If a long path is frequently accessed, assigning it to a spare drive letter can save time. This tech-recipe describes assigning a drive letter to a local drive path from the command line.
The subst command allows the substitution of a drive letter for a local drive path. For example, to map the drive C:\Documents and Settings\Quinn\My Documents to the drive Q: use the following command:
subst Q: "C:\Documents and Settings\Quinn\My Documents"
Once it is run, Q: should appear in the My Computer listing as a drive. Referencing a file in Q:\ will actually reference the file in the full path substituted above.
To review the existing drive substitutions, run the command without any options as shown below:
subst
