Question

I’ve assigned a name to a USB drive and I was wondering if there is an easy way to have a desktop shortcut target it based on name instead of letter.

So instead of:
F:\program_to_run.exe
it would function like:
DRIVENAME:\program_to_run.exe

While the above clearly wouldn’t work, can something similar to it be done with either a shortcut or simple batch file?

Answer 1

Since you’re just getting into VB.Net, how about creating a command-line program to do this for you?

1. Create a Console App

Paste this code:

Module Module1

    Sub Main()

        Dim program = ""
        Dim drive As String = ""

        Try
            'Get the commandLine, without thhis application name or the beginning space
            Dim commandLine As String = Environment.CommandLine.Replace(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location, "").Replace("""", "").Substring(1)

            'Get the DriveNAme part of the commaneLine
            Dim driveName As String = commandLine.Split(":"c)(0)
            drive = GetDriveByName(driveName)

            'Get the Program Name part of the commandLine
            program = commandLine.Split(":"c)(1)

            If drive.Length = 0 Then Throw New Exception("No drive was found with the name '" + driveName + "'")

            Dim starter As New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(drive + program)
            starter.UseShellExecute = True
            System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(starter)

        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("Failed starting " + drive + program + ". " + ex.Message)
        End Try


    End Sub

    ''' <summary>Returns the drive letter of the Fixed or Removable drive with the specified name</summary>
    ''' <param name="DriveName"></param>
    ''' <returns></returns>
    ''' <remarks></remarks>
    Public Function GetDriveByName(ByVal DriveName As String) As String

        Dim returnDrive As String = ""

        For Each drive As System.IO.DriveInfo In System.IO.DriveInfo.GetDrives()
            If (drive.DriveType = (IO.DriveType.Fixed Or IO.DriveType.Removable)) Then  'Only interested in removable drives
                If (drive.VolumeLabel.Equals(DriveName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) Then
                    'This is our drive!
                    returnDrive = drive.Name
                End If
            End If
        Next drive

        Return returnDrive
    End Function
End Module

Then build give your application a nice name (e.g. StartByDriveName.exe) and compile it.

You can now use it in a batch file:

StartByDriveName <driveName>:<path>\ProgramName

e.g. StartByDriveName MomsUSB:\Program Files\Excel.Exe