I'm planning to format my computer tonight, and I need some sort of reference about this when I get back.

What is a virtual drive?
A virtual drive is a shortcut to a folder hidden deep inside Windows. Instead of having an icon for the shortcut (virtual drive), you will see a drive icon with a letter that you chose when you go to My Computer after you create the drive. After completing this tutorial, you will be able to turn a long path (C:\directory\directory\more\directory\oh\my\gosh\this\is\a\long\directory\) into a drive letter (L:).

Why should I have a virtual drive?
Virtual drives are not a necessity. It's only there to save you time. Besides, would you rather pay money for a program that creates a virtual drive, or would you do it for free? I thought so.

Let's get started

1. Open the command prompt: press CTRL+R -> type "cmd" (without quotes)
   
2. This is the command prompt...entry (I don't know the proper name) that you will be using: subst p: "C:\windows" (I chose this because everybody has this path on their computer, with the exception of Linux users). It should look somewhat like the following:
   
   CONSOLE
   Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
   © Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
   
   C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>
   
   
   *Replace the bolded "p" in the command prompt entry with a drive letter of your choice.
   Important: Do NOT choose a letter that has already been chosen. You can check which ones Windows has already claimed by going to My Computer and noting all the drives you see. Generally, drives C, A, E, F, and Q are already taken.
   *You can replace the directory, c:\windows, with any existing directory on your hard drive
   *Copy the new command prompt entry (ctrl+c)
3. Once you have copied the entry, go to the command prompt (should already been opened), right click, and select "Paste".
   
   The thing you copied above should appear on the command prompt screen. If you're using an earlier version of Windows, you should see a little clipboard icon on the command prompt toolbar. Click on the clipboard. Your command prompt window should look somewhat like the following:
   
   CONSOLE
   Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
   © Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
   
   C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>subst p: "C:\windows"
   
4. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
5. Go to your My Computer, and you should see a new drive, P (or whatever letter you chose)
6. Double click on that drive, and it should take you to c:\windows (or whatever directory you chose)
   You're done!

Now, you will be able to access files in c:\windows from the P drive (or any letter you chose) by typing P:\[filename]

Making it Permanent
The problem with virtual drives is that they are not permanent, meaning that if you restart your computer, they will not be there anymore. Of course, everything has a loophole, so there are ways to get around this. The first method is to buy a program...with money...that will do the job. The second method is to keep reading this tutorial.

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy and paste the following to Notepad:
   
   CODE
   subst p: "C:\windows"
   
   
   Of course, you can replace the drive, P:, and the directory, c:\windows, with anything you wish. Remember not to choose an existing drive and not to choose a non-existing directory.
3. File -> Save
4. In the "File name:" box, copy and paste the following:
   
   CODE
   c:\autoexec.bat
   
   
   
   If you get a dialog box that asks if you want to replace the existing file, click No and do the following:
   *Open another instance of Notepad (do not close the one already opened)
   *File -> Open
   *In "File name:", copy and paste the following:
   
   CODE
   c:\autoexec.bat
   
   
   *Press the Enter key on your keyboard
   *Follow steps 2 thru 3 in the "Making it Permanent" section
5. Press ctrl+R on your keyboard
6. Copy and paste the following:
   CODE
   regedit
7. On the left pane, go to:
   CODE
   My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Run
   
   Your Registry Editor should look somewhat like this:
   
   
   ^Note the status bar at the bottom
8. On the right pane of your Registry Editor, do the following: Right click -> New -> String Value
   *Name this new string "Autoexec" (without quotes)
   *Right click on Autoexec -> Modify -> Type "c:\autoexec.bat" (with quotes)
   *Close the Registry Editor
9. Restart your computer
10. Pat yourself on the back because you just saved yourself a couple of dollars

When your computer is turning on, you should see the command prompt for a few seconds. Ignore this because it will go away.

Enjoy!

this is funny, you're a mod, so you should be able to apporve the tut, oh well, what ever, lol.

Well, the rules said something along the lines of "Don't approve your own tutorials. We have to be fair", so I unapproved it. Thanks for not deleting it, though.

heeheh, anyways, I'm moving this oer to the staff section, y'know, it's off-topic discssion

That was really nice one. I have lots of folders that I access regularly and have to maintain shortcuts... now I can just use permanent virtual drives..

But does this work in Windows 98 because as u said we need to enter this in cmd, whereas Win 98 does not have cmd.exe but only command.com

Cheers.

I think entering cmd will work, but if not, "command" works for all versions of Windows

Great tutorial, thought you was going to talk about virtual drives like Daemon, learn something new every day here

Wow. This will be very helpful since I'm formatting my computer this Sunday. Nice tutorial Snildude.