Is it possible to access a USB stick on a remote computer on the network?

[hsingh]

Hi All,

 

Is it possible to access a USB stick on a remote computer on the network?

 

Thanks

[Netwacky87]

I think the best way that I achieved this (but we are talking 2-3 years ago) was I deployed USB Drive Letter Manager - USBDLM

 

so this mounts the usb drive to the same drive letter each time and then you can browse via \\PCNAME\$

[bladedanny]

Not tried but would \\computername\driveletter$ work?

[Michael]

If you formatted as NTFS then yes it would work (as above) \\COMPUTERNAME\E$ for example.

[hsingh]

Hi

 

\\computername\driveletter$ doesn't work on usb memory sticks. Its fine on external hard drives though.

 

Any other suggestions?

[Michael]

Hi

 

\\computername\driveletter$ doesn't work on usb memory sticks. Its fine on external hard drives though.

 

Any other suggestions?

 

You'd have to create the share. By default the local C drive is shared as C$, but this is by design. Flash drives can be formatted in a range of file systems.

[hsingh]

But wouldn't that mean every single stick would have to be formatted by us? Im looking for a solution which caters for any USB regardless of if I have seen it or not

 

Any more ideas?

[adhutton]

Hi -

 

Did you find a solution to this?

 

Looking for something similar.

 

Thanks - Andrew

[fiza]

I have done this to one particular computer at a time. I dont know how you would do it across the board for every computer on your network. Assuming all your PCs have the USB drive as E:\

If you have one PC you would like to do it for then look at Computer Management>shares

On the main screen right click > new share

Type in the name of the PC and the folder to share will be E:\

 

That should do it. It should appear in your "My computer"

[adhutton]

I have done this to one particular computer at a time. I dont know how you would do it across the board for every computer on your network. Assuming all your PCs have the USB drive as E:\

If you have one PC you would like to do it for then look at Computer Management>shares

On the main screen right click > new share

Type in the name of the PC and the folder to share will be E:\

 

That should do it. It should appear in your "My computer"

 

Many thanks, that works for us.

 

Cheers_

 

Andrew

[Get2theChoppa]

There is a program out there specifically for USB's.....used it couple of years ago!

 

PC which the usb is plugged into acts as server and the second as a client.... both require software install

 

I think its this one....trial version?

 

USB over Network - share USB devices over Ethernet - Overview

[hsingh]

Afraid not

[Arcolite]

I have done this in the past using PSExec to launch CMD.exe remotely on the machine. From there you can then read the USB stick (providing you know the drive letter, which isn't hard to guess usually).

[TobyBar]

There is good software solution for remote accessing USB stick - Remote USB access - USB Network Gate for USB remote control