I just had Antivirus 2011 installed and now I am unable to open my Sandisk flashdrive. The flash has the U3 stuff on it, which I lneed for work because of the password protection. It also worked with the old virus protection which was removed when the Norton was installed. I'm pretty sure all I need to change is a setting, but I couldn't figure it out and didn't want to screw anything up..... Any ideas? Thanks, Mike
i think microsofts latest updates disabled auto-start for all removable media. try start-my computer-double click drive letter assigned to your usb stick. just guessing here
huwyngr:
I'm having trouble accessing the files. In the past, when the flash was installed, a window would open asking for the password, now I get nothing. Currently with the flash plugged in, My Computer shows it it there(plugged in) but I am unable to access it.
The computer is 32 bit and has XP with service pack 3. The disk reads "Norton Antivirus 2011", version 18.5.0.125. I'm not getting error messages of any kind. Previous virus removal was AVG, Malware, and Spybot. All removed using their uninstall utilities
Topopurim47:
I'd already tried that without success.
When you plug in the flash stick, how many drives show up in "My Computer"?
There actually should be 2 drives. One is a virtual CD-Rom and the other is the actual flash drive.
Programs cannot be "autorun" from a flash drive (contrary to popular belief).
They can only be autorun from a CD so U3 makes a virtual CD-Rom that autoruns the program for the password and then lets you access the flash drive as usual.
Dave
Edit- See if this helps:
http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-360/u3-wont-launch/m-p/99414#M13588
Thanks for the background -- I'll leave you with DavewH who clearly knows about the U3, although I had one I think I cleaned it to make it a normal thumbdrive <g>
huwyngr wrote:Thanks for the background -- I'll leave you with DavewH who clearly knows about the U3, although I had one I think I cleaned it to make it a normal thumbdrive <g>
Not really, I know how they work but never really used one. I quickly remove the feature because it reminds me of a preloaded laptop full of trial software and other junk.
Setting one up that way for encryption or password protection like Mike has is about the only usefull feature I could think of.
But generally, I would rather manually start any portable programs.
Dave
DaveH, I tried that link, but it wasn't any help as I can't even access the "U3 menu". I do show two drives with the flash plugged in, it being marked as "U3 system". I did try the flash in my laptop and it worked as it should.
Some XP Sp3 machines are extremely problematic when it comes to U3's. I have not been able to open them on my work machine for some time, with Trend Micro but the boss can open them without any issue on his XP Sp3 machine running Norton. One of the problems is having a USB printer plugged in, which for some reason causes problems with any flash drive. If I unplug it and reboot, I can open normal flash drives, but not U3's. I suspect that there is either a particular driver for a U3 that I haven't yet found, or a Windows update or hotfix that has caused the problem.
You could try going to Start>settings>control panel>administrative tools>disc management, and assign it a drive letter. That seems to help in some circumstances when Windows refuses to recognize a flash drive or external USB drive.
This article says to right click and select explore on the "CD drive"
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/85/kw/secureaccess/related/1
There is also a couple more steps to try depending on your yes or no answers.
I'm sure you already tried it after temporarily disabling the norton AV and firewall as well?
(Right click on the norton icon in the taskbar and turn them both off for 15 minutes)
delphinium- funny you should mention USB printer. One of my Sandisk sticks opens either my printer toolbox or scanner software about 20% of the time I plug it in.
Dave
I can't open a darn thing, without unplugging the printer. I get an error message stating that the USB device is corrupt, or unable to be opened, or not recognized as existing at all. Of course a lot of clients bring in their accounting reports on flash drives. I have to use one of the other machines to copy it into my shared file so I can do something with it.
As soon as I unplugged the USB laser printer, my machine advised that it had "found new hardware." I'm sure that is one of those "emergency" here is the Fixit things. It used to work quite handily. It has nothing to do with drivers that I can see, I have downloaded every driver Microsoft and Sandisk had to offer. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with Norton or any other antivirus.
I'm thinking that the Fixit did not get used on the other XP machine.
Thats interesting, but maybe it's better for you not to be using "strangers" flash drives on your main system.
But that must be a hassle. Usually I can close out the printer or scanner software after a few tires and the use the flash drive. Then later I sometimes need to unplug and replug my scanner a few times before it works again.
For some reason it only happens with my sandisks, I have a couple other brands that never seem to give me problems.
Dave
I just had Antivirus 2011 installed and now I am unable to open my Sandisk flashdrive. The flash has the U3 stuff on it, which I lneed for work because of the password protection. It also worked with the old virus protection which was removed when the Norton was installed. I'm pretty sure all I need to change is a setting, but I couldn't figure it out and didn't want to screw anything up..... Any ideas? Thanks, Mike