Forum: UltraISO
Topic: virtual drive letter always defaults wrong
started by: maelcum
Posted by maelcum on Dec. 16 2006,17:15
Hi,

During the installation of UltraISO, the drive letter that is assigned as (the first) virtual drive seems to be the first non-physical device that ultraiso finds. Although that might be in use...

Example:
C:  partition on hard disk (physical)
D: Network drive to \\a.b.c.d\sharea
W: CD-ROM (physical)

After the installation, UltraISO's ShellExtension (or the Tools > Mount to Virtual Drive...-Dialog in UltraISO) wants to mount images to the D:-Drive, the network connection.

I was trying to change the drive letter with the isocmd
(like: isocmd.exe -change 1 J:) but that doesn't work.

Disabling the virtual drive with isocmd
(like: isocmd.exe -number 0) doesn't work either.

What *does* work is:
1. isocmd.exe -number 2
2. isocmd.exe -change 1 J:
3. isocmd.exe -change 2 K:
4. start ultraiso.exe
5. open option > configuration > virtual drive
   the dialog says "1" (although I have defined 2 virtual drives with isocmd...)
6. change dialog to 2 > ok
7. change dialog to 1 > ok
8. close ultraiso.exe
Now there is only one drive, with the drive letter J:

Whats puzzeling me is:
- why is isocmd not working?
- why are the isocmd and the ultraiso settings totally independent?
- why is ultraiso not detecting that the letter d: is in use by a network connection?


Although I would love to use the virtual drive feature, I can live without (there are many alternatives). So for UltraISO not messing up my drive letters, I wanted to disable the feature alltogether. That didn't work either...

I have tried to stop the service "isocmd"
(like: sc stop "isodrive")
delete the service
(like: sc delete "isodrive")
and delete the drivers-directory
(like: delete /f /q "%programfiles%\ultraiso\drivers")

but as soon as I call up the configuration options in UltraISO, it tries to configure the (non-existing) service, thus making a mess of the drive letters again.

I have tried to set the Registry settings for the isodrive-driver to no drives.
(the "NumberOfDevices"-Key to 0)
All those things looked as if they worked - until I opened the Configuration dialog of UltraISO.


Is there any change to disable ultraiso from installing and/or using the virtual drive *after* the installation?

I have tried all this in a super-clean windows xp pro service pack 2 installation in vmware workstation. no other programs except ultraiso installed. tried all different ways to work around this problem, to no avail.

any ideas?
Posted by xoben on Dec. 16 2006,21:27
Tips for your questions:

1) Change drive letter of an ISODrive
step 1: isocmd -change 1 J:
step 2: Restart Windows to employ the new settings

2) Disable ISODrive
- During setup precedure
 Uncheck 'Setup ISO CD/DVD emulator (ISODrive)' option (the default setting is ON), ISODrive will not be installed to your computer
- After installation
 Choose 'Options'->'Configuration', switch to the 'Virtual Drive' page, change 'Number of Devices' to 'None', and click 'OK'
Posted by maelcum on Dec. 17 2006,08:59
Hi xoben,

thanks for the quick answer.

I didn't know isocmd/isodrive needs a restart of the machine after a change. I'll try that.

The second option is no option. As I stated, I am installing UltraISO with the /SILENT switch, so I cannot choose any option (until the setup is offering that via a switch). Thats why I asked: Is there any change to disable ultraiso from installing and/or using the virtual drive *after* the installation?

Even *if* that worked, it is no option, because UltraISO messes up my drive letters *before* I can turn off the option in the configuration > virtual drives...-dialog. I have a Sony VAIO RA-104, and it comes with an integrated card reader. So I have two hard disk partitions (C:, D:), and several drive letters for different media (Memory Stick E:, SD-Card F:, xD-Card G:) in addition to the dvd-roms (H:, I:).
As soon as I have installed UltraISO, it squeezes right in between the second partition and the Memory Stick. It just takes drive E:, although it should not!

And of course, in my earlier example, it messes up the network drive D:.

For now, I have reverted back to version 8.2 and I cross my fingers, that the unattended install will be ramped up, eventually. Until then, the virtual drive implementation is just... well, shitty. That sums it up nicely, if very emotional, though...  :;):
Posted by maelcum on Dec. 17 2006,09:18
YES!! YESYESYES! YIPIEE

Reboot after isocmd -change 1 J: worked.
Beautiful.

I think I was used to VirtualDrive and DAEMON Tools that change the drive letter "on the fly" so I didn't even thought about booting.

Hooray.
Problem solved.
Thank you.

:laugh: