Script to enable renaming of optical drives ?

Ex_Brit

Ex_Brit

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I already know about the XP script for this purpose, from Kelly Theriot's website "Troubleshooting XP" and am wondering if anyone has made or found one for Vista?
It's easy to name hard drives, but not optical ones.
 
I did this manually on my PC (Vista x86 Ultimate) and it worked:

1. Create \HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons [type: key]
2. Create \explorer\DriveIcons\LETTER [type: key] (e.g. F)
3. Create \DriveIcons\LETTER\DefaultIcon [type: key]
4. Create \DriveIcons\LETTER\DefaultLabel [type: key]
5. Change the value of \DriveIcons\LETTER\DefaultLabel\(Default) to the name you want.
6. Close & Reboot.

Hope that helps.
 
I'm reading this from my XP boot. So create a seperate one of the above for each optical drive and I should be OK?
I have four DVD/CD burners...W, Z , Y AND Z.
 
Well, obviously you have to do this to the Vista Registry (so you have to be in Vista) - but that aside, yes.

If your CD/DVD drive is W, you replace LETTER with W
Create a separate key for each letter. You can assign images by setting (Default) for DefaultIcon to the .ico for the drive.
 
Before I do this I need your advice on a startup problem. I'm in Vista now but only because I used "Last known good configuration".
I booted to Vista normally, just got a blank dark screen instead of the scrolling bar....waited....nothing happened. No noises from the hard drive...nothing!
Did a hard reboot, this time got as far as the sign-on screen but my mouse wouldn't work to click user names (to enter password). Tried both my Bluetooth and my wired PS/2 mouse. Another hard boot and it worked finally using "Last known good...".
What would cause that? I guess I'll have to run a startup repair.
If I knew where to look I could get some indication of what was wrong but I find Vista's Event Viewer very confusing.
The only thing I did yesterday was add Widcomm drivers for my Motorola Bluetooth dongle so that I can sync my phone and use my Bluetooth Headset with Windows.
 
Like this...?

Regedit.jpg


Because it doesn't replace the existing name at all..

Regedit001.jpg


(Not at bottom how much of my 4gb of RAM Windows sees...)!!
 
OK, one problem at a time dude!!

1) The CD Thing:
It *did* replace it - *after* the letter in My Computer. Try changing the text in the registry to "My CD Drive" and it'll change too...
That's how Windows Vista displays Optical Drives:

Code: 
ICON | TYPE OF DRIVE (LETTER:) LABEL

Like mine is:
Code: 
Custom Icon | DVD RW Drive (G:) Plextor Burner

2) The memory:
Run/Install EasyBCD. Advanced Options -> Windows Vista -> PAE enabled.

3) The startup thing:
It's not related to startup, it's related to drivers. You shouldn't see it again though, rebooting into Vista should work like it did this time..

*phew*
:tongueout:
 
Thanks very much. I was hoping it would change what went before the drive letter only. Ah well, I've shortened them to read only the drive type and it looks better.
I'll look at that esytbcd thing when I'm back in XP.
I've found out another thing....I don't think it's possible to get a Bluetooth Headset to work in a multi-boot without unpairing it in one before booting to the other.
With my MSFT Bluetooth KB and mouse they work, but only because no password in other 2 OS's.
 
That really sucks... I hate bluetooth, I can't wait until wireless USB gets certified by the IEEE.
 
Yes Bluetooth sucks. I can't get it to work at all now. I guess disconnect, unpair and start over again...LOL
 
I forgot to say...the PAE enabling doesn't make a difference to the viible RAM. I believe either my motherboard doesn't support that (D865GBF) or it only applies to 64-bit systems. I know that there is no mention of it in my BIOS.

By the way, to digress yet again, when I saw that it wasn't seeing all my RAM I got miffed and yanked them right out again to sell on eBay, perhaps.
The system did not like that at all and took around 20 minutes to boot beyond the Bios splash screen, so I put them back and now it's happy again.
I guess the extra RAM is working, it's just getting eaten by my TV-FM/Video and Sound cards.
 
That's true, I didn't think of that.
If you have in the BIOS the graphics card set to use onboard memory or something like that as a backup, it would disappear. Windows XP didn't show it as subtracted from the total, but I know that Windows Vista does.

BTW, PAE is software-level, nothing to do with hardware support. PAE on x64 is useless, it's actually intended for use on x86, BUT only for MORE than 4GB of memory.. I just checked.
 
AGP aperature - that's the one.

I'd say hold out on getting a graphics card just now unless you really need it ASAP.
In 6 months you *should* be able to get a 200-USD range dx10 card.
 
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