HOWTO: List the Drives in a System Using the FileSystemObject

ID: Q189667


The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0


SUMMARY

This article shows you how to list all the drives in a computer system using the FileSystemObject. The article shows how to create a sample project that lists all the drives in a system as well as the properties of each drive.


MORE INFORMATION

This article assumes you are familiar with using objects, collections, and object models in Visual Basic. The FileSystemObject allows you to perform a number tasks on the file system of a computer. This object is available to your project by making a reference to the Microsoft Script Runtime file scrrun.dll. This file ships with Windows 98 and the following products:


   Windows Script Host
   Windows NT Option Pack
   Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0
   Scripting 3.1 upgrade
   Visual Studio 6.0
   Visual Basic 6.0 

After making a reference to the Script Runtime file, you create an instance of the FileSystemObject using the CreateObject method or by creating a variable as a new FileSystemObject. The object allows you to access each Drive object in the Drives collection. Each Drive has a number of properties that you can query to determine the drive type, the total space, the free space, and the file system.

The next section shows you how to create a sample project that displays all the drives in a system and the properties of each drive.

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Start a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.


  2. Add a reference to the Microsoft Script Runtime by completing the following steps:

    1. From the Project menu, click References to display the References dialog box.


    2. Click Browse to open the Add Reference dialog box.


    3. Select the file scrrun.dll and click OK to close the Add Reference dialog box. This file is installed in your system directory. Microsoft Scripting Runtime appears with a check in the Available Referenced list box of the References dialog box.


    4. Click OK to close the References dialog box.




  3. Add a CommandButton, ListBox, and Label to Form1.


  4. Copy the following code to the Code window of Form1:
    
          Option Explicit
          Dim fso As New FileSystemObject
          Dim fsoDrives As Drives
          Dim fsoDrive As Drive
    
          Private Sub Form_Load()
             Label1.AutoSize = True
             Command1.Caption = "List All Drives"
             List1.Enabled = False
          End Sub
    
          Private Sub Command1_Click()
             Dim sDrive As String
             Dim sDriveType As String
    
             Set fsoDrives = fso.Drives
    
             List1.Enabled = True
             For Each fsoDrive In fsoDrives
                sDrive = "Drive " & fsoDrive.DriveLetter & ": "
    
                Select Case fsoDrive.DriveType
                   Case 0: sDriveType = "Unknown"
                   Case 1: sDriveType = "Removable Drive"
                   Case 2: sDriveType = "Fixed Disk"
                   Case 3: sDriveType = "Remote Disk"
                   Case 4: sDriveType = "CDROM Drive"
                   Case 5: sDriveType = "RAM Disk"
                End Select
    
                sDrive = sDrive & sDriveType
                List1.AddItem (sDrive)
             Next
             Set fsoDrives = Nothing
          End Sub
    
          Private Sub List1_Click()
             Dim sDriveSpec As String
             Dim sSelDrive As String
    
             sSelDrive = List1.List(List1.ListIndex)
             sSelDrive = Mid(sSelDrive, 7, 1)
    
             Set fsoDrive = fso.GetDrive(sSelDrive)
    
             With fsoDrive
                If .IsReady = True Then
                   sDriveSpec = "Drive " & .DriveLetter & _
                               " Specifications" & vbLf
                   sDriveSpec = sDriveSpec & "Free Space: " & _
                                  .FreeSpace & " bytes" & vbLf
                   sDriveSpec = sDriveSpec & "File System: " & _
                                  .FileSystem & vbLf
                   sDriveSpec = sDriveSpec & "Serial Number: " & _
                                  .SerialNumber & vbLf
                   sDriveSpec = sDriveSpec & "Total Size: " & _
                                  .TotalSize & " bytes" & vbLf
                   sDriveSpec = sDriveSpec & "Volume Name: " & _
                                  .VolumeName
                   Label1.Caption = sDriveSpec
                Else
                   MsgBox ("Drive Not Ready")
                End If
             End With
    
             Set fsoDrive = Nothing
          End Sub
     


  5. On the Run menu, select Start, or press the F5 key to start the program. Click the "List All Drives" button to display all the drives in your system in the ListBox. Click on a drive in the ListBox to display the properties of the drive.



REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q186118 : HOWTO: Use FileSystemObject with Visual Basic

Q185601 : HOWTO: Recursively Search Directories Using FileSystemObject

Additional query words: kbDSupport kbDSD kbVBp kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbCtrl kbVS600

Keywords : kbGrpVB
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


Last Reviewed: January 5, 2000
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