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Can't see flash drive in Windows explorer

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3 replies

by kevin7frg

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1. Computer assigns drive letter "E" which is seen when I click on "Safe Removal" icon.
2. Using Windows XP Pro
3. Can't see drive letter in "My Computer"
4. Can see and access from "Disk Management"
5. Can only see in explorer when I type "E:" in the address line, then I can access but still can't see it in Windows Explorer or My Computer.

3 replies

by rob miners

Write down all fixed Disk and CD/DVD drive letters so as not to delete them.

1. Login with Administrative privileges.

2. Disconnect all USB or FireWire storage devices.

3. Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

4. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices there will be registry keys with the name that resembles the format of \DosDevice\X: where X can be any alphabet letter which corresponding to your physical system drive letter.

5. Delete all possible USB drives, FireWire drives and external drives which have a drive letter.

DO NOT delete any of the fixed Hard Disk Drives or CD/DVD optical drives registry values.

Exclude \DosDevice\A: which normally reserved for floppy disk drives.

Let us know how you get on.

by kevin7frg

Everytime I delete all these and leave only the C and D, the next time I plug in the flash drive, it creates the E and also a strange volume key that starts with a ?. This same flash drive works fine in any other computer!

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