Drive letters and removable storage

[Rab]

Please help.

Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.

First mapped drive from the novell server is f.

When we load a removable drive all it will take the f drive letter for
itself and either prevent reading of the mapped drive when loggin in to
the server or be unreadable itself until its drive letter is changed.

Is there a way in windows to designate the next available drive so the
removable drive will automatically become a drive that is not used
elsewhere? (eg "nextdrive k:" or something like that)

[Matthias Tacke]

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.

You don't make friends with heavy inappropriate crossposting.

Start the computer with the ext. disk attached and start diskmgmgt.msc.
Change the letter assigned to the disk or remove it and assign a folder
on a ntfs drive to mount the drive instead.

HTH

[Richard Ballard]

Post by Matthias Tacke

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.

You don't make friends with heavy inappropriate crossposting.
Start the computer with the ext. disk attached and start diskmgmgt.msc.
Change the letter assigned to the disk or remove it and assign a folder
on a ntfs drive to mount the drive instead.

Many network users do not have the technical sophistication to perform
this procedure.

Changing job assignments make this procedure a continuous
(re)education problem.

IMO the efficient answer is to modify the network global login script to
accommodate (upgraded) workstations with removable drives.

YMMV.

Richard Ballard MSEE CNA4 KD0AZ
--
Consultant specializing in computer networks, imaging & security
Listed as rjballard in "Friends & Favorites" at www.amazon.com
Last book review: "Guerrilla Television" by Michael Shamberg

[Richard Ballard]

Post by Bob I
Please read Windows Help key words "drive mapping" for the following.
"Network drives are assigned letters from Z to A, and local drives (your
hard drive and removable storage devices) are assigned letters from A to Z."

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.
First mapped drive from the novell server is f.
When we load a removable drive all it will take the f drive letter for
itself and either prevent reading of the mapped drive when loggin in to
the server or be unreadable itself until its drive letter is changed.
Is there a way in windows to designate the next available drive so the
removable drive will automatically become a drive that is not used
elsewhere? (eg "nextdrive k:" or something like that)

The Windows Help text that Bob I <***@yahoo.com> references
discusses workstation operating system (OS) and network OS
behaviour in case of default -- i.e., when no overriding network
login script is provided.

We live in an era of 200 GByte physical hard drives. There
are many reasons to subdivide a large hard drive into multiple
smaller logical drives: e.g., a SYSTEM logical drive (Z:); an
APPLICATION logical drive (F: hypothetically dictated by
legacy software conventions); and a DATA logical drive
(G: hypothetically dictated by legacy software conventions).
One physical drive with three _specific_ drive mappings requires
a network login script in this example. The login script
overrides the OS default mappings and provides for _specific_
custom network drive mappings.

When new technology is added (e.g., removable storage),
the legacy drive mappings both in existing login scripts and
in existing legacy software must be reviewed and potentially
modified. Most users do not have the technical sophistication
to work around this problem manually.

Please consult your network administrator.

Hope that helps.

Richard Ballard MSEE CNA4 KD0AZ
--
Consultant specializing in computer networks, imaging & security
Listed as rjballard in "Friends & Favorites" at www.amazon.com
Last book review: "Guerrilla Television" by Michael Shamberg

[Alex Toft]

Post by Matthias Tacke

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.

You don't make friends with heavy inappropriate crossposting.
Start the computer with the ext. disk attached and start diskmgmgt.msc.
Change the letter assigned to the disk or remove it and assign a folder
on a ntfs drive to mount the drive instead.
HTH

Now you mention it - we have this problem aswell. ie. Removable drives
grab the first non-physical drive letter available, even if it is mapped
to a network drive.

If we have C, D and E letters assigned to local hard drives, then network
drives F, G etc.. you plug in a usb stick, or a firewire hard drive, and
it starts eating letters from F onwards.

In a student lab environment, there are literally hundreds of possible
devices which could be plugged in by students, so a way of pre-defining
letters for removable drives, much like the 'FIRST NETWORK DRIVE' setting
in the Novell Client would be very very useful.

Last time I checked technet, they acknowledged there was no fix at that
time.

[Tony Lewis]

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:02:50 GMT, Alex Toft

Post by Alex Toft

Post by Matthias Tacke

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.

You don't make friends with heavy inappropriate crossposting.
Start the computer with the ext. disk attached and start diskmgmgt.msc.
Change the letter assigned to the disk or remove it and assign a folder
on a ntfs drive to mount the drive instead.
HTH

Now you mention it - we have this problem aswell. ie. Removable drives
grab the first non-physical drive letter available, even if it is mapped
to a network drive.
If we have C, D and E letters assigned to local hard drives, then network
drives F, G etc.. you plug in a usb stick, or a firewire hard drive, and
it starts eating letters from F onwards.
In a student lab environment, there are literally hundreds of possible
devices which could be plugged in by students, so a way of pre-defining
letters for removable drives, much like the 'FIRST NETWORK DRIVE' setting
in the Novell Client would be very very useful.
Last time I checked technet, they acknowledged there was no fix at that
time.

I get round this by connecting the device then manually amending the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices registry key.

Thus I force various devices to M:, N: P: etc taking care not to use
those mappings in netware.

Might be a bit of a pain in a student environment but then again you
can distribute registry changes.

hth

[Bob I]

Please read Windows Help key words "drive mapping" for the following.

"Network drives are assigned letters from Z to A, and local drives (your
hard drive and removable storage devices) are assigned letters from A to Z."

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.
First mapped drive from the novell server is f.
When we load a removable drive all it will take the f drive letter for
itself and either prevent reading of the mapped drive when loggin in to
the server or be unreadable itself until its drive letter is changed.
Is there a way in windows to designate the next available drive so the
removable drive will automatically become a drive that is not used
elsewhere? (eg "nextdrive k:" or something like that)

[Tony Lewis]

Post by Bob I
Please read Windows Help key words "drive mapping" for the following.
"Network drives are assigned letters from Z to A, and local drives (your
hard drive and removable storage devices) are assigned letters from A to Z."

We are in the Netware forum here and netware assigns drive letter (by
default) from F - Z (on the assumption A - E are local) and search
drives from Z-F. Problems occur when added devices encroach on F
onward but not necessarily keeping the same letter as they did last
time.

TonyL

Post by Bob I

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.
First mapped drive from the novell server is f.
When we load a removable drive all it will take the f drive letter for
itself and either prevent reading of the mapped drive when loggin in to
the server or be unreadable itself until its drive letter is changed.
Is there a way in windows to designate the next available drive so the
removable drive will automatically become a drive that is not used
elsewhere? (eg "nextdrive k:" or something like that)

[Keith Bailey]

It is always possible in the Netware Client to assign the 1st network

Post by Tony Lewis

Post by Bob I
Please read Windows Help key words "drive mapping" for the following.
"Network drives are assigned letters from Z to A, and local drives (your
hard drive and removable storage devices) are assigned letters from A to Z."

We are in the Netware forum here and netware assigns drive letter (by
default) from F - Z (on the assumption A - E are local) and search
drives from Z-F. Problems occur when added devices encroach on F
onward but not necessarily keeping the same letter as they did last
time.
TonyL

Post by Bob I

Post by Rab
Please help.
Using windows XP and 2003 server with removable usb hard drives.
First mapped drive from the novell server is f.
When we load a removable drive all it will take the f drive letter for
itself and either prevent reading of the mapped drive when loggin in to
the server or be unreadable itself until its drive letter is changed.
Is there a way in windows to designate the next available drive so the
removable drive will automatically become a drive that is not used
elsewhere? (eg "nextdrive k:" or something like that)

Keith Bailey
Computer Manager
Kingsbury High School
LONDON UK

[Alex Toft]

I notice that a lot of people replied who didn't actually understand
the problem. This fix is only needed when :

1) Users are not permitted to use disc manager to change drive letters.
and
2) Where countless numbers of different makes and models of devices could
be used, preventing manually allocated drive letters from sticking

I gave this some thought and I've found a fix which works - for us at
least. It's a touch dirty, but in the absence of a clean solution it's the
best I can offer at present..

Just for reference we run NW6.5, ZfD6.5, XP with DLU (Restricted User). All
machines have local C: and D: drives, and our video suites have E: aswell.
Network mappings at the front end of the alphabet are F: and H:.

A device plugged in will install correctly but will not be visible in
Windows Explorer. This is because the device is installed by the system
user, who knows nothing about user network drive mappings and hence uses
F: as the perceived first available letter (there is no way to configure
Windows to use specified letters when countless multiple devices are
involved). The user will still see their network F: drive and the usb
stick will be unavailable unless they disconnect the network mapping at
which point it magically appears. Oppositely, if you plug in the usb
stick before logging in, it WILL be available, but the login script will
fail to map your home directory as the system user has already allocated
F:.

The way round this is to trick system into thinking that network drives
(ie. F: and H:) are in use, and this must be done between the running of
the login script, and the insertion of the usb key. If this is done before
the login script runs, the network maps will fail, but when run shortly
there-afterwards, the user can see and use their F: and H: mappings whilst
at the same time, invisibly in the system space, F: and H: are set as
substitute references to the D: drive therefore occupying those letters
from the perspective of the disc management system.

To do this I have used the subst command, and called the following 2 batch
files from the scheduler to run as secure system :

on login :
subst F: D:\
subst H: D:\

and on logout to remove subst refs :
subst F: /d
subst H: /d

A reboot automatically clears the references.

Hope this is of use to someone.

Cheers

Alex
Senior Geek
Leeds Met University