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Drive Mapping in XP

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12 replies

by fellows

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My Computer or Windows Explorer will not show any drives beyond E:(meaning F thru Z). Disk admin can see the drive, partition, format it, explore it, etc. I can write files to the drive, access files from the drive, etc.
I discovered this when I installed a new hard drive. A:, C:, D: and E: were already used; so I named it F:. Couldn't see it in My Computer or Explorer. Renamed my cdrom from E: to Q:; renamed the new hard drive to E:. Now I could see the new hard drive but not the cd rom.
Icould, however, see the cd from the disk admin screen, so I could explore it from there. I made a shortcut to the cd on the desktop so I could at least access it.
I have no network drives mapped, btw. I'm wondering if there's a setting in Win XP to limit what or how many drives the My Computer will show. I've checked microsoft.com support database with no luck.
This is a Systemax(Tiger Direct) pc with Windows XP. I've tried various jumper settings as well.
I'm a pc tech/support analyst and have been in IS & T for 5 years. This one has me stumped. I wish I could've gotten my new pc with a different operating system. Oh well...
So far, 2 'experts' at allexperts.com were unable to answer this question.

12 replies

by dklippert

TweakUI has a setting in the My Computer section that limits the display of Drive letters.
If you're not using it now, it might be interesting to download it and see if it will kick in the dispaly.

by fellows

I checked on Microsoft.com and Tweak UI does not seem to be available for WinXP. It gave me the impression that the functions were already built into the OS. Anyone know if TweakUI is available for XP or not and how to get it?

by johnm

Have you checked to see whether it was delivered with a legacy CONFIG.SYS file? That might include a specific LASTDRIVE= command. Otherwise, check out the DISKPART command under Help and Support. Mine is doing fine with network drives but I haven't added any local drives so I don't know if this is a general problem or not.

by fellows

In XP, the config.sys file is empty. Neither the win.ini or or the other one(can't remember it now) have a LASTDRIVE command.

by ann777

Tweakui is available for all OSes. You can also try Fresh UI which specifically says XP. Both are available at www.download.com

Regard the drive limitation, check device manager for the actual drive letter being used by your physical devices on the computer. Make sure "lastdrive=e" does not exist in any configuration files, etc.

by william jay

As to the dilemma with the missing drive letters, the answers are pretty good so far.
As to TweakUI for XP, well MS did release one as part of the "Power Toys for XP" add-on. It was available on the XP homepage in October and November, but removed it. As you have likely seen, there is a promise to re-release it soon . . cheers.

Oh yeah, TweakUI for the other Windows products does and will work fine under XP, but some of the special feature tweaks are missing.

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