How can I change boot drive to C?

  • Thread starter Thread starter M.L.
  • Start date Start date
M

M.L.

Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the phone a
few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted and I found out
recently that she installed XP to her H drive instead of her C drive.
Her H drive is now nearly full and the much larger C drive is almost
empty. Short of reinstalling her system more carefully, is there a way
to easily change her system drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?
Thanks in advance.
 
In
M.L. said:
Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the
phone a
few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted and I
found out
recently that she installed XP to her H drive instead of her
C drive.
Her H drive is now nearly full and the much larger C drive is
almost
empty. Short of reinstalling her system more carefully, is
there a way
to easily change her system drive to C, along with her
profiles, etc?
Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately, reinstallation is the only safe way to get XP on
the C drive. If you have do go the reinstall route, make sure
the only hardware connected to the computer are a keyboard,
mouse, and monitor. The situation you describe often happens
when something like a card reader is attached to the computer.

As always, back up any important files before you do this. And
have her make sure she can open the backed up files before
formatting the hard drive.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
M.L. said:
Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the phone a
few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted and I found out
recently that she installed XP to her H drive instead of her C drive.
Her H drive is now nearly full and the much larger C drive is almost
empty. Short of reinstalling her system more carefully, is there a way
to easily change her system drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?
Thanks in advance.

You need to post the exact partition structure of
her machine.
 
Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this as many of the registry
entries will point to H. Your easiest option is to do a fresh install to C.
 
Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you want the
operating system in C or you want sufficient free space in the partition
containing the operating system. It can be simpler to create more space
in H by relocating items to C. Things like Temporary Internet Files,
Outlook Express Store Folder and a host of other items comes to mind.
Reinstalling requires a lot of work.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the phone
What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you want
the operating system in C or you want sufficient free space in the
partition containing the operating system. It can be simpler to
create more space in H by relocating items to C. Things like
Temporary Internet Files, Outlook Express Store Folder and a host of
other items comes to mind. Reinstalling requires a lot of work.

I'd like to thank everyone for their prompt responses. We were both
resigned to the possibility of a reinstallation, and it won't hurt so
much since there isn't a lot of new stuff on her system. If possible,
I'd like her to be able to keep the contents of her H drive intact and
delete redundant data on it only after we verify the stability of the
new C drive install.
 
If you don't format H: partition or otherwise overwrite the data, it will
still be there after installing XP on C:
 
I'd like to thank everyone for their prompt responses. We were both
If you don't format H: partition or otherwise overwrite the data, it
will still be there after installing XP on C:

That's added comfort. Thanks.
 
You are correct. Stick to your guns.
Harry Ohrn said:
The question was
"is there a way to easily change her system drive
to C, along with her profiles, etc?" [end quote]

My answer stands.


--


Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


Gerry said:
Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you want the
operating system in C or you want sufficient free space in the partition
containing the operating system. It can be simpler to create more space
in H by relocating items to C. Things like Temporary Internet Files,
Outlook Express Store Folder and a host of other items comes to mind.
Reinstalling requires a lot of work.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Harry

The question actually asked was "Short of reinstalling her system more
carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to C, along
with her profiles, etc?"!

However, the concern was expressed that the H drive was nearly full
whereas the much larger C drive was nearly empty. All I was trying to
say that shifting files / folders from H to C was likely to be easier
that reinstalling Windows to C. Your answer was 100% valid but not
necessarily the easier to implement.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry said:
The question was
"is there a way to easily change her system
drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?" [end quote]

My answer stands.



Gerry said:
Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you want
the operating system in C or you want sufficient free space in the
partition containing the operating system. It can be simpler to
create more space in H by relocating items to C. Things like
Temporary Internet Files, Outlook Express Store Folder and a host of
other items comes to mind. Reinstalling requires a lot of work.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
As noted, you should move personal files to C:\ and perhaps temporary files,
also, though they ideally shouldn't be that much. Then what *I* would do is
to use BootIt NG to resize and move the partitions as necessary. You can do
so without purchasing the application. www.bootitng.com. Download the app,
extract the ZIP file if necessary, and run bootitng.exe to create a bootable
installation floppy or CD. Boot to that media and Cancel the installation.
Then use Partition Work.

Otherwise, the answer is that there essentially *isn't* any way to change
the system drive from H:\ to C:\.
 
To increase you free space on your XP partition select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options,
System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points?
Restore points can be quite large.

It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore
on your H partition which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700
mb. Right click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System
Restore. Place the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this
time find the slider and drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and
exit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and
exit.

Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of
days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

You can also increase free disk space on your H partition can be
achieved by relocation of folders.

For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.

To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm

My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.

You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.



--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Perhaps not the easiest to implement but the best solution to avoid future
problems.
Gerry said:
Harry

The question actually asked was "Short of reinstalling her system more
carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to C, along
with her profiles, etc?"!

However, the concern was expressed that the H drive was nearly full
whereas the much larger C drive was nearly empty. All I was trying to say
that shifting files / folders from H to C was likely to be easier that
reinstalling Windows to C. Your answer was 100% valid but not necessarily
the easier to implement.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry said:
The question was
"is there a way to easily change her system
drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?" [end quote]

My answer stands.



Gerry said:
Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you want
the operating system in C or you want sufficient free space in the
partition containing the operating system. It can be simpler to
create more space in H by relocating items to C. Things like
Temporary Internet Files, Outlook Express Store Folder and a host of
other items comes to mind. Reinstalling requires a lot of work.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry Ohrn wrote:
Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this as many of the
registry entries will point to H. Your easiest option is to do a
fresh install to C.

Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the
phone a few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted and
I found out recently that she installed XP to her H drive instead
of her C drive. Her H drive is now nearly full and the much larger
C drive is almost empty. Short of reinstalling her system more
carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to C,
along with her profiles, etc? Thanks in advance.
 
Gerry I read the question and there is no way to easily change the system to
C. Yes you can free up space by shifting things around however the fact of
the matter is the OP asked if there was an easy way to change from H to C
and the answer is no.

Think of it this way. I move all of my possessions into a new house. I was
actually supposed to move my possessions into the house next door but I made
an error and moved to the wrong address. Now I'm wondering, short of moving
all of my stuff over to the house next door, is there an easier way. Perhaps
I can have the house I'm currently in (the wrong house) recognized as the
correct house. I could contact the City and asked to have the lot
renumbered - I don't think so. I could contact the Postal Service and ask
them to deliver my mail to the house I moved into even though it is
addressed to the house next door. That will keep me guessing and will likely
cause me grief at some point when mail I was supposed to receive gets lost.
I could purchase the house I accidentally moved into then move some of my
stuff to the house I was supposed to move into yet keep my most important
stuff at the house I did move into. Now I'm trying to maintain two different
residents. Do you see how confusing this is? There is no easy solution that
will meet my needs over the long term short of moving where I was supposed
to move to in the first place.

Before you reply please go back and re-read the posts in this thread. In
your first reply to me you said that my response to the OP was not true.
Then you say it is 100% valid. Obviously it can't be both.

--


Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


Gerry said:
Harry

The question actually asked was "Short of reinstalling her system more
carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to C, along
with her profiles, etc?"!

However, the concern was expressed that the H drive was nearly full
whereas the much larger C drive was nearly empty. All I was trying to say
that shifting files / folders from H to C was likely to be easier that
reinstalling Windows to C. Your answer was 100% valid but not necessarily
the easier to implement.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry said:
The question was
"is there a way to easily change her system
drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?" [end quote]

My answer stands.



Gerry said:
Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you want
the operating system in C or you want sufficient free space in the
partition containing the operating system. It can be simpler to
create more space in H by relocating items to C. Things like
Temporary Internet Files, Outlook Express Store Folder and a host of
other items comes to mind. Reinstalling requires a lot of work.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry Ohrn wrote:
Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this as many of the
registry entries will point to H. Your easiest option is to do a
fresh install to C.

Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the
phone a few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted and
I found out recently that she installed XP to her H drive instead
of her C drive. Her H drive is now nearly full and the much larger
C drive is almost empty. Short of reinstalling her system more
carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to C,
along with her profiles, etc? Thanks in advance.
 
You can try all of the things Gerry suggests to free up space. A typical
reinstall takes about 45 minutes, updating Windows can take 60 - 90 minutes
depending on your connection speed. The number of apps you have to install
could take a couple of hours along with making a few tweaks. My experience
is that a complete reinstall, including tweaks and restoring backup data
generally takes about 4 hours. I've done hundreds of these. You posted the
question at 9:18 pm last night. You could easily have reinstalled and got
everything up and running by now. Tweak all you want now but the bottom line
is you will eventually bite the bullet and reinstall anyway. I'd bet good
money on that happening.
 
Harry

Harry said:
Gerry I read the question and there is no way to easily change the
system to C. Yes you can free up space by shifting things around
however the fact of the matter is the OP asked if there was an easy
way to change from H to C and the answer is no.

The answer to the question is No! We agree!
Think of it this way. I move all of my possessions into a new house.
I was actually supposed to move my possessions into the house next
door but I made an error and moved to the wrong address. Now I'm
wondering, short of moving all of my stuff over to the house next
door, is there an easier way. Perhaps I can have the house I'm
currently in (the wrong house) recognized as the correct house. I
could contact the City and asked to have the lot renumbered - I don't
think so. I could contact the Postal Service and ask them to deliver
my mail to the house I moved into even though it is addressed to the
house next door. That will keep me guessing and will likely cause me
grief at some point when mail I was supposed to receive gets lost. I
could purchase the house I accidentally moved into then move some of
my stuff to the house I was supposed to move into yet keep my most
important stuff at the house I did move into. Now I'm trying to
maintain two different residents. Do you see how confusing this is?
There is no easy solution that will meet my needs over the long term
short of moving where I was supposed to move to in the first place.

That's a possible problem that may or may not arise in the future! You
cannot prevent people assuming that something is true just because it is
true 9 times out of 10. Just because people get run over crossing the
does mean one should never cross the road. The more immediate problem is
insufficient free disk space in the partition containing the operating
system
Before you reply please go back and re-read the posts in this thread.
In your first reply to me you said that my response to the OP was not
true. Then you say it is 100% valid. Obviously it can't be both.

Again you are misquoting! What I actually said was "What you say is not
necessarily true!". I did not say "not true".

100% valid refers to your comment "Unfortunately there is no easy way to
do this as many of the registry entries will point to H." Not
necessarily true refers to "Your easiest option is to do a fresh install
to C." Each approach has it's advantages and disadvantages; that's why I
used the expression "not necessarily true". A new install can be
challenging, especially with issues like third party drivers and
reinstalling older programmes like Office 2000. There are lots of things
to remember. What is easy for some users will not be easy for others!

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Gerry said:
Harry

The question actually asked was "Short of reinstalling her system
more carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to
C, along with her profiles, etc?"!

However, the concern was expressed that the H drive was nearly full
whereas the much larger C drive was nearly empty. All I was trying
to say that shifting files / folders from H to C was likely to be
easier that reinstalling Windows to C. Your answer was 100% valid
but not necessarily the easier to implement.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry said:
The question was
"is there a way to easily change her system
drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?" [end quote]

My answer stands.



Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you
want the operating system in C or you want sufficient free space
in the partition containing the operating system. It can be
simpler to create more space in H by relocating items to C. Things
like Temporary Internet Files, Outlook Express Store Folder and a
host of other items comes to mind. Reinstalling requires a lot of
work. --
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry Ohrn wrote:
Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this as many of the
registry entries will point to H. Your easiest option is to do a
fresh install to C.

Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the
phone a few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted
and I found out recently that she installed XP to her H drive
instead of her C drive. Her H drive is now nearly full and the
much larger C drive is almost empty. Short of reinstalling her
system more carefully, is there a way to easily change her
system drive to C, along with her profiles, etc? Thanks in
advance.
 
Gerry the OP wants an easy way to change the drive letter for the os from H
to C.


--


Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp



Gerry said:
Harry

Harry said:
Gerry I read the question and there is no way to easily change the
system to C. Yes you can free up space by shifting things around
however the fact of the matter is the OP asked if there was an easy
way to change from H to C and the answer is no.

The answer to the question is No! We agree!
Think of it this way. I move all of my possessions into a new house.
I was actually supposed to move my possessions into the house next
door but I made an error and moved to the wrong address. Now I'm
wondering, short of moving all of my stuff over to the house next
door, is there an easier way. Perhaps I can have the house I'm
currently in (the wrong house) recognized as the correct house. I
could contact the City and asked to have the lot renumbered - I don't
think so. I could contact the Postal Service and ask them to deliver
my mail to the house I moved into even though it is addressed to the
house next door. That will keep me guessing and will likely cause me
grief at some point when mail I was supposed to receive gets lost. I
could purchase the house I accidentally moved into then move some of
my stuff to the house I was supposed to move into yet keep my most
important stuff at the house I did move into. Now I'm trying to
maintain two different residents. Do you see how confusing this is?
There is no easy solution that will meet my needs over the long term
short of moving where I was supposed to move to in the first place.

That's a possible problem that may or may not arise in the future! You
cannot prevent people assuming that something is true just because it is
true 9 times out of 10. Just because people get run over crossing the does
mean one should never cross the road. The more immediate problem is
insufficient free disk space in the partition containing the operating
system
Before you reply please go back and re-read the posts in this thread.
In your first reply to me you said that my response to the OP was not
true. Then you say it is 100% valid. Obviously it can't be both.

Again you are misquoting! What I actually said was "What you say is not
necessarily true!". I did not say "not true".

100% valid refers to your comment "Unfortunately there is no easy way to
do this as many of the registry entries will point to H." Not necessarily
true refers to "Your easiest option is to do a fresh install to C." Each
approach has it's advantages and disadvantages; that's why I used the
expression "not necessarily true". A new install can be challenging,
especially with issues like third party drivers and reinstalling older
programmes like Office 2000. There are lots of things to remember. What is
easy for some users will not be easy for others!

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Gerry said:
Harry

The question actually asked was "Short of reinstalling her system
more carefully, is there a way to easily change her system drive to
C, along with her profiles, etc?"!

However, the concern was expressed that the H drive was nearly full
whereas the much larger C drive was nearly empty. All I was trying
to say that shifting files / folders from H to C was likely to be
easier that reinstalling Windows to C. Your answer was 100% valid
but not necessarily the easier to implement.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry Ohrn wrote:
The question was
"is there a way to easily change her system
drive to C, along with her profiles, etc?" [end quote]

My answer stands.



Harry

What you say is not necessarily true! It depends on whether you
want the operating system in C or you want sufficient free space
in the partition containing the operating system. It can be
simpler to create more space in H by relocating items to C. Things
like Temporary Internet Files, Outlook Express Store Folder and a
host of other items comes to mind. Reinstalling requires a lot of
work. --
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry Ohrn wrote:
Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this as many of the
registry entries will point to H. Your easiest option is to do a
fresh install to C.

Hi. While trying to assist my niece to install WinXP over the
phone a few weeks ago, something got crossed or misinterpreted
and I found out recently that she installed XP to her H drive
instead of her C drive. Her H drive is now nearly full and the
much larger C drive is almost empty. Short of reinstalling her
system more carefully, is there a way to easily change her
system drive to C, along with her profiles, etc? Thanks in
advance.
 
Harry

I thought we agreed there isn't one!

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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