Should be simple right? Changing style of drive mapping

[PreacherUK]

Hi all,

I've searched about a bit on line but haven't founf anything on my query yet.

Since we have moved to XP, when I open 'my computer' (or attempt to save documents and such) the drop down menu listing the available drives displays the drives in this format: Drivename01(C

Now some drives here can have very long names, this wasnt a problem with WinNT and such as it listed the drive letter first : (CDrivename01

Is there some way to switch WinXP back to this format rather than its current one?

Many Thanks

 

[Rick998]

One way is to use Microsoft's TweakuiXP Powertoy. Once it's installed, do the following:

1) Run TweakUI then click on the + sign alongside 'My Computer' in the left-hand pane to expand it.

2) Click on 'Drive Letters'.

3) Select the option to 'Never show drive letters'. (just do it!)

4) Click on 'Apply' then 'OK'.

5) Log off then on again, or re-boot.

I know it sounds stupid selecting 'Never show drive letters' but, unless MS has fixed it recently in a newer version, this is one of TweakUI's endearing little bugs. (If you want to see the bug, just select the far more sensible 'Show all drive letters before the label' option).

Hope this helps...

Rick

 

[PreacherUK]

So its just a case of use the power toys? Not sure if the desktop software guys will be happy with me going around messing with things, but live fast and go get hired somewhere eh?

Cheers Rick

 

[Rick998]

PreacherBNY,

What you're asking for is a registry tweak.

TweakUI is just perhaps the easiest way to do it (if you have Internet access and the rights to install programs).

TweakUI's just a GUI to sometimes quite obscure keys and values in the registry.

The alternatives are using utilities like RegMon (

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/regmon.shtml)

to monitor registry changes as they happen, Advanced Registry Tracer (

http://www.elcomsoft.com/art.html)

or InCtrl5 (

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,9882,00.asp)

to see before-and-after snapshot comparisons of the registry).

Any of these utilities should be fine to find out what changes are made to the registry by TweakUI (although they can be quite time-consuming to use).

Once you know where the changes are made in the registry then you should be able to reproduce the changes using Regedit or create either a .REG or .VBS file that makes the registry changes for you.

Hope this helps...

Rick

 

[Rick998]

PreacherBNY,

More info... if you don't have the rights to install TweakuiXP (

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe)

then you probably won't have the rights to tweak the appropriate key in the registry (in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\).

You could always explain your problem to the 'desktop software guys'.

To fix it to your satisfaction without installing TweakUI, they'll need to import the following .REG file using Regedit as 'Administrator'.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"ShowDriveLettersFirst"=dword:00000004

Hope this helps...

Rick