Windows re-creates deleted RAMFS drive
4 posts
Hello,
I have created a RAMFS drive A:, 8 GB in size. It worked fine. Then I dismounted and deleted it, but my Windows somehow re-creates it again.
The ramfs.exe GUI shows an empty list, the "ramfsctl.exe list" command says "No volumes mounted", the "ramfsctl.exe auto list" says "No volumes configured", and the "ramfsctl.exe auto del A" does not help.
I rebooted several times. The "Launch at startup" option is off and I do not see ramfs.exe in the registry (HKLM...Run, HKCU...Run). Also, ramfs.exe is absent in the running processes list.
I am using the latest RAM FS version.
Please advise.
RAM File System is definitely not what is putting your A: volume drive back. The checks you have already done confirm that 100%.
Volumes are mounted by the driver, not by ramfs.exe, and that includes at boot; so the app not running and not being under those Run keys is exactly what one would expect either way. What does matter is the response from both "ramfsctl list" and "ramfsctl auto list": they ask the driver directly rather than reading a config file. Since both responded with an empty list, the RAM FS driver definitely has no volume mounted and no boot entry to mount. This means it is not creating your A: volume.
This means that something else is using your drive letter A:, for example:
- Another application that you have on your machine creates that volume. If you have any other applications that you have ever set to create such volumes, please check them and ensure that your A: drive doesn't belong to them.
- A leftover mount point. Run "mountvol" from an elevated command prompt. Its output lists every volume in the system along with the letters attached to it, so it shows whether anything real sits behind A: or whether the letter is just a stale entry. Start → Run → diskmgmt.msc gives the same picture in a window.
- Another device is taking the letter back. Conventionally, A: and B: are the floppy letters, and a BIOS floppy controller, a virtual machine floppy device or a card reader may grab A: when it is free. Such device could have been hidden while your RAM volume held that letter, and it reappeared when you released it, which can look like the drive being recreated. Right click A: in Explorer, choose Properties, and check what it reports for the drive type, the file system and the capacity. If it shows no file system, zero bytes, or calls itself a floppy drive, that is the cause.
I found the reason. The disk was mounted not by SoftPerfect RAM File System but by SoftPerfect RAM Disk. So after deleting A: from SoftPerfect RAM Disk the problem was resolved.
It would be good if RAM FS could check what is configured in RAM Disk, to help other users who have both these applications installed.
Best regards. You are doing a great job!
Thank you for telling us what you discovered and how you fixed the issue.
When your RAM Disk had A: in its auto-mount list, it was creating that drive at every boot. If both RAM FS and RAM Disk are configured for the same letter, whichever mounts first at boot gets it and the other cannot. Which is why it can look fine for a while.
These two apps can run happily side-by-side. The only rule is not to point both at the same drive letter.
You are right to suggest that RAM FS should be checking RAM Disk's drive letter claims. It already checks which letters are actually in use when you pick one, and as of the latest build it also checks the remembered network mappings (because a mapped drive whose server is offline looks free but is not). But it doesn't yet check RAM Disk's auto-mount list to ensure that a presently not-in-use letter won't be in use at the next boot. As both products are ours and both keep that list in the registry, we should add this check, so that such a letter is neither offered nor accepted in RAM FS while RAM Disk is set to claim it.