Sounds like you've been pretty comprehensive.
You certainly can install an external drive in Vista. I use one here, but in
my case it was just a case of plugging it in and Vista did the rest.
Some other suggestions ...
- View >'Devices by connection' in Device Manager might help to see if the
'Unknown device' is in the chain.
-Run 'computer' elevated to see if it appears
ie run a shortcut to ' explorer shell:mycomputerfolder ' elevated
(right-click > Run as administrator)
-Check for any security settings eg group policy that may affect the
configuration / use of usb storage devices
--
Jon
"Bill Llewellyn" <bill.llewellyn@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23q7ZcEtZIHA.4180@xxxxxx
Quote:
>I have a dual boot desk top computer with VISTA and XP on separate drives.
>I also have an external drive [inside an enclosure].
>
> XP sees all the drives and assigns them letters C D and E. The optical
> DVD drive is letter F.
>
> Device manager says usb drive and mass storage is working properly.
>
> The three hard drives all seagate [250gb, 250gb and the external is
> 160gb ] can be seen in the Bios.
>
> However in VISTA the external hard drive can be seen in disk management
> and device manager but NOT IN "computer"
>
> In VISTA the external drive cannot be assigned a letter or formatted
> [using disk management . I formatted the drive and assigned a letter in
> XP, but it still cannot be seen in "computer" in VISTA.
>
> One other difference in vista is the appearance of "other devices" in the
> device manager with an "unknown device" showing. It does not seem possible
> to allocate a driver to this unknown device.. I tried disabling and
> removing this unknown device but no difference.
>
> I used "seagate disk wizard" to reformat the external drive successfully
> and also ran "seatools for windows" to test the external drive - it passed
> the short generic test..
>
> The external disk has a driver disk.sys [the same in XP and VISTA]
>
> The mass storage device showing in device manager [usb controllers] has
> the driver usbstor.sys [the same in XP and VISTA].
>
> I checked that USBSTOR.INF and PNF and SYS are in c:\windows\inf.
>
> I removed INFCACH.1 from c:\windows\inf and have since replaced it. -no
> change
>
> I have tried disabling UAC and running as administrator but no change..
>
> I have tried power cycling and unplugging and reinserting the USB
> cable - no change.
>
> I have used several different USB plugs - front of computer and rear of
> the computer - no change.
>
> I have tried to change the DISK.SYS driver in VISTA to usbstor.inf. or
> usbstor.sys but it does not seem possible??
>
> I would like to get rid of XP but perhaps you CANNOT install an external
> drive in VISTA.???
>
>
>
>