USB Memory sticks not showing in My Computer

[firefox_2006]

Hello

I have this issue regarding USB memory sticks not showing in my computer, when logged on as a student or teacher user. Interestingly the device shows up when you click on the task bar icon to remove it. We have these make-shift Packard Bell machines as teacher computers at the front of the class, which also have 5 in 1 card readers. I have tried disconnecting them (as I have heard they take up valuable drive letters on the network) but still no luck :? We seem to think it has something to do with the SchoolSuite (equivalent of CC3) blocking it somewhere.

Can anyone shed any light on this :?:

Thanks

[Mr_T]

if you right click on my computer and select properties then take a look at disk managment does your disk appear in there if so then try setting the drive letter to an unused one.

[leon]

Are you using USBDLM? If not, will make your life alot easier:

http://www.edugeek.net/index.php?nam...ghlight=usbdlm

:-)

[firefox_2006]

"if you right click on my computer and select properties then take a look at disk managment does your disk appear in there if so then try setting the drive letter to an unused one."

@ Mr-T : Can't get to disk management when logged on as a teacher or student, so don't know.

@ leon: will have a look at that program, hope it does something

[plexer]

What you may be experiencing is that if you have lots of network drives mapped or just ones mapped to the drive letters you machine is using to mount removable devices these are masking the device.

As was said look in disk manager and see what drive letter has been assigned to the device.

Ben

[leon]

USBDLM runs as a service on the client pc, which makes adding a USB device independent of user privileges. You can also make it assign letters within a stated range, so it doesn't clash with mapped drives if a usb key is plugged in from boot.

[Mr_T]

"if you right click on my computer and select properties then take a look at disk managment does your disk appear in there if so then try setting the drive letter to an unused one."

@ Mr-T : Can't get to disk management when logged on as a teacher or student, so don't know.

@ leon: will have a look at that program, hope it does something

You need to be and Admin to set the drive letter but that should work for all users the use the same usb key. I'm assuming you are an admin?

Do you map a drive letter E: if so that is usually that drive letter taken by usb pens try remapping that drive letter in you log on script.

[firefox_2006]

"You need to be and Admin to set the drive letter but that should work for all users the use the same usb key. I'm assuming you are an admin?

Do you map a drive letter E: if so that is usually that drive letter taken by usb pens try remapping that drive letter in you log on script"

@ Mr-T: I have admin rights (I'm a technician). Another problem is that we are migrating over to SIMS.net and that apparently needs to have access to the F: on the network. As far as I'm aware we dont map to E: so that might be a solution.

Thanks

[leon]

Sorry if I sound like a usbdlm apologist, but you can't map drives like that for every type of USB device... Windows will always assign the next available letter. Just wap usbdlm on your clients, it's free for educational use.

[firefox_2006]

"Sorry if I sound like a usbdlm apologist, but you can't map drives like that for every type of USB device... Windows will always assign the next available letter. Just wap usbdlm on your clients, it's free for educational use."

@ Leon: Do I need to install it on every individual machine, or can I create an install kit/package for it. Downloaded it, had a look at it, looks like it needs a lot of configuring (tons of settings that mean diddly squat to me), if this is the case then thats a major ball ache

[OutToLunch]

There's an MSI version of the installer.

The only configuration is to add to the ini file which letters you wish to exclude/which you wish to allocate by default - so for example avoiding using F:, always assigning U: for usb for the first stick etc.

[leon]

...Or the installation directory contains a bunch of .cmd files that can be called/merged into a startup script, that way it might run from a network share. I just put it into our builds cause it's so useful.

As OutToLunch says you configure it with the .ini. If you don't want to repack you could just copy this to a client via a script. It's easy to work from the included sample.

Here's the contents of ours:

[Settings]
ShowBalloonTips=1
NoMediaNoLetter=1

[DriveLetters]
Letter1=M
Letter2=N
Letter3=O
Letter4=P
Letter5=Q
Letter6=R

[MultiSlotCardReaders]
Letter1=V
Letter2=W
Letter3=X
Letter4=Y

[ExcludedLetters]
Letter1=H
Letter2=I
Letter3=J
Letter4=L
Letter5=S
Letter6=Z

[bishopsgarthstockton]

I normally fix this little problem by removing the mass storage device driver for the particular drive, then i unplug it and restart the machine followed by reinserting the drive. its normally to do with the user not safely removing the drive therefore corrupting the driver signiture file for that particular device.

quick question, have you tried another data stick?

[ZeroHour]

We had the same issue. Make sure all your users plug the sticks on BEFORE logging in and you should see them (drivers permitting).
Its not that windows does not create the new drives keys etc, its more the "My computer" drive list does not update to show the new drive. It is there in all of our tests, just not viewable.
Are you using RIS server?
All SP2 XP?