Make Windows see any USB flash drive as local disk

How to make Windows XP see any USB flash drive as a local disk rather than a removable disk: By default a USB flash drive is detected by Windows XP as a removable disk. This poses a couple of limitations. You cannot setup or create multiple partitions on a removable disk from Windows XP. Moreover, Windows is unable to display multiple partitions on the USB flash drive if it is detected as a removable disk. However, we can address this problem by creating our own custom driver for the USB device forcing Windows XP to detect the USB flash drive as a local disk. Luckily the base driver is already available for compact flash cards and can be easily modified for our USB flash drive usage.

This process will essentially make Windows detect your USB Stick as USB hard drive which can then be partitioned within Windows.

Prerequisites:

  • USB_LocalDisk.zip
  • Windows XP PC
  • USB Flash drive
  • Notepad ++ (or a text editor with line numbers)

How to make Windows detect a flash drive as a local disk:

  1. From a running Windows XP system, Insert your USB flash drive
  2. Download and install Notepad ++ on your PC
  3. Download USB_LocalDisk.zip and extract. A USB_localDisk folder is created
  4. From the USB_LocalDisk folder, right click cfadisk.inf and open the file with notepad ++
  5. Navigate to line 26 of the cfadisk.inf file. We are going to be editing the section labeled device_instance_id_goes_here. So leave this file open!
  6. From your Windows Desktop, click Start-> Run and type devmgmt.msc and click Ok
  7. Under Disk drives, locate and double click your "USB Flash Device":

    8. Select your Flash Drive

  8. From the USB Device Properties window that opens, click the Details tab. Select the entry listed under the Device Instance ID Window and then press ctrl+c to copy the text:

    9. Device Instance ID

  9. Now, on line 26 of the cfadisk.inf file, after the comma, delete the text: device_instance_id_goes_here and then press ctrl+v to paste the text from step 8 into the section. For example, my line 26 reads as follows:


    10. Once finished save the changes!

  10. Now from the Windows Desktop, click Start-> Run and type devmgmt.msc and click Ok to get to the Device Manager again.
  11. Under Disk drives, locate and right click your "USB Flash Device" and select the option to Update Driver:

    12. Update Driver

  12. Select No, not at this time when prompted to Connect to Windows Update to search for software
  13. Next, select the option to Install from a list or specified location (Advanced)
  14. Next, select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install
  15. Next choose Have Disk and then browse to your USB_LocalDisk folder. Select cfadisk.inf and click Open. Then click Ok.
  16. Next, you will get a warning that the driver is not digitally signed. Simply click Next. Continue to click Yes to the "Update driver warning":

  17. That's it. Now your USB flash drive should be detected as a local disk rather than removable. Allowing your to multipartition the device from within Windows XP.

Note: Simply rollback the driver if you ever want or need to make your USB flash drive detected by Windows as removable media again.

This Simple Solution is filed under Windows Tips and Tricks. Tagged under: , , ,

Related Simple Solutions