usb drive letters mapped drive letter issues

In Windows XP, I always had problems with clients who wanted to use USB drives in a corporate environment where drives are mapped via scripts to low drive letters. USB drives always took the next available PHYSICAL drive letter, even if it was already in use by a mapped drive. You have to manually go into Drive Management and change the drive letter to get the USB drive to show up. After that, it will remember the drive letter, but there were no end to the complaints about the process.
It appears this "problem" still exists in Windows Vista. It was in Beta 2, and I just loaded up the July CTP hoping it was fixed. I mapped a network share to E: (my next available drive letter), plugged in a USB drive...AND THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED!
I can't believe this issue still exists in Vista. I really hope this is just a fluke in this build, and the issue has been resolved in non-public betas. It seems such a simple issue for the hardware to check what drive letters are actually available, or if mapped drives exists, to pop a prompt asking what drive letter you want.
PLEASE look into this issue, as it does cause a lot of trouble in the corporate world where drives are usually not mapped from Z: backwards, but from F: on up.
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http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx?mid=711ac9c6-e7da-413a-8407-8e49f914aa9d&dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices

Truly sorry for the multiple postings....the system kept telling me the post did not go through, so I kept trying....apparently it lied.
"TechDesign" wrote:

In Windows XP, I always had problems with clients who wanted to use USB drives in a corporate environment where drives are mapped via scripts to low drive letters. USB drives always took the next available PHYSICAL drive letter, even if it was already in use by a mapped drive. You have to manually go into Drive Management and change the drive letter to get the USB drive to show up. After that, it will remember the drive letter, but there were no end to the complaints about the process.
It appears this "problem" still exists in Windows Vista. It was in Beta 2, and I just loaded up the July CTP hoping it was fixed. I mapped a network share to E: (my next available drive letter), plugged in a USB drive...AND THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED!
I can't believe this issue still exists in Vista. I really hope this is just a fluke in this build, and the issue has been resolved in non-public betas. It seems such a simple issue for the hardware to check what drive letters are actually available, or if mapped drives exists, to pop a prompt asking what drive letter you want.
PLEASE look into this issue, as it does cause a lot of trouble in the corporate world where drives are usually not mapped from Z: backwards, but from F: on up.
---------------- This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx?mid=711ac9c6-e7da-413a-8407-8e49f914aa9d&dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices

In Windows XP, I always had problems with clients who wanted to use USB drives in a corporate environment where drives are mapped via scripts to low drive letters. USB drives always took the next available PHYSICAL drive letter, even if it was already in use by a mapped drive. You have to manually go into Drive Management and change the drive letter to get the USB drive to show up. After that, it will remember the drive letter, but there were no end to the complaints about the process.
It appears this "problem" still exists in Windows Vista. It was in Beta 2, and I just loaded up the July CTP hoping it was fixed. I mapped a network share to E: (my next available drive letter), plugged in a USB drive...AND THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED!
I can't believe this issue still exists in Vista. I really hope this is just a fluke in this build, and the issue has been resolved in non-public betas. It seems such a simple issue for the hardware to check what drive letters are actually available, or if mapped drives exists, to pop a prompt asking what drive letter you want.
PLEASE look into this issue, as it does cause a lot of trouble in the corporate world where drives are usually not mapped from Z: backwards, but from F: on up.

Truly sorry for the multiple postings....the system kept telling me the post did not go through, so I kept trying....apparently it lied.
"TechDesign" wrote:

In Windows XP, I always had problems with clients who wanted to use USB drives in a corporate environment where drives are mapped via scripts to low drive letters. USB drives always took the next available PHYSICAL drive letter, even if it was already in use by a mapped drive. You have to manually go into Drive Management and change the drive letter to get the USB drive to show up. After that, it will remember the drive letter, but there were no end to the complaints about the process.
It appears this "problem" still exists in Windows Vista. It was in Beta 2, and I just loaded up the July CTP hoping it was fixed. I mapped a network share to E: (my next available drive letter), plugged in a USB drive...AND THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED!
I can't believe this issue still exists in Vista. I really hope this is just a fluke in this build, and the issue has been resolved in non-public betas. It seems such a simple issue for the hardware to check what drive letters are actually available, or if mapped drives exists, to pop a prompt asking what drive letter you want.
PLEASE look into this issue, as it does cause a lot of trouble in the corporate world where drives are usually not mapped from Z: backwards, but from F: on up.