Event for USB drive connection

[CJLeit]

Is there a way to trap when a USB drive is plugged into the computer. Right now I just have a timer that checks every 15 seconds to see if my drive is plugged in. This isn't a very good solution. I was hoping there is a way to have an event fired whenever a new USB device is plugged in or a new drive is add.

 

Thanks!

[PlausiblyDamp]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/devio/base/registering_for_device_notification.asp gives a sample in C on how to register for plug and play events, you might be able to port it to .Net though.

 

http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32/RegisterDeviceNotification.html contains a valid DllImport for the function and will get you started.

[jo0ls]

RegisterDeviceNotification would let you find out when a USB device was plugged in, you send the forms handle and get alerted via WM_DEVICECHANGE messages. You don't need to register for notifications of volume changes or port changes - it happens automatically. So you can actually skip registering.

To read the message then:

override WndProc, and check for WM_DEVICECHANGE.

The Wparam will tell you if it is an arrival or removal.

The LParam is a structure that depends on the type of DEVICECHANGE that is occuring. The start of the structure is the same for all device types, DEV_BROADCAST_HDR. The header tells us the device type, so if it is a volume then we can convert Lparam to a DEV_BROADCAST_VOLUME structure. This structure has a field that stores the device(s) drive letter.

 

See attached c#, or bad vb.net. Note, you can use a NativeWindow class and handle its WndProc instead of the form's one. Makes it tidier...

 

If you need to test to see if it is a usb device (just detecting volumes will detect CDs etc...), then it gets complicated. this is a good starting point. I've got some working vb.net code that will identify all usb removable disk drives, and get the "Friendly Name" and path.

Vb.net RegisteDeviceNotification example

Vol Arrival.zip