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Preventing the storage card folder name from changing when using multiple CF cards

CESD|200071

Applies To

  • Handheld PC Professional
  • Handheld PC 2000

Overview

If you regularly need too use two or more CF cards with your Handheld PC and have installed applications onto the CF Card. Unless the cards are inserted in a specific order under the same set of power state conditions the CF cards may be assigned a different folder name. Rendering shortcuts and registry entries for applications and files contained on the storage device useless.

This article describes in detail how to lock a CF Card or any specific model storage device to its folder name in My Handheld PC as well as to specify custom names for two storage cards which access the same Storage Driver. This process can be used to permanently change the storage card name as it appears under Windows CE Explorer.

Solution

To optimise the effectiveness of this procedure, HPC:Factor recommends that you Hard Reset your Handheld PC prior to making changes to your system registry.
We also suggest that you uninstall all applications from your CF Card and format it externally first. These steps are completely optional, however may help to prevent complications from occurring.

This procedure will allow you to associate your own name for a storage device instead of the system default "Storage Card", "Storage Card2" as well as permanently lock that particular hardware to the folder name.
This is accomplished by using a uniquely identifying alphanumeric code contained within the Storage hardware devices. The identifying code or PnPID (Plug 'N Play ID) is a way if identifying the manufacturer and model details for a particular device. The PnPID does not uniquely identify a particular hardware device. As a result, if you have two identical CF card devices then this procedure will not solve the Storage Card folder naming problem.

Using a combination of the PnPID, the Windows CE generic ATADisk driver and some registry manipulation you will be able to associate the PnPID of your device to it's own Folder name. Resulting in direct folder name assignment when the device is mounted.

WARNING: If you use a Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to Hard Reset your Handheld PC. Use Registry Editing tools at your own risk.

This article requires a high level of understanding about using and manipulating Registry values. It should not be attempted unless you are comfortable with using the Windows registry

NB: HPC:Factor recommends that you synchronise and backup your Handheld PC before you attempt to make these changes.

Finding PnPID of your Storage Cards

  1. Insert all of the removable devices you wish to assign a fixed folder name to
  2. Open your Windows CE registry editor and navigate to the following hive:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\Active
  3. Upon expanding the key see a list of sub-keys listed in numerical sequence 01,02,03... etc
  4. Open each one of the numbered sub-keys and take note of the String value named "Name". When you come across a Name string with a data value of "DSK#:" (where # is a number) open the String value named "Key".
  5. If the value of the Key String is "Drivers\PCMCIA\ATADisk" then you have found one of your Storage Card identities.
  6. In the same sub-key open the String value named "PnPId" and carefully Copy the data into memory using Ctrl+C.
    Be careful not to change any registry values at this time. An example of a PnPID is: SAMSUNG-Rev_1.15-A558
  7. Close the Edit String properties ensuring that you do not modify any data.

Create the Hardware > Driver > Folder Name Lock

  1. Navigate to the following registry hive:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA
  2. Highlight the "PCMCIA" key if not already create a new Key. Paste (Ctrl+V) the PnPID you copied to the clipboard earlier as the name of the new Key. (The process is identical to creating and naming a Folder in Windows Explorer)

    You now have a new key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\<PnpID>
    e.g. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\SAMSUNG-Rev_1.15-A558
  3. Navigate to the registry key
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\ATADisk
    You will see these values in there:
    Name: "Dll" Type: String Value:"ATADISK.DLL"
    Name: "FSD" Type: String Value:"FATFS.DLL"
    Name: "Ioctl" Type: DWORD Value: 4
    Name: "Prefix" Type: String Value: "DSK"

    Write down the information in this key. You will need to enter it once again later on. Remember to note whether the registry values are String, DWord, Binary or Multi String.
  4. Return to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\<PnpID>
  5. Now add the values to the key which you write down
  6. Create an additional String value called "Folder". For the value of this string you can specify any friendly name you wish. This name will become the Folder Name listed in My Handheld PC instead of "Storage Card" when you insert the card in the future. e.g. "CF128" or "MicoDrive" or "Datapak".
    We recommend that you choose a custom value and do not use the name "Storage Card" as this may cause problems if you add new, unregistered hardware in the future

Finishing the modifications

  1. You have not completed the modifications required for one of your CF cards. You should now repeat the entire process for any additional Storage Cards that you wish to assign a unique name to.
  2. Once complete. Turn off your Handheld PC and eject all Storage devices that you performed the above procedure for.
  3. Soft reset your H/PC as per the manufacturers instructions. Leave to boot properly and site for 60 - 120 seconds
  4. Insert your removable devices.
  5. You Storage Devices should be displayed in My Handheld PC using your custom folder names

You can now install applications onto your CF cards without changes to the CF Card folder names breaking shortcuts and registry settings.

Troubleshooting

  • You insert a device and it doesn't show up in "My Handheld PC":
    Ensure that you have entered the "PnPId" key correctly for you Storage Hardware. PnPIDs are Case Sensitise
  • Device still showing up as "Storage Card":
    Ensure that you properly transposed the data from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\ATADisk into your new PnPId entry. Including all punctuation and case features.

Un-Installing

  1. Just delete the custom registry key which you created using the PnPID for your hardware under:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\<PnPID>
  2. Soft reset