M-Systems USB Memory Key

I have an M-Systems USB memory key that I got from Dell when I bought my Latitude D800. I'm running XP Pro and it's connected thru a docking station to a network at work. When I'm portable and I plug the key into a USB port the operating system recognizes the key and assigns a drive letter. When the Latitude is docked and you plug it into any of the docking stations USB slots XP dings and the removable device icon shows up in the systray but it doesn't map a removable drive letter. That makes me think it's not really a driver issue but I'm not sure. Other USB devices work in both circumstances docked and undocked (i.e. Sony memory stick reader, Sony Clie' handheld). I also have Farstone's Virtual Drive Utility & Buring Suite v9.0 s/w installed and a drive is designated for the current 'loaded' disk. Anybody have any idea what is wrong and what I can do to fix this situation. My network admin hasn't been much help.

 

Do you happen to have a network drive or other drive that has the same drive letter as this USB stick? Try connecting the stick undocked and changing the Drive Letter to something else (unused!) using Disk Management (Start --> Run --> "diskmgmt.msc" --> Right-click the USB drive --> Change drive letter). I usually pick U: or P:.

Windows will always remap a device to the same drive letter it had last time. If that letter is already taken, it does nothing instead of mapping to a new, unused, drive letter.