Isolated Mode
S3 Drive can be launched with a command line flag to indicate all settings should be completely separate for each local user account. The /isolated flag controls this behavior (see Running S3 Drive for usage examples). When this flag is specified each local user will be able to manage their own drive list and application settings. The user's list of drives and application settings will persist across logging in and logging out.
This flag will tell S3 Drive to read application configuration and drive configuration from the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive instead of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive. When this flag is specified and a new instance is created, it is called an "isolated instance" or "HKCU instance". When a new instance is created without this flag it is called a "global instance" or "HKLM instance".
The default values of configuration settings are the same regardless of whether you are running an HKCU or HKLM instance. For example, drives are shared among all local users by default. It is a common pitfall to think an isolated instance will only create drives that are private - but that is not the case. To create a private drive in isolated mode turn off the "Allow all users access to the drive" setting as discussed in Shared Drives. Below is a table to illustrate the interaction between shared drives and isolated mode.
| Launch mode | Shared setting | Description |
| Isolated | Enabled | Configuration is per-user and drives are accessible to everyone. |
| Isolated | Disabled | Configuration is per-user and drives are only accessible in the current user's session. |
| Normal | Enabled | Configuration is system-wide and drives are accessible to everyone. |
| Normal | Disabled | Configuration is system-wide but drives are only accessible in the current user's session. |
Isolated mode is useful in environments where each user needs to mount a drive with their own credentials. Drives can be configured and started manually by each end user or via an automated logon script. This allows many isolated instances to be running at the same time but only one global instance can ever be running at a time. One important note: running as a Windows Service is not possible in an isolated instance.