How to Map Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox as Virtual Drives with Visual Subst

Despite their names, all three services (Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox) simply create a shared folder on your PC instead of an actual drive. For power users, it is definitely not enough. Visual Subst is the easiest solution to map these shared folders as virtual drives with custom labels and drive letters, so that you can access your files in a much more convenient way.

Google Drive - Map as a Virtual Drive

Locate Shared Folders

Default locations of shared folders (<username> is your Windows account):

If your shared folders are located elsewhere, right-click the corresponding folder in Windows Explorer and check the full path in the properties.

Google Drive - Context Menu Google Drive - Properties Dialog

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Download and install Visual Subst.

Visual Subst - Install Components Visual Subst - Install Location

Step 2: Click the Browse button with three dots and set the Path to your shared folder location.

Visual Subst - Browse Button Visual Subst - Browse Dialog

Step 3: Choose the drive letter and label.

Visual Subst - Add Drive

Step 4: Click Add and virtual drive will be created immediately.

Visual Subst - Google Drive G:

Now you should see all of your shared files and folders on a virtual drive. If you enable “Create virtual drives on system startup”, Visual Subst will restore drives after system restart.

You can create virtual drives for Dropbox, OneDrive or any other folder on your PC the same way:

Windows Explorer - Virtual Drives Visual Subst - Virtual Drives

Quick Links