Windows 10: Disk drive letters in Widows 10

Hi all,


Have been having a problem with an external USB drive. Each time I plug in the drive it doesn't show and I have to assign it a drive letter in disk management. While this is a bit of a pain, the drive will work from this point forward. I've noticed that when I eject the drive it still shows on My PC as a Local Disk. So I've now got a number of Local Disks with drive letters but no disk inserted - so if I try to do anything with them it says location is unavailable.


If I reinsert the external drive it isn't recognised so I have to give it a new drive letter.


If I insert a different external drive that is working it will give it a letter automatically, but the drive letters I've given to the problem disk aren't available if I try and change the drive letter for this one.


How do I free up the drive letters that I have given to the problem disk in the past, and stop these non-existant "Local Disks" showing in My PC?


Thanks for your help.


Phil.

:)

 

help. USB drive isn't assigned a drive letter.

Any usb flash drive I plug into my computer isn't assigned a drive letter. The physical drive shows in the "safely remove hardware" but it doesnt show up in disk management. I have tried to populate the volume thru the safely remove hardware properties window and it does pop up in the list but it doesn't stay there. This isn't a format or assign a letter problem. It's more complicated then that. Maybe one of the services needed for usb drive management was disabled? Suggestions needed. btw external usb harddrives work fine.

 

Problem with letter drives confusing Sony Vegas

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.



I understand your concern and will assist you to resolve this issue.

I suggest you to follow the steps below and check if it helps.

• Open Disk Management (press [Win] +[R], type "diskmgmt.msc", and press [Enter]).
• In the lower pane, right-click on the partition that you want to change drive letter, and click "Change Drive Letter and Paths"
• A dialog should come up, showing the partition's current drive letter. Even if it is correct, click [Change].
• From the dropdown, select any new letter, and then [OK] your way back to Disk Management. And check if it helps.

Hope this information is helpful. Do let us know if you need any further assistance, we'll be glad to assist you.

 

External disk drive not showing up

Check if the drive is assigned a drive letter.

Press Windows key + X

Click Disk Management

If you see your drive listed there, but no drive letter, right click it

Click Change Drive Letter and Paths

Click Add

Click Assign the following drive letter

Click in the Drive letter list box

Choose a drive letter - try choosing letters near the end of the alphabet

Click OK

Click OK again

If that does not work...

Press Windows key + X

Click Device Manager

Expand Disk drives

Right click the external drive

Click uninstall

Exit Device Manager, restart then check if its detected.

or

Step 1. Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog

Step 2. Type regedit and press Enter

Step 3. Navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_Machine > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > USB

Step 4. If the USB key does not exist into the list, then create a new key USB under Services. Now create a new DWORD value under the key that you’ve just created

Step 5. Keep the USB key selected and right-click on the blank space at the right pane

Step 6. Select New > DWORD value from the context menu

Step 7.Rename this newly created DWORD value as DisableSelectiveSuspend

Step 8. Right-click on DisableSelectiveSuspend and select Modify

Step 9. Put 1 in Value data field and then click OK

Step 10. Reboot your PC