Comments on: Map a Drive Letter to a Folder the Easy Way in Windows

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:02:55 +0000

Paul,
I have also seen that problem with NET USE or windows sharing drives. It’s a generic bug in XP, simple solution is exactly as you stated, just assign letters to static things further down the alphabet.

By: Paul Kilo

Paul Kilo — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:35:22 +0000

I have found (at least in my system – win xp -) that Subst mess up with the attribution of the drive letter if you insert a removable drive AFTER you issue the subst command.
Let’s say that your subst target is F:, and the next available drive letter (before subst) is F:: when you plug-in the device, Windows will associate the letter F: to the device but you can’t see the removable drive content beacuse is “hidden” by the SUBST drive letter target. You have to SUBST /D in order to see the removable drive. I have to remember to not target the next free drive letter with subst to circumnavigate the problem.

By: marmstro

marmstro — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:12:25 +0000

I just thought of a RELLY fancy “toggle”. This reports the status of your drive (deleted or dreated). Change your “location”/”target” to:

%COMSPEC% /C “IF exist M:\ ( SUBST M: /D & ECHO Drive M: deleted & SUBST & pause ) ELSE ( SUBST M: D:\MyFolder & SUBST & pause )”

Of course, to see the results, your shortcut properties “Run:” window must NOT be set to “Minimized”.

By: marmstro

marmstro — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:03:01 +0000

If you didn’t want to create a *.cmd or *.bat script file you could also create a shortcut with the following as the “target”/”Location”

%COMSPEC% /C “SUBST M: D:\MyFolder >NUL 2>&1″

Note the quotes. Use whatever you like as the shortcut name. After it is created, use the shortcut properties (right-click on the shortcut and select “Properties”) to change the shortcut “Icon” if you want. Also, if you don’t like the “flash” that occurs when you open the shortcut properties and change the box “Run:” to “Minimized”.
This shortcut will invoke the shell (Windows command processor) and execute the SUBST command. The ” >NUL 2>&1″ throws away any messages that the SUBST command may generate.

Then you can independently copy/move the shortcut to anywhere (desktop, quick launch, start menu…) and not be tied to the location of a script file. For example, if you placed the shortcut in your “start” folder then the drive would be created every time you login.

If you REALLY want to get fancy you could create a shortcut “toggle” by using the following as the “location”/”target”

%COMSPEC% /C “IF exist M:\ ( SUBST M: /D >NUL 2>&1 ) ELSE ( SUBST M: D:\MyFolder >NUL 2>&1 )”

Every time you double click on the shortcut it will delete “M:” if the drive exists, otherwise it will create it.

By: MikeMMB

MikeMMB — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:36:50 +0000

What happens if you delete the folder (because you don’t need it anymore!)?

By: consindo

consindo — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:31:59 +0000

This program made photoshop loose the path to all it’s photos. It keeped thinking that my photos were on Z drive where my downloads actually were.

By: JonMCC33

JonMCC33 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:28:31 +0000

@jd2066

You’re right, I’m thinking of the NET USE command. Which can work in a similar way. Just share out a folder on your hard drive and map to it with the NET USE command. You can use your own computer name when doing so. It will persist past reboot.

http://technet.microsoft.com/e.....90717.aspx

By: satansoldier

satansoldier — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:23:18 +0000

My post about a batch at startup was to combat “does something that the command line version can’t… you can set your virtual drives to apply again at startup.”

By: jd2066

jd2066 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 06:34:53 +0000

The last time I use used the subst command, it didn’t persist past reboot.
I would guess the apply on startup command in that program just reruns the subst command on startup.

By: JonMCC33

JonMCC33 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:24:47 +0000

@satansoldier

Once it is mapped via command prompt then the mapping stays there even after reboot. No need to run a single BAT file at startup over and over.

I personally don’t like drive mappings. Would rather use shortcuts to UNC path.