Desktop Media — Get a desktop icon for every drive you insert

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FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Microsoft asks what you want to do whenever you insert any type of removable media, such as USB thumb drives, CD
[See the full post at: Desktop Media — Get a desktop icon for every drive you insert]

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fisher75, DLivesInTexas, lmacri

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This is helpful for the Mennonites because their computers are configured to prevent the use of Windows Explorer.

I’ve gotta ask: What Mennonite doctrine precludes use of Windows Explorer? Would Explorer alternatives like Free Commander also fall under the prohibition?

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Sad to say that it did not work. I followed the directions, which mirrored what I saw, then all I got was an Explorer window (or windows if there were multiple logical drives on the same physical drive). Oh well.

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OMG…This is amazing.  You always come up with the most interesting utilities hiding in various corners of the internet, but this scratches an itch that is beyond annoying.

Creates an icon linking to the drive automatically AND removes it when drive removed…a simple solution to an incredibly annoying problem !

I just put this on my 82 yr old dad’s laptop today…he’s always putting in a thumb drive and gets frustrated figuring out how to find it.

Homerun!!!!

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This appears to be a good little program. To bad it isn’t being updated. I would like to have one tell the type of “removable” drive, external hard drive, external optical disk, USB, external floppy.

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rc primak

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Why do I need desktop icon when connecting a drive ?
I click on ‘This PC’ icon and get all the drives (drive letter, size, free space..)

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rc primak

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I click on ‘This PC’ icon and get all the drives

For external USB media, I don’t always get anything. I have very modern hardware, and lots of USB slots. So your mileage can vary. This type of utility can help with this issue. Windows has not updated this area of hardware interaction in many years, so it’s OK not to update software which helps with labeling and keeping track of drives.

-- rc primak

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I was able to install this Desktop Media program and it works, but it places the created icon (for the inserted USB drive) at the bottom of the list for my other desktop icons.  I moved the desktop media created icon (for the inserted USB drive) to the upper right-hand corner of my desktop.  I then removed the USB drive and the desktop icon disappeared.  However, when I re-inserted the USB drive, the created icon (for the inserted USB drive) was once again at the bottom of the list for my other desktop icons rather than the top right-hand corner of my desktop where I want it to be.  I double checked the options for Desktop Media and the box for Save Icon Positions is checked.

I am using Windows 10 Home 22H2 version.  Auto Arrange Icons is unchecked and Align Icons To  Grid is enabled for my desktop view.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?  I like this program but I would like the Desktop Media created icon to be in the upper right-hand corner of my desktop.  Thanks for any assistance.

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rc primak

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The AW article about this application says “Although this handy program was last updated in 2011, it still does its job for Windows XP, Windows 11, and everything in between.”

Well, things change over time and the way Windows handles desktop icons is no exception.  Although it is targeted at developers you might find this Microsoft article to be of interest – A reminder about the correct way of accessing and manipulating the position of icons on the desktop

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rc primak

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Works fine for anything plugged in to laptop directly or dock via USB. However Network option does not see my Synology disks.

Thoughts?

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rc primak

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This program seems to work as advertised and is a nice little utility.

However it seems to be a bit annoying in that on Windows boot it opens an “options” screen each time rather than sitting quietly in the notification area. It’s not obvious to me that I’ve done something to make it do that, or that there is any way to turn it off.

Any advice on this?

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Many thanks.   I’ve been following your freeware articles for quite some time.   A picture is worth a thousand words and your installation images are no exception.   I have no issue gathering snips of screen elements but wondered how the arrows (pointers) were applied to the images and with what program.   Thanks.

 

 

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Just like some Linux distros!!

Mov’n on ahead Microsoft!! (I mean by MS allowing folk to still write S/W for Windows)

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Just like some Linux distros!!

I have had more issues by far with Linux not showing USB attached drives correctly than in Windows. USB handling is very inconsistent in Linux, and it often requires Root privileges (lots of sudo and password entries) to fix anything about mounting and unmounting drives and partitions.  Making anything mount consistently at boot in Linux is often a nightmare. I have used a number of Linux distros over the years, mostly Debian Family types.

-- rc primak

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