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How To Create Virtual Drives A complete

guide on how to create virtual drives
snlildude87 Posted 03 April 2005 - 01:27 AM

I'm planning to format my computer tonight, and I need some sort of reference about this when I get back.

What is a virtual drive?

A virtual drive is a shortcut to a folder hidden deep inside Windows (#) . Instead of having an icon for the shortcut
(virtual drive), you will see a drive icon with a letter that you chose when you go to My Computer after you create the
drive. After completing this tutorial, you will be able to turn a long path (C:\directory\directory\more\directory
\oh\my\gosh\this\is\ a\long\directory\) into a drive letter (L:).

Why should I have a virtual drive?

Virtual drives are not a necessity. It's only there to save you time. Besides, would you rather pay money for a program
that creates a virtual drive, or would you do it for free? I thought so.

Let's get started

Open the command prompt: press CTRL+R -> type "cmd" (without quotes)
Posted Image
This is the command prompt...entry (I don't know the proper name) that you will be using: subst p:
"C:\windows" (I chose this because everybody has this path on their computer, with the exception of Linux
users). It should look somewhat like the following:
CONSOLE

Microsoft Windows XP (#) [Version 5.1.2600]

© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>

*Replace the bolded "p" in the command prompt entry with a drive letter of your choice.
Important: Do NOT choose a letter that has already been chosen. You can check which ones Windows
has already claimed by going to My Computer and noting all the drives you see. Generally, drives C, A, E, F, and
Q are already taken.
*You can replace the directory, c:\windows, with any existing directory on your hard drive
*Copy the new command prompt entry (ctrl+c)
Once you have copied the entry, go to the command prompt (should already been opened), right click, and
select "Paste".
Posted Image (http://img147.exs.cx/img147/3412/paste5ag.png)
The thing you copied above should appear on the command prompt screen. If you're using an earlier version of
Windows, you should see a little clipboard icon on the command prompt toolbar. Click on the clipboard. Your
command prompt window should look somewhat like the following:
CONSOLE

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>subst p: "C:\windows"

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How To Create Virtual Drives - Discuss Anything http://www.knowledgesutra.com/forums/topic/9659-how-to-create-virtual...

Press the Enter key on your keyboard (#) .

Go to your My Computer, and you should see a new drive, P (or whatever letter you chose)
Double click on that drive, and it should take you to c:\windows (or whatever directory you chose)
You're done!

Now, you will be able to access files (#) in c:\windows from the P drive (or any letter you chose) by typing
P:\[filename]

Making it Permanent
The problem with virtual drives is that they are not permanent, meaning that if you restart your computer, they will
not be there anymore. Of course, everything has a loophole, so there are ways to get around this. The first method is
to buy a program...with money...that will do the job. The second method is to keep reading this tutorial.
Open Notepad (#)
Copy and paste the following to Notepad:

subst p: "C:\windows"

Of course, you can replace the drive, P:, and the directory, c:\windows, with anything you wish. Remember not
to choose an existing drive and not to choose a non-existing directory.
File -> Save
In the "File name:" box, copy and paste the following:
c:\autoexec.bat

Posted Image (http://img36.exs.cx/img36/8834/notepad2ed.png)

If you get a dialog box (#) that asks if you want to replace the existing file, click No and do the following:
*Open another instance of Notepad (do not close the one already opened)
*File -> Open
*In "File name:", copy and paste the following:

c:\autoexec.bat

*Press the Enter key on your keyboard

*Follow steps 2 thru 3 in the "Making it Permanent" section
Press ctrl+R on your keyboard
Copy and paste the following:

regedit

On the left pane, go to:

My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Run

Your Registry Editor should look somewhat like this:

Posted Image (http://img36.exs.cx/img36/8272/regedit9fx.png)

^Note the status bar at the bottom

On the right pane of your Registry Editor, do the following: Right click -> New -> String Value
*Name this new string "Autoexec" (without quotes)
*Right click on Autoexec -> Modify -> Type "c:\autoexec.bat" (with quotes)
*Close the Registry Editor
Restart your computer
Pat yourself on the back because you just saved yourself a couple of dollars

When your computer is turning on, you should see the command prompt for a few seconds. Ignore this because it will
go away.

Enjoy!

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Other Replies To This Topic

whyme Posted 03 April 2005 - 02:06 AM

this is funny, you're a mod, so you should be able to apporve the tut, oh well, what ever, lol.

snlildude87 Posted 03 April 2005 - 02:11 AM

Well, the rules said something along the lines of "Don't approve your own tutorials. We have to be fair", so I
unapproved it. Thanks for not deleting it, though.

whyme Posted 03 April 2005 - 02:13 AM

heeheh, anyways, I'm moving this oer to the staff section, y'know, it's off-topic discssion

cse-icons Posted 03 April 2005 - 01:15 PM

That was really nice one. I have lots of folders that I access regularly and have to maintain shortcuts... now I can just
use permanent virtual drives..
But does this work in Windows 98 (#) because as u said we need to enter this in cmd, whereas Win 98 does not have
cmd.exe but only command.com

Cheers.

snlildude87 Posted 03 April 2005 - 03:05 PM

I think entering cmd will work, but if not, "command" works for all versions of Windows

brokebloke Posted 03 April 2005 - 05:47 PM

Great tutorial, thought you was going to talk about virtual drives like Daemon, learn something new every day here

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Teragonto Posted 13 September 2006 - 10:40 PM

Wow. This will be very helpful since I'm formatting my computer this Sunday. Nice tutorial Snildude.

beeseven Posted 14 September 2006 - 09:27 PM

If you ever want to check what your virtual drives are you can just type "subst" and it will give you a list of all the
(virtual-only) drive letters and paths.

jlhaslip Posted 14 September 2006 - 10:49 PM

Just wanted to remind you to save your registry settings before you change them in case something goes wrong in the
process you can revert back to the original settings.
And does this work for XP also?

Panzer Posted 15 September 2006 - 03:36 AM

You can also start the command prompt by..

Opening notepad and writing
command.com
in it, save it as bat.bat (The name doesnt matter, as long as it is a .bat)

Nice guide though I might try it.

Danltn Posted 15 September 2006 - 04:57 PM

Very nice, this has really helped me organise my files.

I now have a Work drive (W) and it's so much easier, it feels like a seperate hard drive.

I've also been interested in some Power Macs (#) , which really do have 2 hard drives. But there rather expensive...

Ah, well.
Maybe one day..?

poke386 Posted 22 September 2006 - 04:56 PM

amazing! but umm.......i have a question. Does this work for files? (click on a drive and it opens a file instead of a
folder, thats what i mean )

iGuest Posted 12 February 2008 - 02:46 AM

Thanks!
How To Create Virtual Drives
thanks so much I needed to create a virtual drive for a class and could not find anywhere how to do it, finally I found
this site. Thanks
-reply by shannon

iGuest Posted 18 February 2008 - 05:10 AM

How To Delete Virtual Drive

How To Create Virtual Drives

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How To Create Virtual Drives - Discuss Anything http://www.knowledgesutra.com/forums/topic/9659-how-to-create-virtual...

How To Delete Virtual Drive?

I've created 'c:' as 'P:'

-question by anukumar

iGuest Posted 16 March 2008 - 04:07 PM

How to get rid of the drive?

How To Create Virtual Drives
How do you get rid of this drive if it is not needed?

-reply by Demha

coolcat50 Posted 18 March 2008 - 02:38 AM

This is a great tutorial. It is kind of old though, but still a great tutorial. You also can set up an icon system that can
create a virtual drive, run a program, then delete the virtual drive through MS-DOS commands. I might post a tutorial
on it.

klusk Posted 19 March 2008 - 01:25 PM

i have managed to create a virtual drive ......easy procedure....but i have a problem...i am not able to rename the drive
i want to rename it as "downloads"...but it shows the name of the drive where the folder of the virtual drive exists...
The folder was present in games drive...and i have created a virtual drive with the folder. The problem is ..the name of
the new virtual drive is also "Games"...even if i have renamed it many times to something else..........

flashy Posted 19 March 2008 - 04:18 PM

Great tutorial, may come in handy for later use . Good work

iGuest Posted 09 May 2008 - 09:10 PM

Replying to snlildude87 (http://www.trap17.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9659&view=findpost&p=67625)

Any idea how to do this with Windows Vista Home Premium? I want to be able to boot to either Windows Vista (#) or
XP Thanks

-reply by Steven

iGuest Posted 26 July 2008 - 12:55 AM

Little Help
How To Create Virtual Drives
Will this work on windows xp?
When I tried to save my text document (#) as "c:autoexec.Bat" [without quotations] it said I couldn't have :'s or 's in
my file name. Will this affect the working of this virtual drive???

Btw, nice tutorial. Easy to follow and quite explanatory. Thanks.

-question by Sir PooFace

iGuest Posted 25 September 2008 - 12:12 AM

Questions/suggestions
How To Create Virtual Drives

Replying to coolcat50 (http://www.trap17.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9659&view=findpost&p=379918)

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****The following are suggestions made by an unprofessional and should not be considered official.

--you can save the notepad as any file name as long as it has the .Bat
--If you find the registry thing to complicated you can out it in start up folder: C:Documents and
SettingsJonMichaelStart MenuProgramsStartup

-feedback by Coolness

iGuest Posted 29 December 2008 - 08:13 PM

I did this, but I need to know how to use the virtual drive to read image files. How To Create Virtual Drives
Do I need to download software to use the virtual drive to read image files?

Answer: Yes, you need to install (#) a software that will setup a Virtual Drive on your PC. Then your
virtual CD-Images are inserted virtually in this virtual drive to give you the effect of an real CD inside
a real drive.

ragav.bpl Posted 01 January 2009 - 11:02 PM

The method is really great...

But there is a thing which is more nicer then the tut, n that is his desktop theme (#) ........

Can you please name the theme n location from where 2 download it.

rpgsearcherz Posted 02 January 2009 - 04:16 AM

This is an awesome tutorial. I did not even know that it was possible to create virtual drives without a special
program. I've always used Daemon Tools for that.

Thanks for the insider's look. I will still be using D-Tools but regardless, this helps understand the process it goes
through much better.

In terms of the folders, wouldn't it just be easier(if you just want easy access to said folders) to just add a shortcut to
them on the desktop or something?

(2 Pages) 1 2 →

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