How to Use the LOCALDRIVES Variable with Microsoft Delta

ID: Q130879

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Delta for Windows, version 1.0

SUMMARY

This article explains how Microsoft Delta uses the LOCALDRIVES environment variable, and it gives the syntax for the LOCALDRIVES environment variable.

MORE INFORMATION

During the creation of a new project, Delta performs a check on the drive selected to host the master project in order to determine whether it is a network drive or a local drive. If it recognizes it as a network drive, Delta connects to it by temporarily assigning the actual network path to the next available drive letter.

For example, if the master project is to be stored on drive J: and that drive is mapped to \\server1\develop, Delta temporarily maps the next available drive letter to this location and proceed with creating the project.

After the project has been created, Delta deletes the temporary drive assignment, and writes the project location to the DELTA.MVM file located in the local project directory. However, instead of drive J:, Delta stores \\server1\develop in the DELTA.MVM file. All future connections to the project are made using this path. One advantage to this method is that if drive J: is mapped to a different location, either intentionally or by accident, Delta is still able to access the project.

The LOCALDRIVES variable lets you force Delta to treat specified drive letters as local even though they may be network drives. This means that Delta won't attempt to make a temporary connection and will use drive J: as the master project location. One drawback to this is that drive J: must always be mapped to the same location in order for Delta to properly access the project.

To specify local drives, at the MS-DOS prompt, type:

   SET LOCALDRIVES=D,E,F

IMPORTANT: Do not put extra spaces in the setting. For example, the following SET statements fail:

  SET LOCALDRIVES = D,E,F
  SET LOCALDRIVES= D, E, F