Thread: Create a virtual sd on your pc to show maps in Homeport or Basecamp

Hmm I've the virtual SD working on my indows 7 64-bit platform. If I download a .img file and unlock it with fast img unlocker and place it on the virtual SD in a Garmin map I can view it in basecamp. So far so good. But if I want to create an .img file in basecamp based on a installed maps on my virtual SD things get a bit weird. for example I have an installed mapsource version of topo france. I can perfectly create form this installed mapsource topo an .img file on the virtual SD with basecamp. However after creating I cannot view the created img file in Basecamp. My first thought was I had to unlock the created img file so I used fast img unlocker. But even after that I couldn't see the created img file on the virtual SD in basecamp.

I was trying to prepare some unlocked img maps on the Virtual SD to simply copy them to a micro SD to be placed in a Garmin GPS. Instead of exporting these maps form basecamp to the GPS (creating the img file over USB takes some time and I wanted to save that time be making first the img files on the virtual SD.

Anyone any idea why I cannot see my own created img files on the SD in my basecamp?

edit:

i noticed when I connect my garmin to my PC I see in basemap only worldwide autoroute DEM map on the memory of the GPS while in the same memory more than two other maps are installed like two navigator and a topomap. On the SD card in my GPS are two topo maps installed, basecamp only sees one. My GPS handles multiple IMG maps with no problem I can give them any name I like.

edit2: IMGmod.exe dit help like a charm! thanx!!!!!

I use another way to make the .img map files on any hard drive (internal or USB) visible in Basecamp.
This works for Windows 7, and is done by creating a symbolic link (junction type).

1. Format any USB flash drive with NTFS5. (I used my oldest and smallest one).
2. Make a folder on your flash drive called Garmin.
3. Go to the new folder Garmin and open a command prompt there.
4. Type: mklink /j Img x:\imagedir (pointing to the hard drive x: and dir imagedir with your .img files).
5. The newly created 'folder' Img is now pointing to the folder holding your .img files.
Open Basecamp. If everything is well, it will show your USB flash drive including all .img files on your hdd.

You could also do this using an SD card (even when present in your Garmin) instead of a flash drive as long as the file system on it is NTFS5.

I do it this way, because it makes it possible to use Basecamp and all of my maps completely portable.
I have everything on one external USB hard disk, and the flash drive only functions as a pointer to the map-directory on that same hard disk.
So far it has worked on any Win7 computer I tried it on, but sometimes it is necessary to redefine the symbolic links (junctions) because drive letters are changing.
To remove a junction use rmdir or rd, or use explorer to delete the junction dir.

I realize that the USB flash drive isn't needed when working on your own home pc with virtual ImDisk drivers installed.
You can combine the two methods and have the best of both worlds.

Create a very small virtual SD (with option removable!), format it in NTFS5, mount it and then on your 'new' drive create a symbolic link (junction) just as described in my earlier post. The name should be Garmin, since Basecamp looks in the device root folder of that name. But any subdir in Garmin should work fine too.

After that Basecamp will automatically recognize the mounted virtual SD as 'Removable Disk' and show the maps in the .img directory which you made the junction folder Garmin point to.
The maps in the .img dir can be modified to choice, even when the virtual disk is not mounted at all.

Redo it from scratch. Delete old one and redo the process. Be sure it's not checked copy as a image file to memory.
Once done format the new created drive.

no problem here in creating bigger disks, just created a 10 gb one.