Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with windows and usb

MouseTrapped! How can I make my mouse load faster in Win 7?

newfers — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:12:13 -0800

Why is my USB mouse the last item to load when Windows 7 is finished booting up? Sometimes I have to wait while it recognizes external USB drives, and in the meantime, I have no control over my mouse. Is there a way to change the order which my USB devices load? I suppose I could just haphazardly unplug and re-plug my USB devices to see if it changes the load order, but I suspect there must be a software solution to give my mouse priority over all my other USB devices. You would think it wouldn't make much of a difference, but it does. It makes me feel like my system has crashed for that 30 seconds or so when I see my desktop but have no mouse control.

Yes, obviously I should back-up more often.

PhoBWanKenobi — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:00:21 -0800

Did my fiance's computer bork my thumb drive, and what can I do to get my data back? I use a 2 GB Kingston DataTraveler to transport my writing (particularly my novel*) between my two home PCs--both running Ubuntu--and my Windows XP work computer. I always always "safely remove"/unmount and haven't had problems with it on either type of system.

Last night, I plugged it into my fiance's Windows XP machine for the first time. It pulled up an error message--"USB device not recognized" and asked us to install drivers, but when I went through the driver installation wizard, it said the drivers were up to date. Since then, no other computers recognize the Kingston at all; it's as if I haven't even plugged it in. What's more, the thumb drive doesn't show up unless I plug it into the same USB port on my fiance's computer, in which case it spits out the same error message.

I realize that USB sticks are unreliable and sometimes just die but the fact that it still shows up on the fiance's computer when I plug it into that one port makes me wonder if the data/stick might somehow be recoverable from that port. Plus, I had been using it (and safely removed it) just twenty minutes before at work! I tried rebooting and unplugging the power supply (as well as installing drivers), but that's all so far. I'm at work right now, so I can't try any data recovery programs--and the computer doesn't "see" the stick, anyway--but I'll try any and all suggestions once I get home today.

So, metafilter, what are my options to try getting my data back?

*Luckily, I'd backed up my data two weeks ago, so I'll have only lost 17 pages; the drive being bricked would be a pain, not a disaster. But still a pain. Back up your data, kids!

Recommend some Windows repair utilities

purephase — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:58:00 -0800

If you were going to bring a USB drive to repair a bunch of workstations, what are some of the latest Windows XP/Vista repair utilities that you would put on it? I used to do a lot of computer repair and recovery but my career has taken me in a somewhat different direction over the past few years. Sadly, I'm a bit rusty on the specifics.

I have a work assignment (volunteer) coming-up that involves both training another individual on standard computer maintenance and repair and assisting in getting a number of their workstations into a workable state. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the hardware information to prepare ahead of time.

I know that there have been questions in the past regarding recommended tools to solve Windows issues (viruses, rootkits, registry bloat etc.) but I can't seem to track any of them down. Also, they might be a bit dated.

Give me your best! Thanks.

A few I've come up with are:
RegMon
FileMon
ProcessMonitor
AVG (or ClamWin)
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
CCleaner

Installing Windows 7 on a MBP with a non-working DVD drive

N2O1138 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:22:32 -0800

How can I install Windows 7 (via Boot Camp or rEFIt) from an ISO? I think the Superdrive on my Macbook Pro (10.5.6) is on its last legs, because it ejects almost anything I put in it. (Meaning blank DVDs, and the DVD I burned of the ISO on my Windows XP desktop with ImgBurn). It's not extremely old (I got it refurbished on Christmas 2007), but still old enough to be out of warranty (at least I would think so). What I have available: 1tb My Book Firewire External Hard Drive 4gb 1st gen iPod Nano, that isn't even formatted as an iPod right now, so it's basically just a 4gb USB flash drive. I know I can boot from it if it's set up right, because I've been using it with this What I've tried so far:
I can't restore the iPod to the ISO in Disk Utility, so I tried to convert the ISO to a DMG (in Disk Utility and using a program called Converso), getting errors both times.

I tried mounting the ISO, erasing everything on the iPod, and copying everything straight out of the ISO to the iPod, but it doesn't appear as anything bootable.

Please help if you can

How do I stop windows from taking over my portable hard drive

Syntoad — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:40:02 -0800

I have a portable usb hard drive that I use for keeping all my documents / backups on. Windows seems to love using this drive for everything, for example I am installing IE7 from windows update, and it is using the drive to hold all the temporary files during the install. Because of this the drive is always in use and I can never eject it. Using unlocker I can see that no less than three services are holding files open on this drive, and system restore is also using it (even though I disabled it for the external drive)

How can I get windows to treat this external the same way it treats a USB stick, instead of it treating it like an actual hard drive?

Vista 64bit stopped recognizing and connecting to external drives...

pghjezebel — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:59:18 -0800

Vista 64bit has recently stopped recognizing my iPhone and WD MyBook external HD...please help! I have a WD 500GB MyBook and an iPhone. Both have connected without problems to my Vista 64bit machine. Now, I can no longer access them.

My PC on some level still "sees" the devices because the iPhone will connect and sync with iTunes and the HD is listed in the device manager. However it is listed as "This device is not configured correctly." I've tried uninstalling, disabling, reinstalling drivers, different ports and have had no luck getting my machine to see either device.

And I've verified that there is nothing wrong with the HD or the iPhone. Both connect flawlessly on my husband's Vista (non 64bit of course) machine.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Which USB Mass Storage Device is which?

msbrauer — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:19:26 -0800

How can I change the generic name "USB Mass Storage Device" in my Vista system tray "Safely Remove Hardware" dialog? It's not uncommon for me to have a couple of external harddrives plugged in to my Vista laptop alongside a memory card and an mp3 player. While all of these devices have unique drive letters and unique names in windows explorer (one of the drives is always called 400gig, for instance, another is always called 500gig), they're all called "USB Mass Storage Device" in the system tray's "Safely Remove Hardware" menu. So when I need to unplug one but not all, I find myself taking a stab at which device is which and usually I pick the wrong one. I can solve the confusion easily enough by opening the "my computer" window and figuring out the drive letter from there, but that's an extra step that I'd love to get rid of. Ideally, the dialog would always say something like "Safely remove 400gig - Drive (x:)" and stay the same for each device each time it's plugged in.

So, is it possible to change the menu options from "Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive (x:)" to something unique for each device?

Memorex Dual USB driver

tommasz — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:37:27 -0800

I inherited a Memorex Dual USB card reader without a Windows XP driver. It's theoretically available at Memorex's web site but the links throw errors and when I tried to contact support, it generated a MySQL error (surprise, surprise). All of the various drivers sites I could find simply link back to Memorex's faulty site. Does anyone have this driver? It's probably in a form like "Dualreader.exe" rather than a zip archive.

Can I safely remove the usb drive?

teaperson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:40:09 -0800

Can I safely remove my USB drive from a Windows computer without stopping it? I always feel like I could save a few seconds by just removing the drive, instead of using the clunky "safely remove hardware" interface? If the drive isn't actively reading or writing, how big a risk is that?

FAT3000?

tmcw — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:33:58 -0800

I think I'm finally switching to Ubuntu on my main machine. I have two 160GB external drives, currently both with NTFS, currently mirrored (by software, not a RAID). With what and how should I format/use these guys? Currently both drives have about 60 gigs used. I have 80 or so gigs on my laptop. I'd like them to be accessible by Windows in a clutch, and eventually (about a year) I'm getting a mac laptop, so I'll need to switch to that too. But my primary goal is to get a good Linux / Windows formatting scheme for the meantime. They're filled with music and school documents - no applications at this point. I'm aiming to use VirtualBox or similar (any suggestions?) to run Windows, so that might decide their accessibility?

Thanks!

Help creating an autorun file for external drive

royalchinook — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:44:36 -0800

I have a big external USB hard drive with three partitions for infrequently used files and backup. I was wondering what kind of file to make to have it automatically open a folder showing the drive when I power on the device and not ask me what I'd like to do with each of the other drives. Currently, when I power on, it starts searching through all my files for an autorun file (which isn't there) - I have to cancel it or it would run for awhile to find nothing; this searching is what I'd like to have not happen

I took a look at some autorun.inf files that I put on the external drives partitions (let's say that they're R, S and T) but that didn't stop the search from happening, or get a explorer view of the folders inside...

Any help on this? Or resources that you could point me to?

Block prompt

KRS — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:14:12 -0800

How do I stop the annoying "This device can operate faster" query when I plug a USB 2 thumb drive into a USB 1.1 port (which is all my computer has)?

Formatting a HFS+ external drive as FAT32 onin2K box a W

jaimev — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:03:41 -0800

How do I perform a FAT32 format of a 2.5" laptop drive that's in an external case connected to a Win2K box via USB? Complication: drive was originally formatted as HFS+ on a Mac. When I plugged it into this Win2K box, I see the drive being accessed; but when I go to format it through Control Panel->Computer Management->Storage->Disk Management, the drive doesn't appear.

When I go to the System Tray->Unplug or Eject Hardware, the drive *does* appear in the list of USB mass storage devices that can be stopped.

I suppose I can plug this back into a Mac and format it as FAT32 there, but I'd like to do it on the Win2K box now.

I don't have access to the original Win2K install CD, but I have the capability to burn a boot CD if that is what it takes. Recommendations for a boot-cd iso with formatting capability are appreciated.

How can I make a USB stick "fixed" instead of "removable"?

chrisalbon — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:52:10 -0800

How can I make a USB stick "fixed" instead of "removable" on Windows Vista? I have been using Mozy remote backup to protect my files. I just bought a new USB stick and want Mozy to back it up as well. However, Mozy does not detect the USB stick. I checked on Mozy's site and found:

"MozyHome does support most types of external drives (excluding thumbdrives), but only if Windows sees your external drive as 'fixed.'"

Windows considers my USB stick "removable" and thus Mozy will not back it up. How can I make Windows Vista consider the USB stick "Fixed" instead of "Removable"?

Thanks!

Windows 2003 and USB wifi NIC?

TeamBilly — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:33:15 -0800

Is anyone using a USB wireless NIC on a Windows 2003 server? I am trying to find a USB wifi NIC to use on a Windows 2003 server. The Netgear WG111 I have tried doesn't support Win2K3 server and I am having a hard time finding one that does. Linksys doesn't seem to have one, per their support department.

Is anyone doing this, or have they done it? What brand worked for you?

note: it absolutely HAS to be USB - I'm not able to access the internals of the machine.

Help me get my drive unplugged!

antifuse — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:35:51 -0800

How can I find out what application is locking my external USB drive in Windows XP? Ok, here's the long and the short of it: I've got an external hard drive (a normal 3.5" drive in a Vantec Nexstar 3 enclosure). I've closed all the apps that have files open on said drive. When I try to "eject" it in XP (make it safe for unplugging) it says that an application is still using a file on the drive. How can I find out what application is holding that file open? I know, I can just shut down the PC, but I'd like to be able to disconnect the thing without having to shutdown every time! Are there any apps that tell you what file handles are open for each running process? I tried FileMon from SysInternals, but that tells you more as things are being opened, not after the fact what is being *held* open.

How to stop XP automatic search when drive is plugged in?

univac — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:31:48 -0800

How do I stop windows from automatically searching for media when a new drive is plugged in? (Minor annoyance.) When I plug in an external USB drive, windows automatically begins cataloguing the media, and an annoying little window pops up.

It gives me the option of cancelling the search, but I ususally can't click it in time.

There must be a way to turn this off altogether!

Fix my WinXP USB without the nuke from orbit option!

kdar — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 06:31:15 -0800

[WinXPfilter] What's wrong with my USB devices on my computer? I run a fairly old Athlon XP 2400+ on an Asus A7V-266-E motherboard, which uses a VIA K7 chipset, I believe. Windows XP (+ SP2 and fully updated) is my primary OS, and I have Linux installed on another partition, but I rarely use it as the machine has become more of a gaming box.

The issue started when I yanked out my USB smartphone (Cingular 2125) mid-a-bunch-of-things to take a call. My USB mic stopped working, and windows stopped being able to find drivers for it (despite the only "driver" being usbaudio.sys, included with XP SP2). My other USB devices, including my USB sound card, kept working, though, so I didn't pay it any mind until I tried to fire up Ventrilo and it wouldn't work. After lots of rejiggering ports and trying various installation options for new drivers, I decided that reinstalling the USB controller driver might help. I uninstalled and unplugged all USB devices and rebooted.

Now Windows can't even find the driver for my USB controller. I reinstalled my chipset drivers as well as the VIA-specific USB drivers, but I haven't seen anything. Keep in mind that before I uninstalled these from the device manager, all devices were working correctly (except the USB mic), so it's not a hardware problem. I'll be able to verify this after I get home and can boot up linux.

Anyone else been able to successfully solve something like this? Other forums' information is sketchy-at-best, so I'm leaving it to the geniuses here to figure out.

Assigning Drive Letters

king walnut — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:05:42 -0800

Is there a way to get Windows XP to always assign the same drive letter to a particular removable device? Specifically, I have a thumb drive, and an MP3 player that's also a drive. I would like each of these devices to always get assigned the same drive letter, for example D: for the MP3 player and E: for the thumb drive.

If I plug in the thumb drive by itself I don't want it to be D, I want it to be E. Is there any way to do this?

USB key drive dual-boot?

Mozai — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:46:20 -0800

Work gave me a 1GB keydrive for carrying personal files. What I'd adore is using it to carry around a rescue disk such as one of the many tiny bootable Linux distributions. However, I know that I will need to use the keydrive to move files (>100MB in size) from a windows to Mac OSX to Linux workstations. One bootable Linux partition, the rest in the lowest-common denominator filesystem is FAT32/VFAT.

The sensible answer would be to partition the USB keydrive, use the first 60MB partition for a bootable Linux mini-distro, and format the rest vfat. Except that Windows insists on only seeing the first partition and keeps asking if I want to format the entire 60MB of this 1GB keydrive.

What's the proper way of having my bootable rescue USB key, and my big storage space too?

Changing Drive Assmt for USB CF Reader?

vanoakenfold — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 04:03:11 -0800

Changing drive letters in Windows 2000 I just installed a USB CompactFlash reader, and it has been installed (without my say-so) as drive D. I already had a drive D (80gb usb external HD) and everything that was shortcutted to Drive D now no longer functions properly. Is there a simple way I can change the drive letter of the CF Reader to F or G, manually?

Encrypting a USB thumbdrive for OS X and Windows?

jaimev — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:50:13 -0800

I'd like to password protect the contents of a USB thumbdrive that will be accessed from an OS X and Windows platform. Ideally, it would be nice to create a virtual encrupted disk within a file (ala TrueCrypt). I'll settle for some archive format. But whatever I end up with has to be cross-platform between OS X and a Windows box, and have relatively strong encryption. Freeware would be very preferable.

Does such a thing exist?

pandora's mbox

grumblebee — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:37:18 -0800

When I turn on the phantom power switch on my new Digidesign mbox, I get a warning that the device is pulling too much power from the USB port (and then it stops working). I'm using a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop, which is one of the recommended systems on Digidesign's site. I have Win XP Service Pack II installed. What gives? According to Microsoft, when you get this message, you must use the device's external power source. Which leaves me up shit creak, because mboxes don't have external power sources. HELP!

Windows XP utility that lists details of what's plugged into my USB devices?

Nelson — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 16:57:38 -0800

Can anyone recommend a Windows XP utility that lists details of what's plugged into my USB devices? I need more info than what Device Manager tells me, but don't need the full USB device developer suites I find searching the web.

Will my old Canon printer work with Win XP?

NorthCoastCafe — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:34:48 -0800

Printer filter/ I'm downsizing to travel cross country and would like to use an old Canon bubble jet (BJ10ex) with my new Dell laptop running XP. Does anyone know if this won't work? I have to wait for a USB Parallel converter cable to arrive to test it. Are there other compatibility problems I need to know about?