Mysterious Local Disk (Q:) Drive Appeared

[LiquidSolstice]

For those of you who are panicking wondering why a mysterious Local Disk (Q:) drive has suddenly appeared in your drive list, do not panic. After a lot of research, I discovered that Office 2010, specifically the Click-To-Run setup version, is what does this.

For those of you who don't use 2010, basically, the Click-To-Run beta mounts a drive called Q: in which it stores files it apperently needs to install Office 2010. It usually makes people panic because the user is denied permission when trying to open it, he/she is unable to reset the permissions of the drive and take ownership, and the drive does not show up in the device manager at all.

So yeah, just wanted to let you know, not sure if this has been posted before.

[itzwolf]

I run Office 2010 on my home machine and I've never seen a Q:\ drive before. I have several network drives that I frequent so I would have noticed one if it ever mysteriously appeared. Is this "Click-to-Run" a specialized verison, feature, or something else? Just curious.

[boogerjones]

I tried the Click-to-run beta in a VM the other day and went looking for this drive Q that people mention. Didn't see it.

Also, the CTR install and subsequent product set seemed less convenient than a traditional install. Ultimately it would've been faster to simply install everything at once rather than delay-load each app. It probably won't be used much, but it's nice to see Microsoft testing new delivery mechanisms.

[itzwolf]

Just read a small excerpt on the click to run installation so I see what I havent seen a Q: drive. I have the normal installation method. Its an interesting idea and nice to see Microsoft try something new but I prefer the normal installation method.

[PGHammer]

Just read a small excerpt on the click to run installation so I see what I haven?t seen a Q: drive. I have the normal installation method. It?s an interesting idea and nice to see Microsoft try something new but I prefer the normal installation method.

Most folks do (either personal preference, or they are running an x64 flavor of Windows).

While the drag of C2R performance is generally within the margin of error (five percent or less vs. a traditional Office 2010 x32 install), Office 2010 *x64* is so much faster than 2010 x32 (while it's Excel 2010 x64 that really shines, performance gains in Word and Outlook are nothing to be sneezed at), I'm actually recommending the x64 flavor unless you have add-in/plug-in issues.

[Madoshi]

what happens if you already have a drive Q: ? does it pick another drive letter?

[MagicAndre1981]

drive Q: come from Click and Run version of Office 2010. This drive is used by the App-V technology which is used by the Click and Run version.

[Phenom II]

Yup it was mysterious to me once too lol

[barryregan]

Thanks for this. I was worried when I saw the "Q" drive appear. I thought I had been hacked or something. Why don't Microsoft explain these things before frightening the life out of everyone.

[PGHammer]

I tried the Click-to-run beta in a VM the other day and went looking for this drive Q that people mention. Didn't see it.

Also, the CTR install and subsequent product set seemed less convenient than a traditional install. Ultimately it would've been faster to simply install everything at once rather than delay-load each app. It probably won't be used much, but it's nice to see Microsoft testing new delivery mechanisms.

C2R is aimed at thin-client and other optical-drive-constrained devices that can run Windows XP and later (including virtual machines), and is meant to be sold by cloud and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) providers. (I was in the beta for both traditional and C2R and actually compared Word and Outlook of each heads-up.) The installer is small enough that it would fit on the now-retired 1.44 MB high-density floppy-disk (let alone thumbdrives, optical media, and the various forms of MemoryStick). The traditional install will likely remain with us for quite a while to come; C2R is meant as simply another install option.

Also, how many folks actually do what is often called the *kitchen-sink* (full) install of Office (any version)? I would give long odds that enterprises have many clients do installs that way (especially in terms of an over-network install; the preferred install within an enterprise seems to be install-on-first-use, and from a network drive); home users and those that connect via VPN seem to be the most likely to do a KSI (I've always installed Office that way on my personal systems, and have recommended that other home users do the same).

Agreed; it normally *is* faster to install everything at once (which is why I prefer doing full installs, and have going back to Office 97 Professional). The sticking point (until recently) with the full install has been the space it chews up on the boot partition (all versions of Office prefer to share the partition with whatever version of Windows is installed, and 2010 is no exception); however, the terabyte hard drive (and especially the *inexpensive* terabyte hard drive) has made that issue pretty much moot.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

For me this happened when I used ReadyBoost, not Office 2010. Still, I'm not worried about it anymore since I removed the beta because it had RTM'd.

[PGHammer]

Thanks for this. I was worried when I saw the "Q" drive appear. I thought I had been hacked or something. Why don't Microsoft explain these things before frightening the life out of everyone.

It was explained by Microsoft (and myself, among other testers) in several posts on the Office 2010 beta newsgroups, and by me again here on Neowin (in a post in the Windows Beta forum).