Here's how it works for me:
I have a USB drive (USB1) which is allocated X:
I remove that, and insert USB2 which I have not allocated a specific drive letter.
In Disk Management I choose to change that drive letter to X. There are a couple of warning prompts I have to respond to.
The drive letter for USB2 is now X:
I remove USB2, and insert USB1.
USB1 (which was always X previously) is now assigned D:
And rechecking, USB2 is still X:
That's your choice.
In that case you may have to try to find a 3rd party utility or someone who can write you a script.
It helps when specifying your question to say what answers will not be acceptable to you so people don't give you ones you won't accept.
Which may mean you don't get one, of course.
I tried Option 3 of the tutorial; with the drive not inserted, it gave a message something like File missing (which seemed inappropriate).
With the drive inserted, allocated X:, the result was that the drive is never allocated a letter when inserted...
That's a very good way to do it. But it won't work if drives A thru W are already in use, because when you connect USB2 it will be automatically assigned to the next drive letter, which is X! Then Disk Management won't let you assign drive letter X because it is already in use.
The moral of the story is to always assign drive letters at the end of the alphabet so they won't collide with drive letters that Windows allocates automatically starting from the beginning of the alphabet. I think I'll do that.
"won't work if drives A thru W are already in use"
You have THAT many assigned drives ????!!!
No, not that many! I was suggesting, by giving an example, that a trouble-free way to assign a drive letter is to assign them starting at the end of the alphabet. Since Windows automatically allocates drive letters starting at the beginning of the alphabet, you'll never run into the problem I described in the OP.
I'll admit I've not thoroughly read through this thread but in order to use a drive letter that's in use, you'll need to change that drive to a different letter in order to use the drive letter previously used.
EX: Games drive is assigned G, yet I want to use G on say Media Drive. I'd first need to release G from the Games drive, than assign G to Media.
To reassign drive letters go to Disk Management and right click the drive (not the disk #) click "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." and choose a different drive letter. Go to the next drive and assign the letter you just released. Simple. I've done this a few times and it works like a champ.
You could also do this with the temporary drive plugged in so you may assign a different drive letter there as well/
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