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These instructions are for XP pro, if you have Home, or MCE, then boot into “safe mode” first.
Disconnect your USB drive, and any other flash media or USB drives, then Restart
At the desktop, connect your USB drive, click Start, then Right-click “my computer” choose -manage-
When the “Computer Management” window opens, click -disk management-
In the right-bottom pane locate the USB drive, (you may have to use the scroll bar if present,)
then right-click the appropriate drive where it says 'Disk1' (or Disk2 or 3 etc.)
choose -Change Drive Letter & Paths...-, then click the [Add] button NOT “change”
a new window will open with “Mount in the following empty NTFS folder:” already selected.
Click the [Browse] button
[note: to mount a volume into an NTFS folder you must choose a location that is an
NTFS volume. The following window will show you locations that
ARE NTFS, although you could mount into nested folders, I recommend that you put it
on the ‘root’ of a volume. If you choose the C volume, then the sharename for later will often be C$.]
Valid NTFS Volumes/partitions will now appear, again recommend the root drive which will typically be C:\
Once you’ve made your choice, click the [New Folder] button and name it USB_DRIVE (no space for share purposes,)
or similar, then press [OK] and [OK] again and [exit] or close the “Computer Management” window.
[note: NOTHING will have changed in that ‘computer management’ window. This is a PATH, not a DRIVE.]
Next click Start -- double-click “my computer” double-click the drive, (and any sub-folders in the Path,) you chose above
to place the ‘empty NTFS folder’ in, and you will see a folder, (with a drive icon,) named USB_DRIVE (or whatever
you named it.)
Next, right-click on it and choose the -sharing tab-, check the “share this folder on the network” box,
Enter as the Share name USB_DRIVE (again, NO spaces if you choose your own.)
Click the [permissions] button, give the Everyone group rights to change data, (Read only is default)
Now we need the Computername the sharename and the drivepathname
[Click -start-, right-click “my computer” choose -properties-, when the “system properties” window opens,
Click the -computer name- tab. Write down what appears after “Full computer name:”
We don’t need the FULL name so cross-out Everything after the first period.
Everything upto the first period is all the ‘name’ we need.
E.g. BILL-DBEY486738.MSHOME BILL-DBEY486738 would be the computer name.
For the sharename, close the above properties window, click -start-, “my computer” and right-click on
Volume that you placed the USB_DRIVE folder on, choose -sharing and security-, note the sharename
If it was the C: drive, then it likely will be C$.
The drivepathname is USB_DRIVE or whatever else you named the NTFS folder when you created it.]
Now click -start-, -run-, then type CMD and press [enter] on keyboard, when the black command window
opens, type
where X = The volume letter you wish to permanently Map to the USB drive.
Computername = what you wrote down above.
Sharename = the share name of the volume the ‘empty NTFS folder’ resides on.
Drivepathname = USB_DRIVE or whatever ‘name’ you gave that folder.
“net use X: \\computername\sharename\drivepathname /persistent:yes” (without quotes)
If “command completed successfully” then you’re all set !
From now on, when that USB drive is NOT connected and you click on the mapped drive you will get an error window
“X:\ refers to a location that is unavailable…”
When it IS connected, you will see whatever files are on that USB drive.
This is like 'mapping' a single flash drive, AND ONLY THAT DRIVE to a currently un-used drive letter.
enjoy !
Tallon41
