Windows XP USB Drive Letter Assignment Problem

[MattM]

I've been browsing for a fix, and yet to find one. Hopefully someone here can
help.

Our enterprise is running Win Xp Sp2 and users do not have permissions to
diskmngt. We're running MS and Novell network shares. When the user plugs
their usb drive in, Windows automatically assigns it the first available
drive letter, which in this case is a network share.

I've tried putting in trash binary data for \dosdevices\drive: under
mounteddevices, but Win just overwrites it. I cannot force windows to use
select approved drive letters. So then I thought I would script something
using subst or mountvol, but WMI will not report the removalable media,
instead it sees it as a network drive.

Then I tried to use mountvol drive: /l to return the volume info, but once
again, it doesn't work for network shares. Mountvol /l works, but not
specifying the drive letter to search.

Basically I need a free solution to fix this. I'm out of options looking for
help.

Summary:
Novell mapped drive F:
Plug usb drive in, assigns drive letter F:
USB does not show up for user
User cannot change letter because they don't have rights
WMI doesn't see removalable media correctly if it's already reporting as a
network share
Mountvol F: /l doesn't work because F: isn't a physical drive
Subst doesn't work because it just remaps the share, not the USB device

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've been browsing for a fix, and yet to find one. Hopefully someone here
can
help.

Our enterprise is running Win Xp Sp2 and users do not have permissions to
diskmngt. We're running MS and Novell network shares. When the user plugs
their usb drive in, Windows automatically assigns it the first available
drive letter, which in this case is a network share.

I've tried putting in trash binary data for \dosdevices\drive: under
mounteddevices, but Win just overwrites it. I cannot force windows to use
select approved drive letters. So then I thought I would script something
using subst or mountvol, but WMI will not report the removalable media,
instead it sees it as a network drive.

Then I tried to use mountvol drive: /l to return the volume info, but once
again, it doesn't work for network shares. Mountvol /l works, but not
specifying the drive letter to search.

Basically I need a free solution to fix this. I'm out of options looking
for
help.

Summary:
Novell mapped drive F:
Plug usb drive in, assigns drive letter F:
USB does not show up for user
User cannot change letter because they don't have rights
WMI doesn't see removalable media correctly if it's already reporting as a
network share
Mountvol F: /l doesn't work because F: isn't a physical drive
Subst doesn't work because it just remaps the share, not the USB device

Your best option is to use the high letters of the alphabet for
your shared network drives. While you use the low letters,
you will keep on having problems with USB also with CD drives.

USBDLM might offer temporary relief - see here:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

 

[LVTravel]

I've been browsing for a fix, and yet to find one. Hopefully someone here
can
help.

Our enterprise is running Win Xp Sp2 and users do not have permissions to
diskmngt. We're running MS and Novell network shares. When the user plugs
their usb drive in, Windows automatically assigns it the first available
drive letter, which in this case is a network share.

I've tried putting in trash binary data for \dosdevices\drive: under
mounteddevices, but Win just overwrites it. I cannot force windows to use
select approved drive letters. So then I thought I would script something
using subst or mountvol, but WMI will not report the removalable media,
instead it sees it as a network drive.

Then I tried to use mountvol drive: /l to return the volume info, but once
again, it doesn't work for network shares. Mountvol /l works, but not
specifying the drive letter to search.

Basically I need a free solution to fix this. I'm out of options looking
for
help.

Summary:
Novell mapped drive F:
Plug usb drive in, assigns drive letter F:
USB does not show up for user
User cannot change letter because they don't have rights
WMI doesn't see removalable media correctly if it's already reporting as a
network share
Mountvol F: /l doesn't work because F: isn't a physical drive
Subst doesn't work because it just remaps the share, not the USB device

As Pegasus said you should always map network drives to the upper regions of
the drive letter availability. My work and home network drive mappings are
all above letter M which allows me to install USB drives without any issues.
I also normally put the optical drive as letter R and if I have two the main
writer optical is placed as W.

If because of some of the software on your computer you are not allowed to
change the drive mappings, you need to contact your network administrator to
see if something can be done to change the drive mappings to a high letter.
When my school was using Win 98 for their desktop OS and Novell for their
server, it was common to have the drive letters in the E-H region. When USB
drives became popular, this created the issue you describe. Now, we are all
on Win 2000 Pro desktops and Win 2003 servers. The administrator resisted
the change to the higher letters but wisdom finally prevailed when he tried
to connect a USB drive and couldn't access it on his desktop. Amazingly all
the computer's mappings were changed the next day.

 

[Richard John]

Your best option is to use the high letters of the alphabet for
your shared network drives. While you use the low letters,
you will keep on having problems with USB also with CD drives.

USBDLM might offer temporary relief - see here:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

Have you tried something like Tweak UI (free from Microsoft)
to manage your drive letters - perhaps only A B C D and E are
allowed - just add F

 

[MattM]

Thanks for the replies, but using letters Z: backwards isn't currently an
option. We have various apps and such that use drive letters rather than UNC
paths. And with over 15,000 PC's, you get the picture.

Maybe in the next few years we can correct this and use paths instead of
drive letters, but that doesn't fix the issue at hand currently.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the replies, but using letters Z: backwards isn't currently an
option. We have various apps and such that use drive letters rather than
UNC
paths. And with over 15,000 PC's, you get the picture.

Maybe in the next few years we can correct this and use paths instead of
drive letters, but that doesn't fix the issue at hand currently.

"MattM" wrote:

This has been a frequently discussed issue since USB
mass storage devices became available. The longer you
wait before you bite the bullet, the worse it will get. I bet
you did not have 15,000 PCs some five years ago!

 

[Uwe Sieber]

Have you tried something like Tweak UI (free from Microsoft)
to manage your drive letters - perhaps only A B C D and E are
allowed - just add F

My means of TweakUI can only hide drive letters from the
Windows Explorer. This is great for confusing the users only.


Uwe

 

[Uwe Sieber]

Summary:
Novell mapped drive F:
Plug usb drive in, assigns drive letter F:
USB does not show up for user
User cannot change letter because they don't have rights
WMI doesn't see removalable media correctly if it's already reporting as a
network share
Mountvol F: /l doesn't work because F: isn't a physical drive
Subst doesn't work because it just remaps the share, not the USB device

Either use USBDLM as already suggested or try to get the hotfix
for the problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297694

Or wait for SP3...


Uwe