Drive Letters

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul
  • Start date Start date
P

Paul

I have just installed windows XP on the PC i am writing from and because i
foolishly had a camera card reader plugged in and a seperate USB hard drive
connected the installation has jumbled up the drive letter allocations.

For example what would traditionally be the C drive has the letter F.

Can i change the allocations? If so how?

Thanks in anticipation

Paul Martin
 
Hi Paul,

Disconnect the drives and start over. There is no other way to change the
drive letter assigned to the system volume. You can change any other letter,
just not that one. This is a common occurence, and this is the only
solution.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Don't re-install just for that - you will have plenty of other reasons later on
- It can be changed through the device manager? or something like that - I did
it a while ago, and if I did it then it must be easy

David
 
You can normally change drive letter identifications, but nobody recommends
fooling with the drive/partision that OS is installed in/booting from.
"If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'."
 
As Rick said, "There is no other way to change the
drive letter assigned to the system volume.", at least for anyone other than
a true professional, i.e. not the average user.

David, judging by your own posts, I think you should refrain from offering
advice to others.

JAX
 
Disk Manager will not let you change the drive letter on the system drive.
Disconnect all drives and do a clean install. You must remove the existing
partition.
 
JAX wrote
David, judging by your own posts, I think you should refrain from offering
advice to others.
Click to expand...

....and I would suggest the same to you - until you learn a little more about
good manners

David
 
and also please note that if my advise is wrong, then MS is also wrong as it
was their information that drove my reply

Note that they specifically refer to changing the boot volume letter - if they
are wrong? then...

But of course I cannot take responsibility if their info is wrong - but I do
remember changing the letters on my HDs a while ago

David



SYMPTOMS

When you install or upgrade to Windows XP, the system partition (the disk
volume that
contains the Ntldr, Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com files) may be assigned a drive
letter other than
the one that you expect. The system partition may be assigned a drive letter
other than drive
C.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if you have a ZIP drive that is connected to the
computer when you
install Windows. This problem occurs when the computer detects the ZIP drive
as a hard
disk.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, use Disk Management to change the drive letter
assignments in
Windows XP. For additional information about how to change drive letter
assignments in
Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
307844 HOW TO: Change Drive Letter Assignments in Windows XP
NOTE: This problem does not damage your computer.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that
are listed at the
beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about System partitions and Boot partitions, click
the article
number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314470 Definition of System Partition and Boot Partition
 
And Jax, just to set the record straight, here is another method of
changing the drive letter of the boot drive without reinstalling the OS

You do not need to grovel or anything - just a polite apology will
suffice

David - who is really having fun pointing out to Jax the error of his
ways




Response Number 5
Name: Kurt (by Kurt S)
Date: November 01, 2004 at 13:08:57 Pacific
Subject: Drive letter is F:, Want to change
Reply:

Yes you can according to Microsoft

HOW TO: Change the System/Boot Drive
Letter in Windows
The information in this article applies
to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

This article was previously published
under Q223188


IN THIS TASK
SUMMARY
Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter

IMPORTANT: This article contains
information about modifying the
registry. Before you modify the
registry, make sure to back it up and
make sure that you understand how to
restore the registry if a problem
occurs. For information about how to
back up, restore, and edit the
registry, click the following article
number to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986

<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;256986>
Description of the Microsoft Windows
Registry
SUMMARY
This article describes how to change the
system or boot drive letter in
Windows. For the most part, this is not
recommended, especially if the
drive letter is the same as when Windows
was installed. The only time
that you may want to do this is when the
drive letters get changed without
any user intervention. This may happen
when you break a mirror volume
or there is a drive configuration
change. This should be a rare occurrence
and you should change the drive letters
back to match the initial
installation. NOTE: Please be aware of
the following issue related to drive
letters:
249321

<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;249321>
Unable to Log on if the Boot Partition
Drive Letter Has Changed


WARNING: If you use Registry Editor
incorrectly, you may cause
serious problems that may require you to
reinstall your operating system.
Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can
solve problems that result from
using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use
Registry Editor at your own risk.

To change or swap drive letters on
volumes that cannot otherwise be
changed using the Disk Management
snap-in, use the following steps.

NOTE: In these steps, drive D refers to
the (wrong) drive letter assigned
to a volume, and drive C refers to the
(new) drive letter you want to
change to, or to assign to the volume.

This procedure swaps drive letters for
drives C and D. If you do not need
to swap drive letters, simply name the
\DosDevice\letter: value to any new
drive letter not in use.

back to the top

Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter
Make a full system backup of the
computer and system state.
Log on as an Administrator.
Start Regedt32.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Click MountedDevices.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.

Check to make sure Administrators have
full control. Change this back
when you are finished with these steps.
Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start
Regedit.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Find the drive letter you want to change
to (new). Look for
"\DosDevices\C:".
Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then
click Rename.

NOTE: You must use Regedit instead of
Regedt32 to rename this registry
key.
Rename it to an unused drive letter
"\DosDevices\Z:". (This will free up
drive letter C: to be used later.)
Find the drive letter you want changed.
Look for "\DosDevices\D:".
Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then
click Rename.
Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive
letter "\DosDevices\C:".
Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:,
click Rename, and then name it back
to "\DosDevices\D:".
Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.
Change the permissions back to the
previous setting for Administrators
(this should probably be Read Only).
Restart the computer.
 
David said the following on 08/11/2004 12:40:
And Jax, just to set the record straight, here is another method of
changing the drive letter of the boot drive without reinstalling the OS

You do not need to grovel or anything - just a polite apology will suffice

David - who is really having fun pointing out to Jax the error of his ways




Response Number 5
Name: Kurt (by Kurt S)
Date: November 01, 2004 at 13:08:57 Pacific
Subject: Drive letter is F:, Want to change
Reply:

Yes you can according to Microsoft

HOW TO: Change the System/Boot Drive
Letter in Windows
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
This article was previously published
under Q223188


IN THIS TASK
SUMMARY
Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter

IMPORTANT: This article contains
information about modifying the
registry. Before you modify the
registry, make sure to back it up and
make sure that you understand how to
restore the registry if a problem
occurs. For information about how to
back up, restore, and edit the
registry, click the following article
number to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986

<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;256986>
Description of the Microsoft Windows
Registry
SUMMARY
This article describes how to change the
system or boot drive letter in
Windows. For the most part, this is not
recommended, especially if the
drive letter is the same as when Windows
was installed. The only time
that you may want to do this is when the
drive letters get changed without
any user intervention. This may happen
when you break a mirror volume
or there is a drive configuration
change. This should be a rare occurrence
and you should change the drive letters
back to match the initial
installation. NOTE: Please be aware of
the following issue related to drive
letters:
249321

<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;249321>
Unable to Log on if the Boot Partition
Drive Letter Has Changed


WARNING: If you use Registry Editor
incorrectly, you may cause
serious problems that may require you to
reinstall your operating system.
Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can
solve problems that result from
using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use
Registry Editor at your own risk.

To change or swap drive letters on
volumes that cannot otherwise be
changed using the Disk Management
snap-in, use the following steps.

NOTE: In these steps, drive D refers to
the (wrong) drive letter assigned
to a volume, and drive C refers to the
(new) drive letter you want to
change to, or to assign to the volume.

This procedure swaps drive letters for
drives C and D. If you do not need
to swap drive letters, simply name the
\DosDevice\letter: value to any new
drive letter not in use.

back to the top

Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter
Make a full system backup of the
computer and system state.
Log on as an Administrator.
Start Regedt32.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Click MountedDevices.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
Check to make sure Administrators have
full control. Change this back
when you are finished with these steps.
Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start
Regedit.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Find the drive letter you want to change
to (new). Look for
"\DosDevices\C:".
Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then
click Rename.

NOTE: You must use Regedit instead of
Regedt32 to rename this registry
key.
Rename it to an unused drive letter
"\DosDevices\Z:". (This will free up
drive letter C: to be used later.)
Find the drive letter you want changed.
Look for "\DosDevices\D:".
Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then
click Rename.
Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive
letter "\DosDevices\C:".
Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:,
click Rename, and then name it back
to "\DosDevices\D:".
Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.
Change the permissions back to the
previous setting for Administrators
(this should probably be Read Only).
Restart the computer.
Click to expand...
There is a lot of big words in there, probably a bit complicated for one
who can not follow simple instructions!
 
Back
Top