Present a USB stick as Drive A: ?

agentsmith · 28 Nov 2007 at 12:35

Hiya - not posted here for years so tell me to s*d off if you like!

I have a piece of software that requires an A: drive to save to.

I would 'like' to use a USB stick to do this (speed/reliability over FDD)
I can find lots of guides on making a USB stick bootable, but NOT on making a USB drive present as a floppy and/or drive A:

any ideas?

many thanks in advance

agentsmith

tedaC · 28 Nov 2007 at 12:38

insert memory stick

right click "my computer" > manage > disk management > right click on the usb drive and select change drive letter > select a:

Above is for windows XP and probably 2000

agentsmith · 28 Nov 2007 at 12:42

tedaC said:
insert memory stick

right click "my computer" > manage > disk management > right click on the usb drive and select change drive letter > select a:

Above is for windows XP and probably 2000

only offers me drive letters E: thru Z:

sidethink · 28 Nov 2007 at 13:27

Not sure this can be done in Windows as standard, but this might do it for you:

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

Silverwolf · 28 Nov 2007 at 14:08

Methinks A: is always reserved for a Floppy Drive.

bledd · 28 Nov 2007 at 14:16

need to disable floppy in the bios, then you can set a usb stick as a in diskmgmt.msc

Countcussy · 28 Nov 2007 at 14:21

tedaC said:
insert memory stick

right click "my computer" > manage > disk management > right click on the usb drive and select change drive letter > select a:

Above is for windows XP and probably 2000

The console will not allow you to choose a letter currently in use. You would have to "free" the letter required from its current drive assignment first..

Also, As has been said, there is a bit more to it for the floppy drive.

IAmATeaf · 28 Nov 2007 at 21:53

Try using the subst command ie subst a: e:\

swinnie · 28 Nov 2007 at 22:06

I would imagine the drive letter A: is reserved just like C:

Carter · 28 Nov 2007 at 22:19

I tried Bledds method on my spare usb stick and it worked.

agentsmith · 28 Nov 2007 at 23:10

I opted for hacking the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

key is \DosDevices\F:

and simply renamed the key to \DosDevices\A:

this worked perfectly in explorer, but the specific software I mentioned previously fails to write to the disk complaining it may be full or contain the wrong type of files

The machines have no floppy drives, but I'll try some of your helpful suggestions when I'm back in the office.

many thanks

agentsmith

IAmATeaf · 29 Nov 2007 at 09:49

If there's no A: drive present then the subst command I mentioned above does work.