VIRTUAL DRIVE CREATOR™ – PRO

Virtual Drive Creator™ is a utility that modifies your system to allow the use of unused drive letters, from D: to Z:, to point to a folder on a fixed disk (hard drive) or floppy disk (drive A: or B:).

Virtual Drive Creator™ does not work on network drives, although it does work on Zip Drives. And if your operating system is part of the Windows NT family (including Windows 2000 and Windows XP), it will also work on CD-ROM Drives.

Speaking of CD-ROMs, you can use Virtual Drive Creator™ to create virtual CDs, essentially making CD-ROM drives obsolete! See Creating a Virtual CD for details.

A note about the “Available Virtual Drive Letters” and “Virtual Drive Letters in Use” lists. If the number of letters in either list exceeds the length of the list, little scroll bars will be added to the bottom of the list so you can scroll between the columns. You can also use the cursor keys to move between the columns.


Creating a Virtual Drive

Select a letter in the “Available Virtual Drive Letters” list. You can use the cursor keys to select your letter or Click the letter with your left mouse button. You can then type in the path in the “Full path:” text box or, using the Drive and Folder Lists, browse to the folder you want set to the selected Virtual Drive letter. Click the “Add Virtual Drive” button to set the virtual drive for this session. Click the “Make Permanent” button to make the virtual drive permanent. Or, Click the Cancel button to abort the operation.

You can also input the full path first, then Double Click on the letter. This will create your virtual drive while bypassing the “Add Virtual Drive” button. Be sure to input the full path before Double Clicking the letter!

Creating a Virtual CD

Copy the contents of a CD-ROM to a folder on your Hard Drive, not to the root directory. Make that folder a Virtual Drive (see section above), then install the Virtual CD from the Virtual Drive letter. Click Start, Run and in the space provided type L:\setup or L:\install (substitute your Virtual Drive letter for L and see the documentation that came with your CD-ROM for the proper installation command). Now every time you need to access the CD you can use the Virtual CD from your hard drive.

Disclaimer: This does not work for all CDs, most but not all. Be sure to try it out before purchasing the Pro version of Virtual Drive Creator™.

More on Make Permanent

The “Make Permanent” button is only available in the Pro version of Virtual Drive Creator™, during the unregistered, Freeware version, the “Make Permanent” button is replaced by the “Test Pro” button.

The Test Pro button allows you to see if Virtual Drive Creator™ is capable of performing the required instructions, on your system, to make the virtual drive permanent.

If you’ve already created a virtual drive and want to make it permanent, select the Virtual Drive Letter you want to make permanent and, very important, be sure to have the correct path in the “Full Path:” text box, then Click the “Make Permanent” button. If the wrong path is in the “Full Path” text box, it will be the path of your permanent virtual drive the next time you boot up.

For the Windows 95 family (including W98, W98SE, and ME) Virtual Drive Creator™ modifies your Autoexec.bat file to include the commands to create the virtual drive each time you boot your computer. It copies your original Autoexec.bat file to Autoexec.vdc, a hidden file in your root directory, for safe keeping. If you don’t have an Autoexec.bat file, one will be created.

To restore your original Autoexec.bat file, you have a couple of options. Removing the permanent virtual drive should return your autoexec.bat file to its original state. Or, if you’re adventuresome, you can start a DOS prompt, and type the following command:

xcopy c:\autoexec.vdc autoexec.bat /h

You will be asked if you want to replace the existing file, answer Yes and your original Autoexec.bat file will be restored. This is only recommended if you have a serious problem with your Autoexec.bat file, which, by the way, we have yet to encounter any problems, serious or not.

For the NT family of operating systems, from NT 3.5, 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, since NT does not use the Autoexec.bat file, Virtual Drive Creator™ creates a small batch file and places it in your Startup folder. When you log in you may sometimes see the program running for a short time in the Command Prompt.


Removing a Virtual Drive

Select the letter of the virtual drive you want to remove in the “Virtual Drive Letters in Use” list. As with creating a virtual drive, you may use a combination of your left mouse button and the cursor keys to select the letter of the virtual drive you want removed. Then Click on the “Remove Virtual Drive” button. You can also Double Click the letter to remove its’ virtual drive.

Note; unless you make a virtual drive permanent, when you reboot your computer the virtual drive will be removed.

If the virtual drive you are removing has been set to permanent, as you start the removal process, you will be asked if you want to remove it permanently. Answer No and the next time you boot up, your virtual drive will be back, otherwise it will be gone for good (or until it is “virtualized” again with Virtual Drive Creator™).


Support

Be sure to check http://www.j-a-associates.com/vdc.htm and download the latest version, if you don’t have it, prior to contacting support.

Email support is available to all registered owners of the Virtual Drive Creator™ at support@j-a-associates.com

Support is also available via the USPS, mail inquiries to:

J. A. Associates

P.O. Box 956

Sun City, CA 92586

Suggestions and comments are welcome.


Ordering Information

For your convenience we have contracted with another company, NorthStar Solutions, to process any orders you may wish to place with your Discover, MasterCard, Visa, or American Express card.  Please be sure to mention Product # 6764 when placing your order over the secure web site and receive a 20 percent discount.

Do not contact NorthStar Solutions for technical information, they won’t be able to help for anything other than placing your order, contact the authors for technical assistance, see the Support Topic in this Help file.

For all the latest prices, enhancements and other Quality Software please see us at http://www.j-a-associates.com

INTERNET ORDERS

Visit NorthStar Solutions at

http://www.nstarsolutions.com/1259.htm

and fill out their online order form--fast, easy and secure!

PHONED ORDERS

Calls are taken 9am-7pm, CST, Monday-Friday

800 699-6395 (From the U.S. only.)

785 539-3731

Ask for Product #6763

FAXED ORDERS**

Available 24 hours.

Ask for Product #6763

785 539-3743

E-MAILED ORDERS**

Ask for Product #6763

CompuServe: starmail

America Online: starmail

Internet: starmail@nstarsolutions.com

MAILED ORDERS**

You may register with a check or money order by making them

payable to “J. A. Associates" and sending them to:

J. A. Associates

P.O. Box 956

Sun City, CA 92586

REGISTRATING

After purchasing Virtual Drive Creator you will be issued a registration number, be sure to copy it correctly. To apply the registration number, from within Virtual Drive Creator, Click Help, Enter Registration Code, then enter the number in the space provided.

**Please provide (or be prepared to provide) the following information:

•	The program you are registering Product # 6763

•	Your mailing address.

•	Your credit card # and its expiration date (for FAXED or E-MAILED orders).

•	Your E-Mail address (so we can send you an E-Mail confirming your order and so I can contact you easily with any important follow-up information, upgrade announcements, etc.).


License Agreement

Virtual Drive creator™ Copyright  2001-2003 by J. A. Associates All rights reserved.

USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS SUBJECT TO THE SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS SET FORTH BELOW. USING THE SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NO ACCEPT THESE TERMS, YOU MUST DELETE THIS SOFTWARE FROM YOUR SYSTEM.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

THIS SOFTWARE IS SOLD “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.  GOOD TECHNIQUE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT.  THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.  ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVLY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE

TRADEMARKS

Virtual Drive Creator™ is the trademark of J. A. Associates.

EVALUATION AND REGISTRATION

The unregistered version of Virtual Drive Creator is Freeware, use it, pass it on, but do not sell it except as a package with other Freeware/Shareware for evaluation purposes. The registered version, Virtual Drive Creator – Pro, has upgraded functions for the advanced user, see Default in Create Virtual Drive.

To apply the registration number, Click Help, Enter Registration Code, and enter the registration number in the space provided.