I have a question about Designate 
Your Own Drive Letters:


The USB floppy drive on my Toshiba laptop (XP Home Edition) just magically changed 
its drive letter assignment form A: to B:. Weirder still, it appears that NOTHING 
is currently assigned to drive letter A:! 

Any ideas on what registry key I can edit in XP to restore the floppy's drive letter 
assignment to A:?

thanks in advance!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

B: is a valid drive letter assignment for a floppy disk drive.

In the very early days of PCs, most did not have hard disk drive storage due to the 
extreme expense involved.  Instead, some used tapes (literally--you would hook up 
an audio cassette recorder to the computer and that would be "mass storage), while 
others (notably the original IBM PC and of course others) would use two 5-¼" floppy 
drives.  Typically, one floppy would be used to load the program itself, and the 
other would be sued to store the generated data.

[PS-My apologies if you're a computer old-timer and already knew this.]

Have you checked the Toshiba support pages---maybe this is expected behavior?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

But, you have every expectation that when you connect the USB floppy it should come 
us as A:.

Before you start futzing in the registry, have there been any BIOS updates or changes? 
 Did the USB floppy always come up as A: until recently?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

hi Dan,

Thanks for your input...yes, the drive was always assigned to A: until recently. 
The weird thing is that there's no A: drive assigned, according to Windows (Explorer, 
My Comouter, etc.). In answer to your questions, no recent BIOS updates or added 
hardware. Go figure...

JohnB

ps: yes, I am an old PC user, but no offense taken. believe it or not, I had a 5.25" 
floppy B: drive installed on my desktop rig until about six months ago!






On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 7:43 pm, Dan Sarandrea, MCSE wrote:
>But, you have every expectation that when you connect the USB floppy it should come 
>us as A:.
>
>Before you start futzing in the registry, have there been any BIOS updates or changes? 
> Did the USB floppy always come up as A: until recently?
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Also, Toshiba tech support was no help. The tech tried to have me edit/check the 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Enum\ FLOP\CurrentDriveLetterAssignment key, until I reminded 
him that this key exists in the registry for Win98/ME, but not in XP. If only I could 
find the analogous key for XP...






On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 7:43 pm, Dan Sarandrea, MCSE wrote:
>But, you have every expectation that when you connect the USB floppy it should come 
>us as A:.
>
>Before you start futzing in the registry, have there been any BIOS updates or changes? 
> Did the USB floppy always come up as A: until recently?
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Ya got a real head-scratcher goin' here...

Some thoughts:

1.  Any change in behavior depending upon what other USB devices are attached?

2.  Using a USB hub?  Any changes if it is taken out of the mix?

3.  Any changes depending upon whether drive is attached while floppy is inserted 
prior to attachment as opposed to when floppy is not inserted prior to attachment?

4.  Laptops with removeable drives have BIOSs like no other computer, perhaps a full 
review of pertient settings is in order, just in case.

5.  MS released a Windows Update a month or two ago that updated USB 1.1 and 2.0 
drivers.  If you don't have it, think about getting it; if you do have it, could 
it have been the source of the trouble?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

See if the BIOS has an option to disable the floppy disk controller
Do the same in the device manager
XP may be picking up on a nonexistent floppy and tying up the A: designation for it
You might want to check in disk management and see if the USB floppy shows up in there
I know standard floppies don’t but that may be different for the USB variety

Just out of curiosity can you use a USB floppy to boot to a boot disk?
Regards, Adam Bradley


On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 8:27 pm, johnnyzero wrote:

>Also, Toshiba tech support was no help. The tech tried to have me edit/check the 
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Enum\ FLOP\CurrentDriveLetterAssignment key, until I reminded 
>him that this key exists in the registry for Win98/ME, but not in XP. If only I 
could 
>find the analogous key for XP...
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Ok, I'm having the same problem, but may have a little more info. I have a Dell Inspiron 8200. I have a removable floppy drive. I don't always have it handy, so I frequently use a USB floppy drive. My laptop has 2 USB ports on it (1.1 I think). Depending on which USB port I plug the floppy in determines whether it is A: or B: Ever since I have used this external floppy drive though, when plug in my internal floppy, it is always B: regardless of whether the USB one is connected or not. I have tried rebooting, shutting down, looking in my BIOS, etc.


On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 8:41 pm, Adam Bradley wrote:
>See if the BIOS has an option to disable the floppy disk controller

>Do the same in the device manager

>XP may be picking up on a nonexistent floppy and tying up the A: designation for
>it

>You might want to check in disk management and see if the USB floppy shows up in
>there

>I know standard floppies don’t but that may be different for the USB variety

>Just out of curiosity can you use a USB floppy to boot to a boot disk?

>Regards, Adam Bradley
>
>On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 8:27 pm, johnnyzero wrote:
>

>>Also, Toshiba tech support was no help. The tech tried to have me edit/check the 
>>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Enum\ FLOP\CurrentDriveLetterAssignment key, until I reminded 
>>him that this key exists in the registry for Win98/ME, but not in XP. If only I 
>could 
>>find the analogous key for XP...
>>
>>
 
[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Simple... Start Regedit and find: 
My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Mounted Devices.

Under that you will see a \Dos Devices\B:
Select the entry and press F2 (or Rt click and choose rename)
Rename to \Dos Devices\A:

Make sure if you have  an entry for A: that you rename that one to B:

NetBoy







On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 7:21 pm, johnnyzero wrote:

>

>I have a question about Designate 

>Your Own Drive Letters:


>

>The USB floppy drive on my Toshiba laptop (XP Home Edition) just magically changed 

>its drive letter assignment form A: to B:. Weirder still, it appears that NOTHING 

>is currently assigned to drive letter A:! 

>

>Any ideas on what registry key I can edit in XP to restore the floppy's drive letter 

>assignment to A:?

>

>thanks in advance!
 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

OOPS, I had a couple of space in the registry keys that weren't supposed to be there...
Simple... Start Regedit and find: 
My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices.

Under that you will see a \DosDevices\B:
Select the entry and press F2 (or Rt click and choose rename)
Rename to \DosDevices\A:

Make sure if you have  an entry for A: that you rename that one to B:

NetBoy

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Didn't work for me.


On Wednesday, April 28, 2004 at 4:33 am, NetBoy wrote:
>OOPS, I had a couple of space in the registry keys that weren't supposed to be there...
>Simple... Start Regedit and find:
>My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices.
>
>Under that you will see a \DosDevices\B:
>Select the entry and press F2 (or Rt click and choose rename)
>Rename to \DosDevices\A:
>
>Make sure if you have an entry for A: that you rename that one to B:
>
>NetBoy

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Bill, it may be of more help to tell us what you have tried and what didn't work. 
 What was the error message or why did it not complete.

Remember that you cannot have two registry key have the same name.  So if A: exists 
and you try to rename B: to A:, windows will complain and it will not work.  What 
you need to do is rename B: to X: (something unused), then rename A: to B:, then 
rename X: to A:. 

I will try to help if you can give me more information.
Also post a response if this works for you.

NetBoy


> 




On Sunday, July 3, 2005 at 6:53 pm, Bill Reed wrote:  Didn't work for me. 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi , i had the same problem and followed NetBoy's instructions, they worked great for me ! thanks NetBoy! first problem i had in swapping the letters was that it was already reading A: and wouldnt let it change , so try changing A: to Z: then change B: to A: and now you can change your original A: (which is now Z :) over to B:. hope you can understand what im getting at , but thats the way it worked for me . remember to restart the machine when youre done and hey presto! your B: drive has now turned into A:


On Sunday, July 3, 2005 at 7:51 pm, NetBoy wrote:
>Bill, it may be of more help to tell us what you have tried and what didn't work.
> What was the error message or why did it not complete.
>
>Remember that you cannot have two registry key have the same name. So if A: exists
>and you try to rename B: to A:, windows will complain and it will not work. What
>you need to do is rename B: to X: (something unused), then rename A: to B:, then
>rename X: to A:.
>
>I will try to help if you can give me more information.
>Also post a response if this works for you.
>
>NetBoy
>
>>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

NetBoy's advice worked for me!!! 10x The sitation: I had to map a locall folder on my HD as A: (on a 2000 server, think the same is on XP); so I had to dissable the floppy in order the console command subst to work for me. When I ennabled the floppy again it got a F: assignment. After the registry setting suggested by netboy, all I needed was a restart and my floppy became A: again!!! thanks to NetBoy p.s. by the way I couldnot find any MS tool renaming the floopy letter nor another workaround


On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 7:21 pm, johnnyzero wrote:
>
>I have a question about Designate
>Your Own Drive Letters:

>
>The USB floppy drive on my Toshiba laptop (XP Home Edition) just magically changed
>its drive letter assignment form A: to B:. Weirder still, it appears that NOTHING
>is currently assigned to drive letter A:!
>
>Any ideas on what registry key I can edit in XP to restore the floppy's drive letter
>assignment to A:?
>
>thanks in advance!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

On Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 4:44 am, deyanr wrote:
>NetBoy's advice worked for me!!! Yup! The regedit solution worked for me as well.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

netboy! thankssss 2007 july!! (VISTA ULTIMATE)


On Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at 1:30 am, gundo wrote:
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The way however you can do this is by going to : My Computer -> (Right Click) Properties ->Devices Tab -> Device Manager . Here uninstall the Floppy Drive and Floppy Drive Controllers . Save the changes and close the window. Go to the Control Panel and go to Add Hardware Wizard.Follow the corresponding steps for installing. Restart your computer.The Drive Letter would have changed fro B: to A:. Try a luck! .It worker for me!.


On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 7:21 pm, johnnyzero wrote:
>
>I have a question about Designate
>Your Own Drive Letters:

>
>The USB floppy drive on my Toshiba laptop (XP Home Edition) just magically changed
>its drive letter assignment form A: to B:. Weirder still, it appears that NOTHING
>is currently assigned to drive letter A:!
>
>Any ideas on what registry key I can edit in XP to restore the floppy's drive letter
>assignment to A:?
>
>thanks in advance!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

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