>>>>Hmm, if you know the name of the folder you're looking for, VFP DIRECTORY() works for me. On my system I have a hard drive C:, an optical drive D: with no medium in the drive, and drive U: does not exist. The folder C:\Something\ does not exist:
>>>>

>>>>?DIRECTORY( "C:\Something" ) && .F.
>>>>?DIRECTORY( "D:\Something" ) && .F.
>>>>?DIRECTORY( "U:\Something" ) && .F.
>>>>
>>>>* no OS dialogs or errors
>>>>

>>>
>>>Tried that, but my OS complained again.
>>
>>Really? What type of drive/medium/lack of medium? What was the error/dialog?
>
>Memory card reader with empty slots. See screenshot.

OK, I guess an empty optical drive is somehow treated differently from an empty card reader "drive".

I see you've worked around the issue using the FSO. However, I *think* WMI has a lot of detailed information about storage devices. I don't know if that includes (reliable) information about the presence of media.