How to make your USB name longer than 11 characters

How to: Make your USB name longer than 11 characters

A lot of companies want to change the name of their usb thumb drive from the default – Removable Disk – but through “Windows Rename”, you can only use a maximum of 11 characters and sometimes this just isn’t enough. Below is a very simple way to work around this so that you can make the name up to 32 characters.

STEP 1

First of all you need to open Notebook to create a .inf file. This is simply a plain text file which Windows uses for installation of software and or drivers. Once you have Notebook open, copy an paste the following:

[autorun]Label=

Whatever you then type after the = sign is the name that will appear for example:

[autorun]Label=I love long Flash drives names

STEP 2

Save the file as “autorun.inf”

STEP 3

This file then needs to be moved or saved to the root of the USB Drive. Unplug the USB and then plug it back in and the new name should appear.

Please be aware that if this file is deleted, then the drive will go back to default. One way round this is to hide the file which can be done very easily.

Open up the USB – Right Click on the .inf file – Click on “Properties”

As the Properties box pops up, put a tick in the box near the bottom which says “Hidden”

Now the only people that will be able to see this file on your USB Thumb Drive are those users who have the “View Hidden Files and Folders” option turned on, which wont be many.