Mystery USB drive

[terrypin]

I finally got round to investigating this puzzle. I'd occasionally noticed that my Win 10 PC lists a USB drive 'F:' which always asks me to
"Please insert a disc into USB Drive (F:)." It doesn't appear in diskmgmt.msc. But Everything searches were delivering many hits - of non-existent files! So I have just removed it from the list of indexes, in the vague hope that might somehow get rid of it altogether. But it remains. (Haven't yet rebooted, if that's relevant.)

And at least one other apps, my music maanger/player MediaMonkey includes it (with no content). Probably other apps too. So it's plainly not an Everything issue. But I wonder if anyone here can shed some light please?

[raccoon]

Did you ever plug in a CD-R or DVD-R drive? Windows allows you to "copy" files to an optical media device, which holds them in temporary bondage until you actually insert a blank disc to burn those files. Search google for "Files waiting to be burned to disc"

I still use Win7 primarily and I long since disabled all that nonsense, but that's what I would investigate.

Try Start > Run > shell:cd burning

Try C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Burn

If you see files, you can delete them.

Try https://www.technipages.com/enable-disa ... ng-windows

[void]

First thing we should do is find how Everything is indexing your F: drive.

In Everything, please try the following search:

root: addcolumn:index-type

What index-type is listed for your F: ?



Everything most likely has your F: drive indexed as a FAT/NTFS volume:

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the FAT tab.
• Select your F: drive (if listed) and click Remove.
• Please consider enabling Automatically remove offline volumes.
• Click the NTFS tab.
• Select your F: drive (if listed) and click Remove.
• Please consider enabling Automatically remove offline volumes.
• Click OK.

[terrypin]

As mentioned
"So I have just removed it from the list of indexes"

So naturally it now doesn't appear in the list with C: and the other six drives.

Not sure if it was NTSC or FAT.

[terrypin]

Did you ever plug in a CD-R or DVD-R drive? Windows allows you to "copy" files to an optical media device, which holds them in temporary bondage until you actually insert a blank disc to burn those files. Search google for "Files waiting to be burned to disc"

I still use Win7 primarily and I long since disabled all that nonsense, but that's what I would investigate.

Try Start > Run > shell:cd burning

Try C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Burn

If you see files, you can delete them.

Try https://www.technipages.com/enable-disa ... ng-windows

Thanks raccoon, looks promising but that folder
C:\Users\terry\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Burn\Burn
is empty.

With a blank CD opened in my player (a rare event nowadays) F: still appears as well, and gives the the same message when right-clicked:



Using that link, there was no 'NoCDBurning' entry in this key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

[terrypin]

Discovered from a post elsewhere that this 'USB drive' is my SD card reader slot. Did not recall ever using it. I use micro-SD cards frequently, in a USB stick with adapter.

Inserted an arbitrary SD card and mystery 'USB' drive opened. Followed the message instructions to scan & repair it. Removed it - and no longer any F: in File Explorer. Thought was the end of the puzzle...

HOWEVER, on inserting further SD cards, no response at all. Same with all six of cards.

Will explore later, but this has triggered my recollection that this arose directly after buying the PC (2016?). I think a reboot enabled a single use of the reader. I rarely reboot and not inclined to do so right now.

FWIW, here's a couple opf potentally relevant screenshots.


Happily F: of course no longer appears anywhere obvious with no card inserted. The unexplained issue is why the same is true when a card IS inserted.

[raccoon]

If you're not using the computer's built-in card reader slot(s), then just go ahead and unplug it from the USB headers (on board). Or, you can disable the device from device manager. That way it won't ghost up in the future.