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Forcing a USB floppy drive to be assigned A:


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Posted

Really struggling with this (constant interruptions)

 

Have a USB floppy drive that's used for OFFLINE OCR exams - this software needs the drive to be assigned A: to work - even turning off the FDC in the BIOS still makes the drive B: (or worse)

 

I've hunted around for a script to force the reassignment of the drive to A: but nothing seems to work.

 

Can anyone help?

Posted

That's unusual. Usually disabling the floppy drive in the BIOS should allow you to use A:\

 

What about physically disconnecting the 34pin floppy cable or remove power to the floppy drive completely?

 

The only reason (as far as I can see) the USB drive is using B:\, is because A:\ is still in use.

Posted
An alternative you could try is a virtual floppy drive. If you google that, you should find what you're looking for.

 

There actually isn't a FDD connected - the motherboard seems to be telling Windows there is even with it disabled :crying:

 

I would love to make it virtual but it's often an actual disc that this outside group bring in... don't know why I go out of my way to do things like this...

 

I will investigate the suggestion above - thanks

Posted
There actually isn't a FDD connected - the motherboard seems to be telling Windows there is even with it disabled :crying:

 

I would love to make it virtual but it's often an actual disc that this outside group bring in... don't know why I go out of my way to do things like this...

 

I will investigate the suggestion above - thanks

 

I'll bet Windows has assigned it to B at some point and is remembering. You can change its letter in Computer Management -> Disk Management.

Posted
I've only had 1 type of pen drive work with the offline exams - currently AWOL on my desk somewhere, but it was a particular type where it had a separate partition which automatically detected as a floppy drive at the same time you plugged the stick in. Even that proved unreliable - at one point for the smaller groups tests we bought a batch of USB floppy drives instead. After 1 nightmare session I gave up and set up the local server version instead. If you're desperate let me know and I'll tidy my desk to find the usb stick.
Posted
I'll bet Windows has assigned it to B at some point and is remembering. You can change its letter in Computer Management -> Disk Management.

 

Can't be - clean install! I've just tried with USBDLM and it can't force A: - the drive is still assigned B: :(

 

Any other suggestions?

Posted

There were 2 separate points in the BIOS that I had to change - it may depend on your PC, but I had to disable the floppy disk controller (FDC) on the onboard devices screen and also set both A: and B: to None on the disk setup screen. Obviously that will vary from BIOS to BIOS but if you're struggling to follow my clear as mud explanation I can take some shots.

 

Is there a reason you can't use the LAN server version? That saved me a huge amount of grief in the end!

Posted

Is there a reason you can't use the LAN server version? That saved me a huge amount of grief in the end!

 

Yes. This is a course that runs after school and they bring in the floppy discs - I have both the online and offline installed and they need both - also, this guy will not be reasoned with. :(

 

Is there a swap floppy drive letters option in the BIOS? Some BIOSes can big configured to assign B before A.

 

Not on these - I'll have another look today.

  • 1 month later...
Posted
Can't be - clean install! I've just tried with USBDLM and it can't force A: - the drive is still assigned B: :(

 

Any other suggestions?

 

to disable floppy disk right click my computer-property-hardware-device manager-and floppy disk right clik it disable

and now u can assign any letter to ur key wheather a b or z.

Posted (edited)
If you are using OCR I-Assess offline testing we use USB memory sticks for the tests. There are 2 config files you can download from OCR that will cofigure the software to use E: as the drive letter for the tests. This will work on any standard machine that has a C drive and Cdrom drive (D) as it then assigns USB memory as E. Edited by jsnetman

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