Solved New drive (Z:) after installing Epson on PC

[bawldiggle]

Today I installed Epson printer XP400 onto my Win7 32bit laptop.

The laptop prints to the XP400 via WiFi.
When the printer is OFF WinExp has a "Z:MEMORYCARD (\\EPSONB9E26F)" drive.

WinExp setting Hide empty drives in the Computer folder is enabled

Q1: Can this drive be hidden when the printer is OFF ?

-----------------
EDIT 13-Mar-2015
-----------------
As it transpired the Z drive was created when installing the new printer onto my PC
- after that the Z drive assignment/mapping was irrelevant .
At first I "hid" the drive (my post #12) but consequently "deleting" was a more sensible option.
** See my post #19 for the final "delete" process

 

[Kaktussoft]

Post screenshot of disk management please where Z is visible. If printer is off you can't see it!! If somethoing has no power is doesn't do anything. Sure it's powered off and not just standby?

 

[roboticarm]

If the Z: drive doesn't serve any purpose and you just want to hide it, you may do so like this (I have a Z drive and have hidden it the same way):

Press Win+R - Type "regedit" and click OK.

Now navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Right click on the right pane - New - 32 bit Dword and enter the name as "NoDrives".

Now double click it and select "decimal" and then enter the value as 33554432.

Log off and log back on. Z: will now be hidden (but you can still access it by typing "Z:" in the address bar.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Today I installed Epson printer XP400 onto my Win7 32bit laptop.

The laptop prints to the XP400 via WiFi.
When the printer is OFF WinExp has a "Z:MEMORYCARD (\\EPSONB9E26F)" drive.

WinExp setting Hide empty drives in the Computer folder is enabled

Q1: Can this drive be hidden when the printer is OFF ?

(\\EPSONB9E26F) is it a share?

 

[bawldiggle]

@ Kaktussoft
Printer is OFF, (there is only on or off)
Image of Z:drive too...


Z-drive is obviously related to the Epson printer.
The printer is accessed from my PC_1 via WiFi.
The printer is also connected to PC_2 via USB cable

When PC_1 is booted a popup appears from system-tray, and self dismisses after about 3 seconds.

@ roboticarm
Your registry fix:
PC_1 registry has

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

but no "Explorer" subkey (does have "Comdlg32" subkey)

Q1: If I hide the "Z-drive" will it affect the printer's (PC_1) WiFi connectiivity/operation?

-----
PC_1
Computer Type:= Laptop
Manufacturer:= Toshiba Satellite C665
OS:= Windows 7 Home Premium, sp1 (Build 7601)
CPU:= Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz
Motherboard:= TOSHIBA Portable PC
Memory:= 2,806 MB
Graphics:= NVIDIA GeForce 315M *
Sound Card:= Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio H |
Monitors:= x1, Generic PnP
Screen Resolution:= 1366 X 768 - 32 bit
Hard Drives:= C: 585.4GB
PSU:=
Case:= Toshiba Satellite
Cooling:= default fan
Keyboard:= default + Logitech K260
Mouse:= default pad + Logitech M210
Internet Speed:= ADSL2
Antivirus:= Bitdefender Internet Security 2013
Browser:= IE-9.10, PaleMoon, Firefox 20.0
Others:= USB Safely Remove, Metapad, ClipX,
7Zip, Classic Shell Start, Explorer++, FileSearchEX, KeyboardLEDS, CapsLock,
MalwareBytes, MyDefrag, PostBox, Epson

 

[Kaktussoft]

@ Kaktussoft
Printer is OFF, (there is only on or off)
Image of Z:drive too...
View attachment 264339

Z-drive is obviously related to the Epson printer.
The printer is accessed from my PC_1 via WiFi.
The printer is also connected to PC_2 via USB cable

When PC_1 is booted a popup appears from system-tray, and self dismisses after about 3 seconds.
View attachment 264340
@ roboticarm
Your registry fix:
PC_1 registry has

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

but no "Explorer" subkey (does have "Comdlg32" subkey)

Q1: If I hide the "Z-drive" will it affect the printer's (PC_1) WiFi connectiivity/operation?

-----
PC_1
Computer Type:= Laptop
Manufacturer:= Toshiba Satellite C665
OS:= Windows 7 Home Premium, sp1 (Build 7601)
CPU:= Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz
Motherboard:= TOSHIBA Portable PC
Memory:= 2,806 MB
Graphics:= NVIDIA GeForce 315M *
Sound Card:= Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio H |
Monitors:= x1, Generic PnP
Screen Resolution:= 1366 X 768 - 32 bit
Hard Drives:= C: 585.4GB
PSU:=
Case:= Toshiba Satellite
Cooling:= default fan
Keyboard:= default + Logitech K260
Mouse:= default pad + Logitech M210
Internet Speed:= ADSL2
Antivirus:= Bitdefender Internet Security 2013
Browser:= IE-9.10, PaleMoon, Firefox 20.0
Others:= USB Safely Remove, Metapad, ClipX,
7Zip, Classic Shell Start, Explorer++, FileSearchEX, KeyboardLEDS, CapsLock,
MalwareBytes, MyDefrag, PostBox, Epson

It's a connection to a network share!
in command prompt:

net  use  z:  /delete

Is it gone now? It has nothing to do with printing/scanning/wireless

 

[Kaktussoft]

Check registry key HKCU\Network. Is Z listed there? Delete Z there and logoff and logon again. Most likely the "net use z: /delete" command did delete it already. It's gone? Even after reboot?

Drive letter

 

[Faladu]

I'd simply ignore it, it's causing no harm, if it aint broke.....

But, this tip will probably do it:

Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista

A little more explicit

 

[bawldiggle]

Hide "Z" drive after installing Epson printer

SUCCESS (see my next post, how I did it)
Thanks to all who helped

@roboticarm
Exactly what I wanted. How to "hide" the drive.
Your "Decimal" value 33554432 added to my understanding Binary > Decimal conversion
especially when I used the "Calc" programmers Calculator incorrectly.

@Faladu
Your link to Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista
-- excellent tutorial explained how it all works

@Kaktussoft
Thank you for your interest.
I did not delete the HKCU/Network/Z key, because I think I might have lost my WiFi connection to the printer ?

 

[AddRAM]

You did it the right way by removing the letter. I don`t know why it was suggested to go into the registry and delete keys and what not.

As Faladu suggested, you could have just left it alone.

 

[Kaktussoft]

SUCCESS (see my next post, how I did it)
Thanks to all who helped

@roboticarm
Exactly what I wanted. How to "hide" the drive.
Your "Decimal" value 33554432 added to my understanding Binary > Decimal conversion
especially when I used the "Calc" programmers Calculator incorrectly.

@Faladu
Your link to Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista
-- excellent tutorial explained how it all works

@Kaktussoft
Thank you for your interest.
I did not delete the HKCU/Network/Z key, because I think I might have lost my WiFi connection to the printer ?

View attachment 264603

HKCU/Network/Z is just the PERMANENT drive letter for a shared folder.
NET USE Z/DELETE : This deletes it as well.
This is not about wireless whatsoever

 

[bawldiggle]

How i hid the "z" drive

MY SOLUTION
- how to hide Z-drive

Created a restore point -- must, in case things go wrong
Opened: Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista
- getting my head around the Binary structure was the most difficult for my first-time experience
Opened: "Calc" programmers Calculator

Calc (tool)
[Clear] button to clear all previous settings (my previous experiments/calculations)
Set current state drop-down to "32 bits"
- all fields should be zeros

Long Binary-bar "Set or clear bits directly"
- set BITS value to 10000000000000000000000000 by clicking on position 25
- in my case I only wanted to hide the Z-drive, ie, position 25 on the binary-bar
- yes 25 not 26, because the counter guides are base(0) not base(1)
Drives sequence is Z to A (not A to Z)

-----
Open Registry:-
Start > Run:= regedit > OK
Browse down to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
RClick on "Policies" ... New > Key
New Key Name*:= Explorer
* only if missing
Select "Explorer" Key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
In right-hand panel ...
RClick > New > DWORD (32bit) value
Name:= NoDrives
Value:= ("Dec" value copied from "Calc" Programmers Calculator)
- for my needs that was "33554432", to hide Z-drive

Close all open windows and programs
Reboot windows
... you are done

 

[Kaktussoft]

Why hide it? You can't use Z anymore. Just delete Z pointing to the share.
How to Delete Mapped Drives in Windows 7 | 7 Tutorials

 

[bawldiggle]

Apologies to "Kaktussoft"

My sincere apologies to you "Kaktussoft" -- was not aware of your status on "sevenforums.com"
I did not look up your profile, I made my evaluations based on your post fronts.

How could I doubt you -- I did!
-----
Created a restore-point
Registry and manually deleted the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\Z" key

You were right, my WiFi was not affected
Rhetorical question: Why dont Epson clean up after their installation? Very annoying.

This whole exercise has taught me a lot, thank you
---------
19-April-2013
Just discovered opening threads from email advice -- the thread does not display ANY posters credentials.
Something new every day !

 

[Kaktussoft]

My sincere apologies to you "Kaktussoft" -- was not aware of your status on "sevenforums.com"
I did not look up your profile, I made my evaluations based on your post fronts.

How could I doubt you -- I did!
-----
Created a restore-point
Registry and manually deleted the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\Z" key

You were right, my WiFi was not affected
Rhetorical question: Why dont Epson clean up after their installation? Very annoying.

This whole exercise has taught me a lot, thank you

A wifi printer is connected to your pc using wireless. To be more precise... wifi printer connects to home router. All wireless and wired computers can access it. See it as a virtual direct connection. Windows makes a virtual port. To that port the printer is connected. So it it's actual a LOCAL printer.

But the printer has also a slot to insert SD-card!! How would you access that card from your pc? Answer: the printer has sort of mini windows installed. It shares the sd card of the NETWORK just like you can share folders on your pc. On printer install the installation maps a drive letter to that share, so you can put files on it or get files from it. (at least that's what I think if you didn't do it yourself)

The sd-card is mainly meant for exchanging photo's from camera. Put sd-card from camera in printerslot and you can directly print without computer (at least that's what's in HP manual). Epson is something like that.

But you can put any file on sd card you want..it's just a small disk! You can always remap it again if you want.

Did you revert changes to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer already?

 

[bawldiggle]

Z-Drive on Windows Explorer

Thank you "Kaktussoft" for your expanded reply

Kaktussoft wrote
A wifi printer is connected to your pc using wireless. To be more precise... wifi printer connects to home router. All wireless and wired computers can access it. See it as a virtual direct connection. Windows makes a virtual port. To that port the printer is connected. So it it's actual a LOCAL printer.... etc

Yes I did delete the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Z key

Just discovered contributers credentials are not listed on ANY post in this thread today.
(I clicked on the email advice to open your last reply)

I will always exercise caution. Even in this thread I have had a variety of "ideas"

Thanks to all

 

[DeaconFrost]

I didn't see it addressed, but you don't need the computer connected by Wi-Fi and USB. You should only use one or the other.

 

[bawldiggle]

Z drive after installing Epson printer software

@ DeaconFrost

Post #5
The printer is accessed from my PC_1 via WiFi.
The printer is also connected to PC_2 via USB cable

So far it is all working
Thank you for your interest

 

[bawldiggle]

----------------
FINAL SOLUTION
----------------

The simplest and technically logical solution to the "Z:\" drive was provided by Kaktussoft
... to delete the drive letter from ...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\Z

Others suggestions to "hide" the drive, did just that, but the drive was still assigned to the Epson printer.
- and Z was no longer available for other devices etc
As it turned out the Z drive was a persistent left-over from Epson install -- Epson did not clean up after the install.
Since removing the Z drive from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network ... the PC to printer has worked perfectly for 2 years via WiFi without a hitch

Kaktussoft comments in post #11 also offered an alternative way to remove Z from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\Z

HKCU/Network/Z is just the PERMANENT drive letter for a shared folder.
NET USE Z: /DELETE : This deletes it as well.

ie, in cmd.exe

net use z: /delete

Kaktussoft's link to How to Delete Mapped Network Drives in Windows 7 is a good tutorial. It was for me !

"Hiding" Z drive as per my post #12 was a very long winded way of hiding the Z drive.

** I did undo the "hidden" "NoDrive" in Registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Name:= "NoDrives"
Data:= 33554432
Caution: 33554432 applies to Z drive only, if the data-value is anything else, there are other drives being hidden​

But the experience with "Calc" programmers Calculator has added to my understanding of Registry data values.