Why is my USB Stick not accessible?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

"george" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>If I unplug external USB HD, I would have expected E: to become a free
>driveletter and be assigned to the USB memory stick I connect instead of the
>external HD.
>However, this is not the case and the USB stick does not show up at that
>location.
>It *does* however show as USB Mass Storage device in.Device Manager and in
>Safely Remove Hardware (Location 0, USB Flash Drive).
>When I Disconnect D: (the mapped network drive) it appears that the USB
>stick was 'hiding' under that same driveletter and shows immediately as
>Removable Disk in Explorer.

This is by design: external drives get the first free drive letter,
where drive letters for mapped drives are not reserved. Start mapping
network drives from Z downwards to avoid this problem.

--
(tm)