Printer shows as a Removable Drive


  1. TVeblen
    Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       New #1

    Printer shows as a Removable Drive


    I have an Epsom A810 printer, connected to desktop PC by USB.

    The printer has a USB port for loading pictures to the printer from a thumb drive. Thing is, this port makes the printer show up in Disk Management and My PC as a removable drive.

    But it is not a drive at all. I can't access the files on the thumb drive through the printer, so it functions as a phantom drive.

    Does anyone know of a method to stop Windows from recognizing the printer as a removable drive?
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  3. Mellon Head
    Posts : 3,487
    Win 7 Pro x64/Win 10 Pro x64 dual boot
       New #2

    The printer works as normal, right?

    I'm wondering if there might be a driver missing somewhere. Does the phantom drive show up in Device Manager, under USB?
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  4. TVeblen
    Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    A lot of people are telling me that this behavior is normal. If the printer has a card reader or a USB port then Windows will recognize it as a drive.
    So I'm guessing that unless I can disable that feature on the printer then it is the way it has to be.

    Oh, sorry.
    Yes the printer works well. It is just a personal annoyance.
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  6. G Force
    Posts : 35
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       New #4

    TVeblen said:
    A lot of people are telling me that this behavior is normal. If the printer has a card reader or a USB port then Windows will recognize it as a drive.
    So I'm guessing that unless I can disable that feature on the printer then it is the way it has to be.

    Oh, sorry.
    Yes the printer works well. It is just a personal annoyance.
    If it makes you happy, you can change the Icon that is displayed if you try using Tune Up Utilities 2015 and try their Windows customization feature.
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  7. ComputerGeek
    Posts : 725
    Desk 1: Win 7 Pro x32; Desk 2: Windows 10 x64
       New #5

    Not much you can do about Disk Management.

    Try setting Folder Options to "Hide empty drives in the Computer Folder"
    Drives - Hide or Show Empty Drives in Computer Folder

    /* EDIT */
    Syntactically, though, I believe Windows is recognizing your printer as a printer and recognizing the USB slot on the printer as a Disk, yes? It's the USB disk slot that shows up in Disk Management and Computer Folder. Your printer is in Devices and Printers and as a printer in Device Manager.
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  8. derekimo
    Posts : 17,322
    Win 10 Pro x64
       New #6

    ComputerGeek said:

    Try setting Folder Options to "Hide empty drives in the Computer Folder"
    Drives - Hide or Show Empty Drives in Computer Folder
    I think he is trying to avoid that,

    TV2 said:
    Not a problem, just an annoyance.

    To me that printer is not a drive and shouldn't be treated as such. Would love to be able to have it ignored (without ticking the box to tell Windows to ignore ALL empty drives).

    It doesn't cause any harm and I'm good at ignoring it, but I always want COMPLETE CONTROL!
    Printer shows as removable drive - Windows 10 Forums
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