hide empty drives

[LL Rost]

Hide empty drives in computer folder in Windows 7 does not work as
expected

Running dual boot Vista Home Premium and Windows 7 professional
systems.

I have 2 DVD/CD drives attached to computer, one to the motherboard
and the other via USB. If the drives are empty, neither appear in the
computer folder in Windows 7. If a disc is inserted in the drive, the
drive appears in the computer folder. I've changed the view option
in the folder options via the control panel. Regardless of the
setting, the empty drives do not appear. I've changed the view option
via Windows Explorer via organize function and still the drives do not
appear.

Perhaps there is another option I am missing?

Lou

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Lou.

What does Disk Management say about those optical drives?

My two DVD burners are both internal IDE and both always show up in Computer
and Windows Explorer.

My thumb drives and SD card reader also show up. The card reader is missing
now because it is unplugged.

With Disk Management, I've assigned the letters that I want each drive to
use, and set Policies for each to Optimize for quick removal. No matter
whether they are plugged in or not, and no matter whether they have media or
not, the same drive letters (ReadyBoost (R and SanDisk (S) are assigned
each time. (Unless I'm fiddling with something like installed a new beta
build of Windows; then I might need to have Disk Management change letters
again.)

I've multi-booted for a decade or more, but currently am running only Win7.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

 

[Dave-UK]

Hide empty drives in computer folder in Windows 7 does not work as
expected

Running dual boot Vista Home Premium and Windows 7 professional
systems.

I have 2 DVD/CD drives attached to computer, one to the motherboard
and the other via USB. If the drives are empty, neither appear in the
computer folder in Windows 7. If a disc is inserted in the drive, the
drive appears in the computer folder. I've changed the view option
in the folder options via the control panel. Regardless of the
setting, the empty drives do not appear. I've changed the view option
via Windows Explorer via organize function and still the drives do not
appear.

Perhaps there is another option I am missing?

Lou

Win7 64
My system seems to work opposite to what you are seeing.
With 'Hide empty drives in the Computer folder' selected
the empty drive is shown in the main folder window but hidden
in the navigation pane.
When I deselect 'Hide empty drives' the empty drive is shown
in the main window but still hidden in the navigation pane.
So my empty drive always appears in the main window but is
always hidden in the navigation pane.

 

[LL Rost]

Win7 64
My system seems to work opposite to what you are seeing.
With 'Hide empty drives in the Computer folder' selected
the empty drive is shown in the main folder window but hidden
in the navigation pane.
When I deselect 'Hide empty drives' the empty drive is shown
in the main window but still hidden in the navigation pane.
So my empty drive always appears in the main window but is
always hidden in the navigation pane.

Dave, thanks for the response. You did a more thorough job of
analyzing the situation and explaining your observations. My
observations are identical to yours: Regardless of the setting of
"hide empty drives in the computer folder," the drives NEVER appear in
the navigation pane and ALWAYS appear in the main window. Not what I
expected.

 

[Dave-UK]

Dave, thanks for the response. You did a more thorough job of
analyzing the situation and explaining your observations. My
observations are identical to yours: Regardless of the setting of
"hide empty drives in the computer folder," the drives NEVER appear in
the navigation pane and ALWAYS appear in the main window. Not what I
expected.

After a bit of Googling I think 'Hide empty drives in the Computer folder'
means card-reader type usb things and not optical drives.
To get the optical drives to appear in the navigation pane:
Folder Options > General > Show all folders.

 

[LL Rost]

After a bit of Googling I think 'Hide empty drives in the Computer folder'
means card-reader type usb things and not optical drives.
To get the optical drives to appear in the navigation pane:
Folder Options > General > Show all folders.

Thanks again

 

[Lord Vetinari]

After a bit of Googling I think 'Hide empty drives in the Computer folder'
means card-reader type usb things and not optical drives.
To get the optical drives to appear in the navigation pane:
Folder Options > General > Show all folders.

Interesting. If I recall correctly, all of my drives show up....even when
empty, and that includes USB. On the other hand, when running under Ubuntu,
it only shows the optical drive when there is a disc in it. I never thought
to attempt to modify the behavior.