Microsoft Windows allows you to define virtual disk drives.
Any drive letter that is not currently used to represent a physical drive can be defined as a virtual drive.
A virtual drive is a folder of a physical drive that acts like it is a separate drive, unto itself.
Some reasons you may a want, or need, to do this are:
- As a handy shortcut.
- Because some software requires it.
- In a batch file, so that the path only needs to be referenced once at the top of the batch file, and therefore could be easily changed later, if need be.
Pretend that you have a file folder called C:\data\docs, that you use it constantly, and that you would like to refer to it with a shortcut of W:.
Open up a command prompt window and issue the following command:
SUBST w: C:\data\docs
SUBST is short for substitute. (DOS commands are case-insensitive, so you could enter it as “subst” as well.)
So, now, W:\intro.doc is the same thing as C:\data\word_docs\intro.doc — two different ways to refer to the same file.
If you ever move the folder, and want to change the shortcut, just reissue the SUBST command:
SUBST w: D:\new_location\docs
Virtual drive definitions are permanent, until explicitly released.
If and when you decide you’re not using it anymore, the command to remove the association is:
SUBST w: /D
SUBST
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If you want create an assignement at startup
SUBST N: c:\whatever\whatever
create a text file containing the command with a .CMD or .BAT extension, and put it here:
\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
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Visual Subst is a small tool that allows you to associate the most accessed directories with virtual drives.
It uses the same API similar to the console 'subst' utility.
Here is the related web page.
sources:
www.codejacked.com
www.sevenforums.com
www.ntwind.com/software
