Assigning a permanent drive letter to an external USB drive / flash drive / memory stick in Windows
Introduction
This article provides information about assigning a permanent drive letter to an external USB drive / flash drive / memory stick in Windows XP.
Article Detail
Note that SyncBackSE/Pro can use the SERIAL and LABEL variables when the drive letter is unknown. See this article for details.
If you'd like Windows to use the same drive letter every time follow these steps:
- Start -> Run...
- Type mmc and click OK. This launches a window with the title Console 1
- Select File -> Add/Remove Snap-in... A window with the title Add/Remove Snap-in will appear.
- Click the Add button at the bottom of the window (on the Standalone tab)
- Select Computer Management from the list then click the Add button
- The Local Computer radio button should be selected. Click the Finish button
- Click the Close button to return to Add/Remove Snap-in window, then click OK to return to Console 1
(An alternative in most recent versions of Windows to the above is to simply right-click (My) Computer, and select Manage, which will open a window directly into Computer Management for you)
- Expand the item Computer Management (Local) on the left (under Console Root, if you are using the MMC console method)
- Expand the item Storage then click on the Disk Management item
- When the window fills on the right side of the console, locate your USB drive in the listing on the lower right scrollable box.
- Right-click on the drives box and select Change Drive Letter and Paths...from the pop-up menu
- Here is where you either assign it an unused drive letter or edit the currently assigned drive letter.
- From the Window that appears, you can choose the drive letter to use. Click OK once you've added/changed the drive letter.
- Select File -> Exit from the main menu, and save the settings when prompted (or not, it doesn't matter)
Note: if the device you want to allocate a permanent drive letter to currently has that drive letter already, you must assign it a different letter temporarily, close Computer Management, then re-open Computer Management and re-assign it back to the drive letter you want. It is the act of changing the current drive letter - via Disk Management - that assigns that letter to the device permanently. If you do not make any changes, it will be as if you never accessed the facility at all, and the device will still be dynamically allocated 'next available' drive letter when Windows starts.
You can test the changes by removing the USB device and checking in Explorer to be sure it is no longer available, then plug it back in and the newly assigned drive letter should now be present (F5 to refresh display).
