Acquiring drive names (as opposed to drive letters) in Java

Question

Hi,

On my Windows machine, my main hard drive has the letter C: and the name "Local disk".

To list the drive letters in Java on Windows, the File object has the static listRoots() method. But I can't find a way to acquire the drive names (as opposed to the drive letters) on Windows.

Has anyone tried this before?

Thanks, Mattijs

Answer 1

Ah yes, you need to get the FileSystemView object and use getSystemDisplayName. (I once implemented a Filesystem browser in Java).

It's not perfect though but it will get you the name. From the documentation:

Name of a file, directory, or folder as it would be displayed in a system file browser. Example from Windows: the "M:\" directory displays as "CD-ROM (M:)" The default implementation gets information from the ShellFolder class.

Answer 2

Actually to get the drive name (ex. Local Disk) you need to use getSystemTypeDescription. getSystemDisplayName returns the volume name.

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.filechooser.FileSystemView;

public class Test2 {
    public static void main(String args[]){

      List <File>files = Arrays.asList(File.listRoots());
      for (File f : files) {
        String s1 = FileSystemView.getFileSystemView().getSystemDisplayName (f);
        String s2 = FileSystemView.getFileSystemView().getSystemTypeDescription(f);
        System.out.println("getSystemDisplayName : " + s1);
        System.out.println("getSystemTypeDescription : " + s2);
      }
      /* output (French WinXP)

          getSystemDisplayName : 
          getSystemTypeDescription : Disquette 3½ pouces

          getSystemDisplayName : REGA1 (C:)
          getSystemTypeDescription : Disque local

          getSystemDisplayName : 
          getSystemTypeDescription : Lecteur CD

          getSystemDisplayName : My Book (F:)
          getSystemTypeDescription : Disque local
      */
    }
}

Answer 3

Using WMI via JACOB is another alternative.

FileSystemView.getSystemDisplayName does not give you the raw volume label. It is a combination of the drive letter and volume label, with a default in case the label has not been set.

WMI will give you the raw volume label, plus some other info such is whether the drive is removable (surprisingly FileSystemView.isFloppyDrive() does not tell you this; It does literally mean "is it a floppy disk.")