Phantom CD Drive In Windows Explorer
Oct 29, 2009
I had a problem with a phantom K: drive.
It wasn't displayed in device manager or disk manager, although the letter was reserved in disk manager and I couldn't use it.
Thinking this was a problem with a USB device I uninstalled all these devices, unplugged everything and restarted the computer. The devices were all rediscovered, and the K: drive didn't go away.
I had none of the DVD playing/recording software or other software others have reported causing this sort of issue.
I have a EXT2 file system driver, but that wasn't the reason either.
I think I hit the computer with a hammer exactly twice. The K: drive didn't go away.
I deleted all the entries under HKLMSYSTEMMountedDevices and restarted the system. The K: drive was gone. Afterward I had to re-map some USB drives but that was all.
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Mar 18, 2009
Since installing Vista HP (about 6 months ago), I have had a 'phantom' CD drive (always Drive Letter E).
I have so far tolerated it - but not knowing what the h&ll it is is irritating me!
The FOXCONN Motherboard has an (unused) CD connector, but FOXCONN don't believe that that is the problem.
Computer has:
2 x HDD, SATA connected
2 x CD/DVD, IDE connected
External 80 GB USB Hard Drive.
Internal USB Multi-Card Reader/USB Port
On boot
C: - SATA HDD
D: - SATS HDD
E :- unknown CD Drive ?
F: - IDE CD/DVD
G: - IDE CD/DVD
H: - 80GB USB External Drive
I: - Multi-Card Reader
K: - Multi-Card Reader
L: - Multi-Card Reader
M: - Multi-Card Reader
N: - Multi-Card Reader (USB Flash Drive on USB Port)
Drive E: appears in My Computer/Windows Explorer. Drive E: does NOT APPEAR in Disk Management (so I cannot change its Drive Letter and letter E is NOT AVAILABLE),OR Device Manager (in a way that I can identify)
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Apr 26, 2008
I have two hard disks in my computer. Nowadays many people have more than one hard disk. Let's call them A and B. A is a large disk, and I have installed Windows on A. Most of my personal files are also stored on A. B, however, is relatively small and contains seldom used files and back up copies. Since B is not often accessed, B usually gets turned off by OS. But for no apparent reason ( I guess it maybe due to some sort of defragmentation or indexing) B gets turned on making an annoying sound.
I could manually cut off the power by opening the chassi and plugging out the power code of B, but that will be even more annoying. I can set B won't be turned off, but it will waste a lot of power since B is idle most of the time. Can't I just make the B offline till I want it to be functioning again? I mean I'd like to turn B off using some sort of software and prevent it to be automatically turned on until, I explicitly turn it on. I saw PerfectDisk (a defragmenation software) make a drive offline so that it to be disapeared from Windows Explorer. So it should be possible in some way....
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Jan 3, 2009
I have a 100gb Seagate portable hard drive, which is split 50/50 between an HFS partition for leopard, and a NTFS partition for windows. When I added the windows partition, it asked me what letter to give it, so to make it memorable, I gave it Z:/. Now, after it has been plugged in a few times, I see in "Computer" that is listed many times, as "Local disk ('Letter')". I removed the drive letter setting completely, thinking that would help, but it didn't change anything, now the real listing just says G instead of Z. but the phantom drives are still there.
the REAL listing for the drive is the Seagate NTFS (G/) one. However all of the other ones work as well and show the contents of the drive. Now, I have another portable hard drive that is 500GB, that is also split half and half the same way, and it never does this. is there any way to force vista to double check it's mounted drives to see if they all really exist?
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Jul 23, 2009
I've recently moved my music folder to a mapped drive, and this is the result in Windows Explorer:
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Jun 8, 2009
When I open windows explorer in either XP or Vista it opens the "My Document" folder as the default. However I only want "My Computer" to be expanded and everything else left unexpanded.
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Mar 23, 2008
I need to change the display filename colors in Vista Windows Explorer similar to the MAC O/S Feature. This question does NOT deal with Encrypted Files or Compressed Files. I simply want to change the display names of the files to colors such as BLUE, GREY, etc., just like I can do on the MAC O/S for the past 5 years.
I do NOT want to use any third party software file managers. There must be a way to do it in Windows since APPLE has been doing it for 60 months now. I can't believe that Windows STILL Cannot perform this simple task! If you have a working solution using Windows Explorer please email me and let me know.
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Mar 21, 2009
I wasn't quite sure if IE8 was the culprit, but it became apparent once I removed it. Internet Explorer 8 interferes with the functionality in Windows Explorer for Vista. Say for example: With IE8 installed, open up "Computer". Close it, then open it again. It should be instantaneous. But its not. A window will take over to 10 seconds to show its initial contents. Once its open though, its very fast because the instance is already running. But once it closes it will take another 10 seconds to open again. Internet Explorer 8 itself opens up very slowly even after the first opening. Can any Vista users verify this?
1. Install IE8
2. Go: Start > click Computer
3. Close that Window.
4. Repeat step 2.
Is it an instantaneous opening or does the window take more than 5 seconds to populate? Repeat those steps with opening Internet Explorer. Is it the same? If so, welcome to the club. Does Microsoft have any way to report this bug to developers?
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Jan 23, 2009
I am experiencing the same problem as listed in other posts on this topic, but with a twist that is keeping me from resolving the problem. I have a 160gb WD USB external drive of my brother's that I'm trying to save for him, and we're experiencing all of the same symptoms as the other posts on this topic. The drive is automatically recognized when plugged in, drivers auto install, windows correctly identifies the drive and gives full drive name, device manager says it is there and operating properly etc etc, but the drive is not listed in windows explorer as others report. When I try to change the drive letter in disk management as the many other posts suggest, changing the name is not an option for this drive. My only options for the afflicted drive are "New simple volume", "New spanned volume" and "New striped volume" and of course properties. Here are a list of fixes I have tried without success.
1. Tried different USB ports and different USB cable.
2. Tried 4 different machines running Vista Ultimate SP1 (Desktop Core i7 6gb RAM), Vista Basic (Desktop Core 2 Duo, 4gb RAM), Vista Home Premium SP1 (Laptop Core 2 Duo 2gb RAM) and XP Home SP3 (Laptop Celeron 512gb RAM)
3. Stopped device with "safely remove hardware", uninstalled through device manager, rebooted with device connected.............
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Mar 23, 2008
I have using a USB hard drive. When it's connected windows vista goes through the usual USB driver installation process without a problem, however the hard drive doesn't show up in explorer. Nor does it show up in computer management/disk management. It does show up in computer management/device manager/disk drives. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem so I can use the hard drive? I don't mind formatting it if necessary.
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Mar 13, 2009
When I try to use explore (right click on the Start button) and drop and drag pictures from an external drive to my picture folders, the window closes, fails, and refreshes back tot he desktop. It use to work fine but for the last few months it fails. I like to choose several pictures on an external drive and simply move them to my hard drive. Can someone help or suggest a quick alternative. Thanks.
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Sep 11, 2009
When I go into my computer I cannot see my drive letters, if I type in the drive letter I can then get to that drive:mad: this is very frustrating, I hate having to type in the letter of the drive that I wish to use
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May 18, 2008
When I click on the C: drive in my explorer view I get all the subfolders. However, instead of size and date modified I get album, artist and rating info. For any individual sub folder I can right click and change the customize properties to detail view, but for the C: drive no such option is aviable. How can I change the view back to details?
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Feb 15, 2010
When she double clicks the CD/DVD drive on the Explorer an error message appears: I noticed that additional to the default options on the context menu, that is right click the CD/DVD drive there is an extra one that says:Install or run a program It doesn't matter the type of media present in the drive, it will always appear whether I double left-click or Enter-key on it. Still, if she right click's the drive and select Open or Explore or Play, everything will be fine, but I looked over the web trying to remove context menu options for hardware drives but couldn't find a clue.
I tried changing all the default actions for the drive to ask what to do, nothing changed. That extra option is default forever. Also checked this article about Autoplay Handlers And looked on the registry for some explicit Key that says "Install or run a program" and that may be the problem, but in this case nothing similar showed up. Is not a big deal so far, but IT IS ANNOYING! and I really would like to get rid of that option.
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Mar 23, 2008
when booting up from a vista cd I accidentally had my usb external hard drive plugged in and the drive has been emptied and replaced by windows there are sintimental photos etc on the drive can anyone help me to restore them
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Jul 29, 2009
i just bought My Book Essential 1 TB today... and when i got home i plug it and it works just fine but its bothering me that the HDD type is FAT32 .. so i format it and try to change it to NTFS.. but somethings happen and boom the electric in my apartment was down... and so when the electric back i want to format it again but i can't... there drive is detected but with no space detail... it says "Windows can't format Drive H: - Check to see that the disk and drive are connected properly, make sure that the disk is not read-only, and then try again.
For more information, search Help for read-only files and how to change them" when i open the Disk Management from (My COmputer > Manage) it seems it's already a volume.. but the weird thing there is no space detail.. and i cant erase the volume ... i've tried using diskpart but i can't do nothing because there is no volume and i can't erase the disk... no luck with fsutil cause its not ntfs... I havent tried 3rd party software and i havent tried it on other computer (don't have other computer right now) and WDC didnt give live cd for formatting because all of them was in the drive... though i already redownload it but the program is useless..
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Jul 25, 2008
Lately when I've tried looking at different folders and files on my hard drives I keep getting "Windows Explorer has stopped working and will restart." It's driving me nuts, I can barely do anything.
Also, same thing with Internet Explorer...I'm getting real sick of Vista's shoddiness..
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Feb 27, 2009
Where in Vista can I go to get a comprehensive list of everything on my hard
drive? I used to have this in Windows 98. It was called Windows Explorer.
Is there some way I can see everything I have in on one screen and drill
down and expand to see what?
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Apr 14, 2009
I dunno what happened, but the list of folders to the left is gone, I cant seem to fix it, anyone know how? And yes I have checked Tools-Folder Options but nothing there seems to bring it back up, also other windows stuff doesnt seem to work right anymore
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Jul 6, 2008
By now it should be obvious that, under the Vista operating system, I have Home Premium, there is a severe overall, general "has stopped working" problem.
Thus far I've experienced:
"Internet Explorer has stopped working"
"Windows Explorer has stopped working"
"Word has stopped working"
"Sherlock Holmes Nemesis (Adventure Company) has stopped working"
"Outlook has stopped working"
"Acid 4.0 (Sony) has stopped working"
"Acid 6.0 (Sony) has stopped working"
"Sound Forge (Sony) has stopped working"
Is it not obvious by now that Vista has a problem, maybe a compatability problem, with everything from Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word to third party programs which cause programs, as I mentioned, even programs made by Microsoft, to "stop working"? Is there no an overall "stopped working" patch or something that Microsoft has released by now?...............
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Jul 22, 2009
I want to maximize space for listing files this way.
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Aug 3, 2009
First of all, I will make sure to clarify that this is indeed a WINDOWS Explorer problem, and not an Windows INTERNET Explorer problem. I am able to use IE without problem, and connectivity is not affected. Whenever I try to open a location on my computer (Computer, "My Documents"
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Jun 7, 2009
I downloaded and installed the subject update. The first thing I observed was that my McAfee virus protection program became corrupted and had to be completely uninstalled and reinstalled.. I went thru that process and now find that my IE Browser no longer has the Popup control icon available. and I am experiencing Popup activity. How may I regain control of Popup activity as I have in IE 7? In addition I must sign in each time I enter the Browser in order to use my Bookmarks. Does
Microsoft consider this to be progress?
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Apr 28, 2008
why shouldn't they feel that way? Windows XP is noticeably faster than Vista on the same hardware, and it gets by with much less RAM and hard drive space. Microsoft's Service Pack 3 makes XP even faster, but the same cannot be said of Vista's Service Pack 1. And Windows Explorer crashes far more often in Vista (preceded, of course, by the notorious Green Ribbon of Death). Why, XP's staggeringly superior hardware support alone makes a convincing case for dumping Vista in favor of its predecessor.
Problem is, downgrading a Vista PC to Windows XP can be a chore, and doubly so if you want to do it without reformatting your hard disk. The main roadblock is Windows Setup, which won't let you install an older version on top of a newer one; you are left with the tedious task of fooling Setup into thinking that there's no Windows at all on your PC.-Next: Regress Without Reformatting >
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Dec 26, 2008
For all my photos, unless I view them in "Windows Photo Gallery which is inconvenient. I want to view them in Windows Explorer, I do not see real true thumbnails, I just see this default scene of water, green hills and sky. I have followed the instructions here Thumbnails in Windows Explorer here Default Programs - Program Default Associations (tho I wasn't thrilled about making Windows Photo Gallery my default program for JPG, I followed these instructions anyhow).
I NEVER had a problem like this in XP. I'm beginning to understand why Vista has such a bad reputation. Using (or attempting to use) Vista Home Premium 64-bit, BTW, (much less important question) why doesn't my Photoshop Elements even show up as an option when I set default programs? This problem was annoying before but to still have it after going thru all these forum instructions is really annoying.
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Sep 21, 2009
Whenever I click on any of my folders they just won't open I cant even right click on them and press open!! no folders wil open it just says that windows explorer is not responding!
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Dec 20, 2008
I am facing problems with my laptop, I have vista home basic and it intend to hang up always when explorer is opened for a while.
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Apr 19, 2009
Vista Home Premium installed. I've had it for about a month now, and everything was going fine until this past Wednesday, 4/15/09, when Windows Update installed a few things. They were basically security fixes for Windows and Office, and I installed an optional update for my HD audio. After restarting, my computer began freezing, seemingly at random. At first, it would freeze in any program I was in, and everything would become totally unresponsive, except for the mouse cursor. Task Manager would not come up, it wouldn't log off or go to sleep, and there would be no option left except to hard reset. I did a system restore to before the update, but no help.
I did one to four days before, still no help. I've run all the usual checks and scans, including virus and malware, to no improvement. I disabled all options for start up, but no help there either. It runs fine in safe mode, both with and without networking, and if I disable all services except those and restart, it'll run fine I started enabling services, a few at a time, to test which one was causing all the trouble, but then the freezing pattern changed. Now, it generally will not freeze programs I'm working in, but as soon as I need Windows Explorer for anything, it freezes up dead. The last time, even the mouse was stuck.
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Apr 2, 2009
every time i go onto my computer or control panel it doesn't load up it keeps saying not responding and also when i try to open a file on a program it also stops responding i have windows vista basic 32bit,365gb hdd,502mb ram,3ghz prosessor
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Apr 16, 2008
I've just installed SP1 for my VISTA ultimate X64 version. After completing the installation, and after the autoreboot, the start menu is fully available, when I try to access My Computer, windows has to close and tries to find a solution. How do I get to use the start menu again?
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Apr 13, 2009
Explorer.EXE Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item. This message keeps opening whenever i try to open my control panel. I have recently installed AVG 8 and want to remove it as its constant scans slow down programs that i am using.
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