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My semi-permanent USB drive died, so I copied all the files to a replacement. Now I would like to assign the new drive the same drive letter as the old, so I don't have to change the path in every program and shortcut that points to it. Unfortunately, the drive letter (F) is not available in the list of options:

enter image description here

The other drives on the system are C D G (and E is for the DVD-ROM), so it's not missing because it's in use. I've rebooted multiple times, and completely uninstalled the non-existent drive using USBDeview, but its drive letter is still unavailable.

endolith
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  • F is missing because it is assigned to anther drive, – Moab Nov 14 '22 at 18:54
  • @Moab The drive it was assigned to no longer exists – endolith Nov 14 '22 at 18:55
  • I believe Windows thinks it exists. I see this here with internal drives – John Nov 14 '22 at 18:57
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    @John - "I believe Windows thinks it exists." - So how does the author resolve their problem? If the drive is no longer installed in the system the drive letter should be available. – Ramhound Nov 14 '22 at 19:00
  • I just had to use a new Letter. The old one could not be used – John Nov 14 '22 at 19:01
  • There must be a way to re-enable it from the registry or something – endolith Nov 14 '22 at 20:09
  • OHHHHH. It *is* assigned to a (virtual) drive. I opened File Explorer and entered `F:` in the location bar, and it shows a Google Drive. I can change that drive letter from Google Drive's settings, and then the letter becomes available – endolith Nov 14 '22 at 20:12
  • Does that drive letter show in explorer? – Moab Nov 15 '22 at 02:34
  • @Moab Yes, but I think only after I rebooted and Google Drive grabbed it, and I didn't look after that point, I had only looked before rebooting – endolith Nov 15 '22 at 06:18
  • See if anything here helps>>>>https://superuser.com/questions/996189/how-to-remove-phantom-drive-letters – Moab Nov 15 '22 at 18:41

2 Answers2

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Try:

Open CMD command prompt as administrator > type "mountvol /r" without quotes, then press [enter]. Reboot and try again.

The command mountvol /r will remove drive letters for previously connected drives.

Joep van Steen
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The drive letter may be assigned to a different drive, even if it's not shown in Disk Management or diskpart. Try just entering the drive letter into a File Explorer to verify this.

In my case, the problem was caused by Google Drive being assigned to drive G, which was already in use, so after I removed the old USB stick and rebooted, Google Drive gobbled up the next available letter F for its virtual drive. It allows this to be changed in the settings, though:

Google Drive change Drive letter

which then made the letter available in "Change Drive Letter or Path" again.

endolith
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