Renaming optical drives - how?? 1

[Bocaire]

I have no problem renaming, changing assigned drive letters et al for regular hard drives.

And I thought that in the past, I had renamed some optical drives, but I could be wrong there.

I see no way to rename an optical drive. The main reason I want to is because I have two identical optical drives in my newly finished system. They both have the same generic preassigned name. When a disc is inserted, the name changes to reflect the inserted disc.

But, I see no way to assign my own personal name to these 2 drives. That field is always grayed out. Is there no way way to assign a special name? Even if it temporarily changes to reflect an inserted disc, it would be nice to have the custom name show when no disc is in there.

Bocaire

 

[vacunita]

Try this:
Copy and paste the code below into notepad.

CODE
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\X]
@=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\X\DefaultLabel]
@="CHANGE DRIVE LABEL HERE"

Once in notepad, change the two "X" values to the drive letter you want to change. (eg. DriveIcons\E)

Now change "CHANGE DRIVE LABEL HERE" to whatever you want to label to say (eg. My Backup)

SAVE the file to your desktop, and give it any name, and a .reg extension. (eg. Backup.reg)

Now go to your desktop and double click the file. It will ask to merge, say yes.

log off and back on (or restart)

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Bocaire]

Thanks for the info. I was expecting that this could probably be done via the Registry.

Some things I'm a bit confused on - and when I edit the Registry, I want to be very sure about what I'm doing - so, some questions

1. It doesn't look like a wrap at the end of each of the above lines. I wasn't aware that Registry text strings ever had more than one line.

2. I assume that the code you noted above (4 lines with a break between them, do a single drive. The first 2 lines delete the current name, and the second two lines rename it. Is this correct?

3. If so, then to do both drives, I'll have to generate two reg files - correct?

Thanks for your help

Bocaire

 

[vacunita]

1. It is a word wrap.

2. correct

3. No, copy the 2 lines under themselves and change the drive letter. They don't need to be in seperate files.

You can also do it manuyally by going into the keys and adding it there using regedit.

By the way, [red]backup your registry before you attemt anything.[/red]

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[H82bu]

Just go to disk manager right click the drive and select "change drive letter and paths."

Right click my computer
manage
disk management

Good luck.

 

[H82bu]

Nevermind. Friday brain freeze! Misread what you were trying to do.

 

[linney]

Way to rename CD-ROM (+and DVD)

http://www.flexbeta.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t3494.html

 

[Bocaire]

vacunita,

Thanks for the reply.

The reason I asked about the "wrap" was that there was plenty of room left on the line for the few characters that created the second short line consisting of

@=""

Why did this start a new line? It seems as if the "@" character triggered it, as it also started a new line for the second part which assigns the new name.

And yes, I will always backup the Registry before editing.

It almost does seem easier to edit the Registry directly. But, since to start, there are no Registry entries for the optical drives, it would not be easier to do via Regedit, at least not for me. Once the optical drives are named however, there will be a Registry entry, and changing the name could easily be done via Regedit - I assume.

Just curious - why is necessary to use the first line to name the drive "", which is no name, and then rename that drive to the custom one desired?

Sorry to be so inquisitive, but that is my nature.

Thanks again

Bocaire

 

[Bocaire]

vacunita,

Something just dawned on me. I was trying to figure out why the optical drives were set up to not be named by the user.

Then I realized why - I guess.

Without a specified name, they assume the name of what is placed in them. This allows the user to view that when looking at the drive listings. And, this can be a useful feature.

Am I correct is assuming that when one names an optical drive, that the assigned name will not be temporarily replaced by the descriptive name of the disk which is loaded?

If so, then I'll have to think twice about situation of assigning special names.

Bocaire

 

[vacunita]

O.k lets see if i can explain this:
Forget the file,I think it wil be easier if you go into regedit manually instead of using the file.

find the aformentioned key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\X]


Right click it and select New->key, Name it [red]DefaultLabel[/red].

When that is done select the new key/folder, and right click on the only value in the right pane, select modify, and change the value to whatever it is you want the drive to be called.

Click O.K. and close the editor. go into My Computer and press F5 to refresh the contents, you should now see the name you gave it. if not you might need to restart your computer.

This change will only affect the name of the drive when there is [red]NO[/red] cd inside the drive, when you put in a CD or DVD it will change to reflect what's inside. When you eject it it will revert back to whatever you named it.

Do that for each drive.




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.