Solved Consecutive drive letters under This PC (not happening)

tecknot · May 9, 2025

Hello everyone,

Today I was copying some files from an external hard disk drive to a USB flash drive when I noticed that some (unassigned) drive letters were missing. For instance, drive letter M and P are missing (and have been replaced with the next consecutive letter - see attached picture). There is no real problem with that but I would like to see consecutive letters for my external drive. Does anyone know of a 'fix' for this?

Kind regards,

tecknot

idgat · May 9, 2025

Often happens with mine but seems to fix itself after time. It's in the same experience as when Windows won't eject a device, indicating it's still in use (when it's actually not), it gets hold of a drive letter and won't let it go!!

Couple of options
- leave it and it will correct
- reboot device (resets "un/used" drive letters)

In a couple of cases, Windows has got its teeth into a drive letter and won't give it up. In those rare cases, I usually search the register and delete the drive letter (making sure no device is actually attached)

EDIT It appears those collection of drive letters in your above image might to be partitions on a single drive? Have to admit that used to be my preference for organising my system but found it confused Windows too often, resulting frequently in the drive letter conundrum you're experiencing. Since I went back to folders (instead of partitions) on a single drive, the drive letter schemozzle has rarely re-occurred

tecknot · May 9, 2025

idgat said:
Often happens with mine but seems to fix itself after time. It's in the same experience as when Windows won't eject a device, indicating it's still in use (when it's actually not), it gets hold of a drive letter and won't let it go!!

Couple of options
- leave it and it will correct
- reboot device (resets "un/used" drive letters)

In a couple of cases, Windows has got its teeth into a drive letter and won't give it up. In those rare cases, I usually search the register and delete the drive letter (making sure no device is actually attached)

Thanks for the quick response, idgat. I guess will leave it and hope it changes. Not a big deal.

Kind regards,

tecknot

Rollback_Jockey · May 9, 2025

Have you at any time used removable storage and you have manually allocated drive letters?

Are all the drives you expect to see displayed however with incorrect drive mapping?

gunrunnerjohn · May 9, 2025

tecknot said:
Today I was copying some files from an external hard disk drive to a USB flash drive when I noticed that some (unassigned) drive letters were missing. For instance, drive letter M and P are missing (and have been replaced with the next consecutive letter - see attached picture). There is no real problem with that but I would like to see consecutive letters for my external drive. Does anyone know of a 'fix' for this?

You can use Disk Management to change the drive letters. Once a disk has settled on a drive number, it's there until you change it.

If you have a bunch of different USB drives, and you connect multiple drives in a different assortment, drive letters can change.

For instance, you have a drive that drive G:, and it's not currently connected. You insert a new drive that has never been connected, or was connected to a drive letter that's in use on this machine. What will happen is that drive will connect to the next available drive letter, if that happens to be G:, that drive will be come G: as well.

Now for the interesting part. With the new "G:" drive connected, you plug in the old G: drive. Since G: is already in use, it'll take the next available drive letter, let's assume that is H:

From now on, or at least until a similar clash, that original G: drive is now the H: drive when connected, even if G: isn't in use at the time you connect it in the future.

The bottom line here is, if you have a bunch of USB drives that get connected in groups randomly, the drive letters will change. I happen to use USB drives for off-line backups, so I assign them to drive letters like U:, V:, and W:. That way in normal operation, they're always at the same drive letter location when they get plugged in.

tecknot · May 9, 2025

Rollback_Jockey said:
Have you at any time used removable storage and you have manually allocated drive letters?

Are all the drives you expect to see displayed however with incorrect drive mapping?

Hi Rollback_Jockey,

Yes, in the screenshot for example I am using a USB flash drive (partitioned into two parts H & I), but I did not deliberately assign drive letters to the partitions. I have not mapped any drive either.

Kind regards,

tecknot

tecknot · May 9, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
You can use Disk Management to change the drive letters. Once a disk has settled on a drive number, it's there until you change it.

If you have a bunch of different USB drives, and you connect multiple drives in a different assortment, drive letters can change.

For instance, you have a drive that drive G:, and it's not currently connected. You insert a new drive that has never been connected, or was connected to a drive letter that's in use on this machine. What will happen is that drive will connect to the next available drive letter, if that happens to be G:, that drive will be come G: as well.

Now for the interesting part. With the new "G:" drive connected, you plug in the old G: drive. Since G: is already in use, it'll take the next available drive letter, let's assume that is H:

From now on, or at least until a similar clash, that original G: drive is now the H: drive when connected, even if G: isn't in use at the time you connect it in the future.

The bottom line here is, if you have a bunch of USB drives that get connected in groups randomly, the drive letters will change. I happen to use USB drives for off-line backups, so I assign them to drive letters like U:, V:, and W:. That way in normal operation, they're always at the same drive letter location when they get plugged in.

Hi gunrunnerjohn,

I have not assigned any letters to any of my drives/partitions. I leave them that way just to avoid the scenario you described above. I know they will come up with different drive letters when I plug them in, but that is why I have labeled them.

Kind regards,

tecknot

gunrunnerjohn · May 9, 2025

tecknot said:
Hi gunrunnerjohn,

I have not assigned any letters to any of my drives/partitions. I leave them that way just to avoid the scenario you described above. I know they will come up with different drive letters when I plug them in, but that is why I have labeled them.

Kind regards,

tecknot

Well, you did ask for a fix for the issue, so I offered an explanation of why and how to fix it.

In my case, my automated scripts assume a drive letter, so I wanted them to be where I put them every time they were plugged in. It's been working properly for several years.

kanenas · May 11, 2025

A couple of days ago I came across this page: Drive Tools for Windows
You can get a number of utilities there. The relevant one for this topic is probably "DriveCleanup"
It cleans the registry from any unused drive letters.

So I guess the fix would be:
1. Run DriveCleanup.
2. Reboot
3. Reassign drive letters as you like.
4. Reboot
5. Run DriveCleanup
6. Reboot

Regular precautions like making a restore point before the above sequence, apply.

tecknot · May 11, 2025

kanenas said:
A couple of days ago I came across this page: Drive Tools for Windows
You can get a number of utilities there. The relevant one for this topic is probably "DriveCleanup"
It cleans the registry from any unused drive letters.

So I guess the fix would be:
1. Run DriveCleanup.
2. Reboot
3. Reassign drive letters as you like.
4. Reboot
5. Run DriveCleanup
6. Reboot

Regular precautions like making a restore point before the above sequence, apply.

Hi kanenas,

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like that tool will come in handy. I appreciate it.

Kind regards,

tecknot

gunrunnerjohn · May 11, 2025

The tools to remove drive letters are already built into Windows.

Solved Consecutive drive letters under This PC (not happening)

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