You can use Disk Management to assign a mount-point folder path (rather than a drive letter) to the drive. Mount-point folder paths are available only on empty folders on basic or dynamic NTFS volumes.

Backup Operator or Administrator is the minimum membership required.

Assigning a mount-point folder path to a drive

To assign a mount-point folder path to a drive by using the Windows interface

  1. In Disk Manager, right-click the partition or volume where you want to assign the mount-point folder path, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To assign a mount-point folder path, click Add. Click Mount in the following empty NTFS folder, type the path to an empty folder on an NTFS volume, or click Browse to locate it.

    • To remove the mount-point folder path, click it and then click Remove.

Additional considerations

  • If you are administering a local or remote computer, you can browse NTFS folders on that computer.

  • When assigning a mount-point folder path to a drive, use Event Viewer to check the system log for any Cluster service errors or warnings indicating mount point failures. These errors would be listed as ClusSvc in the Source column and Physical Disk Resource in the Category column.

To assign a mount-point folder path to a drive using a command line

  1. Open a command prompt and type diskpart.

  2. At the DISKPART prompt, type list volume. Make note of the volume number you want to assign the path to elsewhere.

  3. At the DISKPART prompt, type select volume <volumenumber>. Select the simple volume volumenumber that you want to assign the path to.

  4. At the DISKPART prompt, type assign [mount=<path>].

Value Description

list volume

Displays a list of basic and dynamic volumes on all disks.

select volume

Selects the specified volume, where volumenumber is the volume number, and gives it focus. If no volume is specified, the select command lists the current volume with focus. You can specify the volume by number, drive letter, or mount-point folder path. On a basic disk, selecting a volume also gives the corresponding partition focus.

assign

Assigns a drive letter or mount-point folder path to the volume with focus. If no drive letter or mount-point folder path is specified, then the next available drive letter is assigned. If the drive letter or mount-point folder path is already in use, an error is generated.

Using the assign command, you can change the drive letter associated with a removable drive.

You cannot assign drive letters to boot volumes, or volumes that contain the paging file. In addition, you cannot assign a drive letter to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partition, EFI system partition, or any GPT partition other than a basic data partition.

mount=path

Specifies an empty, existing NTFS folder where the mounted drive will reside.

Additional considerations

  • Mount-point folder paths are available only on empty folders on basic or dynamic NTFS volumes.

  • To modify a mount-point folder path, remove it, and then create a new folder path using the new location. You cannot modify the mount-point folder path directly.

  • When assigning a mount-point folder path to a drive, use Event Viewer to check the system log for any Cluster service errors or warnings indicating mount-point folder path failures. These errors would be listed as ClusSvc in the Source column and Physical Disk Resource in the Category column.

  • You can also create a mounted drive using the mountvol command. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=64111.

Additional references

  • Manage Basic Volumes
  • Extend a Basic Volume