Question : Problem: USB Drive Letter Assignment

Hi,
We have a large number of PC's on our network, all of which map a network drive to E:
Almost every machine on the network has an optical drive, so D is taken up as well. As a result of this, everytime a removable storage device is connected (i.e. USB drive, camera, dictation module), it grabs E drive which then conflicts with the already mapped network drive.

Our service desk must take 30-40 calls about this a day, and at the moment, they are just changing the drive letter in Computer Management.

I've come accross this USBDLM software, which is great and seems to do the job, but at nearly $10,000 for a site license, its on the pricy side.

Is anyone aware of a registry key or something along those lines that I can change to specify which drive letters removable media take first, as a way to stop these conflicts from happening. I'm sure there is something, but everytime i look round the web, the only solution i ever seem to find is the USBDLM software.

If anyone can help me out, i'll be forever grateful.

Cheers.

Answer : Problem: USB Drive Letter Assignment

How about an alternative solution of mapping another letter, say N: to the SAME location as E:.

Then, write a macro in Excel to do a Find/Replace for E: to N:

When users have the problem, have them run the macro to amend their sheets, or make it run by default on an AutoOpen.  They can even have the option to get the hassle from their USB devices, or to run the macro....

more info:
http://www.wiredbox.net/Forum/Thread69162_change_path_in_excel-field_links.aspx
or
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.excel.links&tid=7512ea00-ba67-4914-a618-8644164ac0c2&cat=en_US_f5af9504-5617-4b37-99b4-b29f42ba2c5b&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=&p=1

If this is of interest, there may be other apps around that will wade through **all** your spreadsheets, and change the links as required.