows
xp, and couldn't find a solution.
Let's say we have a hard disk with 2 partitions C and D. A DVDRW unit called
E and 3 network drives called F,G, and H.
When i we connect a pen drive, windows assign to a unit letter usually the
first "free" one.
In this case it is F
This overlaps with the network drive.

Is there a way to avoid this?
I now how to change the drive letter. But to do so you need te be an
administrator.
Plain user cannot do it.

Any ideas?
Thanks in avance.

--------------------------------
Gente,

Hace ya rato que vengo viendo este problema en distintos equipos y no le
encuentro una solución.
Digamos que tenemos un disco con 2 particiones: C y D, una unidad de DVDRW,
que seria la unidad D, y tenemos unidades de red conectadas en las unidades
E F y G.
Al insertar un pendrive usb este adopta la unidad F.
O sea, se encima a una de las unidades de red.
Tiene una solución rápida que es cambiarle la asignación de letra de unidad
desde el administrador de quipos, administración de discos.
Pero al insertar otro pendrive vuelvo a tener el mismo problema.
Por otra parte para utilizar el administrador de equipos es necesario tener
permisos administrativos en el equipo o el dominio.
¿Hay alguna forma de explicarle a Win XP que las unidades usb las ponga
desde la letra G por ejemplo?
¿Se les ocurre alguna otra solución practica?

Gracias.
Nos leemos....

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

I´am having this problem since the first time i used a pen drive on
windows xp, and couldn't find a solution.
Let's say we have a hard disk with 2 partitions C and D. A DVDRW unit
called E and 3 network drives called F,G, and H.
When i we connect a pen drive, windows assign to a unit letter usually the
first "free" one.
In this case it is F
This overlaps with the network drive.

Is there a way to avoid this?
I now how to change the drive letter. But to do so you need te be an
administrator.
Plain user cannot do it.

Any ideas?
Thanks in avance.

Your administrator should use the high letters of the alphabet for
networked drives so that the low letters are available for USB
devices. This will require a change of your logon script. You
can disconnect/reconnect network drives manually or perhaps
by running your own batch file but sooner or later your
administrator will have to address this issue.

 

[John Wunderlich]

Hi,

Iïam having this problem since the first time i used a pen drive
on windows xp, and couldn't find a solution.
Let's say we have a hard disk with 2 partitions C and D. A DVDRW
unit called E and 3 network drives called F,G, and H.
When i we connect a pen drive, windows assign to a unit letter
usually the first "free" one.
In this case it is F
This overlaps with the network drive.

Is there a way to avoid this?
I now how to change the drive letter. But to do so you need te be
an administrator.
Plain user cannot do it.

Any ideas?
Thanks in avance.

Yes, as Pegasus said, Microsoft is aware of this problem and they
aren't going to do anything about it. The only solution is to map
network drives using high letters. Per Microsoft:

"New drive or mapped network drive not available in Windows Explorer"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297694>

HTH,
John

 

[Mike Brester]

Frankly this is bogus answer by MS. This issue needs to be addressed not
ignored. To ask me the system administrator to go through and change the
drive mappings in my logon script is asking a lot. We have applications that
are drive dependent so we can not go through and change logon scripts just
because microsoft says that is the fix and we are not going to do anything
about it. For some that is just not an option.

 

[Bob I]

It's by design, Network drives start at Z and work down, local drives
start at C and work up. YOU elected to map backwards. Now you get to
clean up the mess you created.

 

[Uwe Sieber]

If installing a 3rd party software is an option then my
'USB drive letter manager' can solve the problem.
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

You can configure it to assign certain drive letters
to USB drives or just let it detect and solve conflicts
with network drives by assingning a drive letter that
is really availlable.


Uwe