Access an USB memory stick regardless of the driveletter it got ?

Hello All,

I've got a USB memory stick whci I carry with me and plug in to different
computers. Al of those systems standardly assign the first available free
drive letter to it, which often differs between them. This means that I
have to figure out for each of those systems which drive letter my stick
got, and remember to use that one for as long as I'm on that computer --
only to rehash that process when I get to another one.

So, my question is: can I refer to the USB memory stick by something else,
unique to the stick itself. Maybe the volume name ? I was thinking
something like :

\\{volume name}\path\file.ext

Remarks:
On the above computers I do not have the permissions to select a persistant
drive letter for my stick (I'm a user on them, not an admin).

I also wrote a one-line batch file which first finds my stick, and than uses
SUBST to make a symlink to the drive letter I want, but that means I always
have to run that batchfile first. Also, when ejecting the stick the
SUBST'ed drive remains ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 12:27:34 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:
Hello All,

I've got a USB memory stick whci I carry with me and plug in to different
computers. Al of those systems standardly assign the first available free
drive letter to it, which often differs between them. This means that I
have to figure out for each of those systems which drive letter my stick
got, and remember to use that one for as long as I'm on that computer --
only to rehash that process when I get to another one.

So, my question is: can I refer to the USB memory stick by something else,
unique to the stick itself. Maybe the volume name ? I was thinking
something like :

\\{volume name}\path\file.ext

Remarks:
On the above computers I do not have the permissions to select a persistant
drive letter for my stick (I'm a user on them, not an admin).

I also wrote a one-line batch file which first finds my stick, and than uses
SUBST to make a symlink to the drive letter I want, but that means I always
have to run that batchfile first. Also, when ejecting the stick the
SUBST'ed drive remains ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

You mean volume GUID and not the volume label, right?
It possible to uniquely refer a disk volume by its volume GUID, but the GUID
is random and will be different accross different PC.
Moreover, with volume GUID, you won't be able to get a list of a directory
contents.

Hello JJ,

You mean volume GUID and not the volume label, right?

Well .... If I you're presenting me a choice I would take the volume-label,
as I can pick/change that one myself & fairly easily. :-)

It possible to uniquely refer a disk volume by its volume GUID, but
the GUID is random and will be different accross different PC.

Which than would just make it a more complex drive-letter, with the exact
same problem as I try to get rid of. :-\

Moreover, with volume GUID, you won't be able to get a list
of a directory contents.

Hmm... Thats certainly a party-pooper I'm afraid.

I googled and found a code-example to how to change the drive letter, which
I have not tested yet, but I already get the feeling that that will bump
into the same "admin activity" restrictions too ...

Thanks for the response though.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
JJ schreef in berichtnieuws
...
On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 12:27:34 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:
Hello All,

I've got a USB memory stick whci I carry with me and plug in to
different
computers. Al of those systems standardly assign the first available
free
drive letter to it, which often differs between them. This means that I
have to figure out for each of those systems which drive letter my stick
got, and remember to use that one for as long as I'm on that computer --
only to rehash that process when I get to another one.

So, my question is: can I refer to the USB memory stick by something
else,
unique to the stick itself. Maybe the volume name ? I was thinking
something like :

\\{volume name}\path\file.ext

Remarks:
On the above computers I do not have the permissions to select a
persistant
drive letter for my stick (I'm a user on them, not an admin).

I also wrote a one-line batch file which first finds my stick, and than
uses
SUBST to make a symlink to the drive letter I want, but that means I
always
have to run that batchfile first. Also, when ejecting the stick the
SUBST'ed drive remains ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

You mean volume GUID and not the volume label, right?
It possible to uniquely refer a disk volume by its volume GUID, but the
GUID
is random and will be different accross different PC.
Moreover, with volume GUID, you won't be able to get a list of a directory
contents.

On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 20:29:27 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

Well .... If I you're presenting me a choice I would take the volume-label,
as I can pick/change that one myself & fairly easily. :-)

It's not possible using the volume label, unfortunately. When a file path is
given, the system uses the volume GUID to refer the volume that were
assigned to a drive letter. Moreover, a FAT/NTFS volume label is technically
a file, so there's no way to access a file without knowing the volume
location first.

I googled and found a code-example to how to change the drive letter, which
I have not tested yet, but I already get the feeling that that will bump
into the same "admin activity" restrictions too ...

I'm guessing your Windows user account is not a member of the Administrators
group?

Hello JJ,

It's not possible using the volume label, unfortunately.

Well, I would be more than happy to accept using any kind of "unique data"
thats transferred with the stick (the same on every computer its used on)
:-)

I must say I was already afraid of that not being possible, but as I did not
know for certain I had to ask.

I'm guessing your Windows user account is not a member
of the Administrators group?

Correct. As I said, "I'm a user on them, not an admin"

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
JJ schreef in berichtnieuws
...
On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 20:29:27 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

Well .... If I you're presenting me a choice I would take the
volume-label,
as I can pick/change that one myself & fairly easily. :-)

It's not possible using the volume label, unfortunately. When a file path
is
given, the system uses the volume GUID to refer the volume that were
assigned to a drive letter. Moreover, a FAT/NTFS volume label is
technically
a file, so there's no way to access a file without knowing the volume
location first.

I googled and found a code-example to how to change the drive letter,
which
I have not tested yet, but I already get the feeling that that will bump
into the same "admin activity" restrictions too ...

I'm guessing your Windows user account is not a member of the
Administrators
group?

Hello JJ,

While looking for possibilities to change the driveletter of my usb stick I
came across a reference to an on XP available program named "mountvol". It
can list, delete and link mountpoints to drive letters. I think I'm going
to try that one first (my own code would probably just use the same
functions). :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
JJ schreef in berichtnieuws
...
On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 20:29:27 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

Well .... If I you're presenting me a choice I would take the
volume-label,
as I can pick/change that one myself & fairly easily. :-)

It's not possible using the volume label, unfortunately. When a file path
is
given, the system uses the volume GUID to refer the volume that were
assigned to a drive letter. Moreover, a FAT/NTFS volume label is
technically
a file, so there's no way to access a file without knowing the volume
location first.

I googled and found a code-example to how to change the drive letter,
which
I have not tested yet, but I already get the feeling that that will bump
into the same "admin activity" restrictions too ...

I'm guessing your Windows user account is not a member of the
Administrators
group?

R.Wieser wrote:
Hello JJ,

While looking for possibilities to change the driveletter of my usb stick I
came across a reference to an on XP available program named "mountvol". It
can list, delete and link mountpoints to drive letters. I think I'm going
to try that one first (my own code would probably just use the same
functions). :-)

For changing anything you need admin previleges.
If you can convince the admins to install USBDLM
you can let mount you drive into an NTFS folder
using a fixed name, the device's friendly name,
the volume label or anything else.

Uwe




Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
JJ schreef in berichtnieuws
...
On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 20:29:27 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:
Well .... If I you're presenting me a choice I would take the
volume-label,
as I can pick/change that one myself & fairly easily. :-)
It's not possible using the volume label, unfortunately. When a file path
is
given, the system uses the volume GUID to refer the volume that were
assigned to a drive letter. Moreover, a FAT/NTFS volume label is
technically
a file, so there's no way to access a file without knowing the volume
location first.

I googled and found a code-example to how to change the drive letter,
which
I have not tested yet, but I already get the feeling that that will bump
into the same "admin activity" restrictions too ...
I'm guessing your Windows user account is not a member of the
Administrators
group?

Uwe,

For changing anything you need admin previleges.

I was silently hoping that, as my USB stick is removable media and as such
under the control of me, the user, it would recognise that fact and allow me
to change its driveletter.

On the other hand, I've already encountered a situation where the 'puter
didn't even allow me to format *my own* USB memory stick (it did allow me to
read/write/delete it though), so I know/knew its a long shot.

But, not having tested it is not knowing it. :-)

If you can convince the admins to install USBDLM
[snip]

Thanks for the suggestion. Its a possibility. I was hoping for a more
"userland" solution though (working everywhere, even where admins are less
willing to make adjustments).

Shucks. It might even turn out that that batchfile solution using SUBST is
the best one (in regard to "works everywhere") I can hope to create ....

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
Uwe Sieber schreef in berichtnieuws
...
R.Wieser wrote:
Hello JJ,

While looking for possibilities to change the driveletter of my usb
stick I
came across a reference to an on XP available program named "mountvol".
It
can list, delete and link mountpoints to drive letters. I think I'm
going
to try that one first (my own code would probably just use the same
functions). :-)

For changing anything you need admin previleges.
If you can convince the admins to install USBDLM
you can let mount you drive into an NTFS folder
using a fixed name, the device's friendly name,
the volume label or anything else.

Uwe




Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
JJ schreef in berichtnieuws
...
On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 20:29:27 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:
Well .... If I you're presenting me a choice I would take the
volume-label,
as I can pick/change that one myself & fairly easily. :-)
It's not possible using the volume label, unfortunately. When a file
path
is
given, the system uses the volume GUID to refer the volume that were
assigned to a drive letter. Moreover, a FAT/NTFS volume label is
technically
a file, so there's no way to access a file without knowing the volume
location first.

I googled and found a code-example to how to change the drive letter,
which
I have not tested yet, but I already get the feeling that that will
bump
into the same "admin activity" restrictions too ...
I'm guessing your Windows user account is not a member of the
Administrators
group?

Uwe,

Update

For changing anything you need admin previleges.

But, not having tested it is not knowing it. :-)

As you expected, it didn't work. :- \ Oh well.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
R.Wieser schreef in berichtnieuws
...
Uwe,

For changing anything you need admin previleges.

I was silently hoping that, as my USB stick is removable media and as such
under the control of me, the user, it would recognise that fact and allow
me
to change its driveletter.

On the other hand, I've already encountered a situation where the 'puter
didn't even allow me to format *my own* USB memory stick (it did allow me
to
read/write/delete it though), so I know/knew its a long shot.

But, not having tested it is not knowing it. :-)

If you can convince the admins to install USBDLM
[snip]

Thanks for the suggestion. Its a possibility. I was hoping for a more
"userland" solution though (working everywhere, even where admins are less
willing to make adjustments).

Shucks. It might even turn out that that batchfile solution using SUBST
is
the best one (in regard to "works everywhere") I can hope to create ....

Regards,
Rudy Wieser