Vista Drive Letter Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe727
  • Start date Start date
I had the exact same conditions on 2 different
computers.

On one computer I installed Win XP Pro and Win
x64. In installed Win XP Pro to the 1st
partition and it remained as C: drive. I
installed to Win x64 to the 2nd partition, which
was labeled as E: in the install choices, and it
stayed E: drive, and still E: drive, when I boot
to Win x64. And the XP Pro is shown as C: drive
- ALWAYS!!!

On the second computer I installed Vista x86 to
the 1st partition and and it shows it is C: when
it is booted. I then booted from the Vista x64
DVD and selected the E: drive, same as above,
but when I boot to Vista x64, it shows as the C:
drive, not as E: drive, and the Vista x86 is
shown as D: drive at that time.

Exact same scenario on 2 different computers,
but DIFFERENT results.

So, my conclusion is that for some unknown
reason, neither you nor Colin seem to be able to
comprehend what I and talking about and are
offering responses and solutions that simply
don't seem to make much sense to me!

And, yes, I read the KB Q234048, but don't see
the correlation!
 
On one computer I installed Win XP Pro and Win x64. In installed Win XP
Pro to the 1st partition and it remained as C: drive. I installed to Win
x64 to the 2nd partition, which was labeled as E: in the install choices,
and it stayed E: drive, and still E: drive, when I boot to Win x64. And
the XP Pro is shown as C: drive - ALWAYS!!!
Click to expand...

Once assigned the first time an os is booted, they will remain the same
within that operating system, unless you change them. They are set in that
registry based on the articles enumeration. Makes no difference what
letters they were assigned during the install process. That may or may not
have the same letters.
On the second computer I installed Vista x86 to the 1st partition and and
it shows it is C: when it is booted. I then booted from the Vista x64 DVD
and selected the E: drive, same as above, but when I boot to Vista x64, it
shows as the C: drive, not as E: drive, and the Vista x86 is shown as D:
drive at that time.
Click to expand...
I haven't installed Vista64 so can only guess, which is kinda stupid of me,
but here goes. Maybe the second installation of vista64 set the second
partition as active. That would result in the system being assigned C when
it is first started. Like with XP you may have to go into the first system
and check the partitions listed in Disk Management to make sure they are in
the order they need to be in before you start up the second installation
(and make sure the proper boot files are on the active partition). In any
case, The letters in the installation procedure are irrelevant to what they
will be assigned the first time you boot up an os. They may match, and they
may not.
 
There is no difference between Vista x86 and x64 in this regard, or for that
matter with XP Pro x64 either.
 
Seems to be the same procedure since 2k. Personally the only time this
concerns me is when I move an operating system to another drive, and maybe a
different partition number, such as when I moved x86 from a single drive and
x64 from another drive to a single drive with x64 in the first partition and
x86 on the second. Needed to have the enumeration stay the same so the
drive letter information in the registry, shortcuts, etc. would be in sinc
with the enumerations.
 
File a bug report and move on. The thread is now repetitive.

These issues are why paths are defined relatively and not absolutely, as in
"%systemroot%\Windows\Windows32\...." and not
"C:\Windows\Windows32...."
 
if you install by booting from DVD, vista STEALS "C" drive letter.
if you install by running the setup from another OS, then VISTA takes the drive letter you assign.

file a complaint with ms on this behavior. many others have done so already. maybe enough will do to make them chance this bhavior.

AND NO IT IS NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR.



(e-mail address removed)



Hi - I reinstalled Vista on my multi-boot (98SE - XP Pro SP2 - Vista Beta 2
Build 5384) computer. The partition I have for Vista is labeled N.

When I originally installed Vista to N, Vista correctly reported that it was
installed on the N partition. Windows XP and Partition Magic 8 also report
that Vista is installed on N.

However, since the reinstallation, Vista is now reporting that it is on the
C partition, even though XP and Partition Magic 8 are reporting it as being
installed on the N partition.

When I reinstalled Vista (two times now), I selected N as the target
partition. It certainly can't be installed on my C partition because that
is only about 750MB in size. C partition holds the boot loader for all
three OSs, because that is where Windows dumps them.

Because Vista thinks it is on C, I can't change the drive letter using the
disk management tool even when I turn off pagefile.

Question: How can I change the drive letter within Vista to reflect its
proper location? How do I change it from C to N?

I am more than willing to reinstall Vista to get this corrected.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. I formatted my N partition with Partition Magic 8 - NTFS as I did when
I originally installed Vista.
 
Hundreds of bugs have been filed early on in the Beta 9-12 months ago and
mucho setup team members surfaced to say IT AIN'T NO BUG. THIS IS BY DESIGN.
There were numerous threads on it.

If you like you can reinstall via the DVD: Install Now on autorun>Shift-F10
to get cmd window>diskpart to clean>reboot>shift-F-10 cmd>assign partitions
the drive letters you like>don't create partitions in setup>your designated
partitions will show up.

Again on a dual or multiboot you can keep the same drive letters as XP in
the new OS if you setup from within XP. One more reason to do that.

CH
 
Yo Mikey--

The complaints were filed by the ton load yessiree by TBTs as soon as they
got their hands on setup and the setup team said it ain't changing; it's by
design and they explained and I recapitulated how you can control things two
ways already.

IT IS THEIR BEHAVIOR; THIS IS A BIG BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT BACK IN
JUNE -SEPTEMBER AND THE SETUP TEAM RESPONDED. HOW BOUT THEM BIG LETTERS. LOL

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT "NORMAL" BUT IT AINT' CHANGING--AND IT'S NOT UNIQUE TO
VISTA WHICH HAS BEEN STATED ABOUT 3000 TIMES ON THIS THREAD.

The setup team said this is the way they have it and are keeping it this way
about 9-10 months ago. File all the bugs you like. But it's long ago been
closed as a bug.

CH

if you install by booting from DVD, vista STEALS "C" drive letter.
if you install by running the setup from another OS, then VISTA takes the
drive letter you assign.

file a complaint with ms on this behavior. many others have done so already.
maybe enough will do to make them chance this bhavior.

AND NO IT IS NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR.



(e-mail address removed)



Hi - I reinstalled Vista on my multi-boot (98SE - XP Pro SP2 - Vista Beta
2
Build 5384) computer. The partition I have for Vista is labeled N.

When I originally installed Vista to N, Vista correctly reported that it
was
installed on the N partition. Windows XP and Partition Magic 8 also
report
that Vista is installed on N.

However, since the reinstallation, Vista is now reporting that it is on
the
C partition, even though XP and Partition Magic 8 are reporting it as
being
installed on the N partition.

When I reinstalled Vista (two times now), I selected N as the target
partition. It certainly can't be installed on my C partition because that
is only about 750MB in size. C partition holds the boot loader for all
three OSs, because that is where Windows dumps them.

Because Vista thinks it is on C, I can't change the drive letter using the
disk management tool even when I turn off pagefile.

Question: How can I change the drive letter within Vista to reflect its
proper location? How do I change it from C to N?

I am more than willing to reinstall Vista to get this corrected.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. I formatted my N partition with Partition Magic 8 - NTFS as I did
when
I originally installed Vista.
 
I had the exact same conditions on 2 different
computers.
On one computer I installed Win XP Pro and Win
x64. In installed Win XP Pro to the 1st
partition and it remained as C: drive. I
installed to Win x64 to the 2nd partition, which
was labeled as E: in the install choices, and it
stayed E: drive, and still E: drive, when I boot
to Win x64. And the XP Pro is shown as C: drive
- ALWAYS!!!
On the second computer I installed Vista x86 to
the 1st partition and and it shows it is C: when
it is booted. I then booted from the Vista x64
DVD and selected the E: drive, same as above,
but when I boot to Vista x64, it shows as the C:
drive, not as E: drive, and the Vista x86 is
shown as D: drive at that time.

Exact same scenario on 2 different computers,
but DIFFERENT results.


Rick:

I have been dual booting for many years using MS's NT based boot mgr and the
results (sans Vista) have always been per your first example.
Installing Vista on a dual boot machine is per your second example. This
has not caused any problems, and I have used XP Pro's defrag to defragment
the Vista vol. Are you having a problem with the drive letter switching?

From a previous post:
My setup:
Not using any 3rd party boot mgrs
Installed Vista beta2 via DVD boot
Vista was the last op system installed

Hard disk layouts:
Disk 0:
Primary partition (is 1 vol)
Extended partition with 5 vols
2 op systems installed in separate vols
XP Home is in Primary partition
XP Pro is in a vol in the extended partition

Disk 1:
(no Primary partition)
Extended partition with 9 vols
4 op systems installed in separate vols
Includes XP Pro and two Win2k3 server installs
Vista is in the last vol

Per Vista:
Previous C: is now "Local Disc D:"
Has \Boot folder (BCD store)
Vista vol is now drive C:

Per XP:
Vista vol is drive Q:

Comments:
(I have installed Vista twice into same vol)
All vols use NTFS

No dialogs re: dual booting were displayed during Vista install
BCD store is on the non-Vista view drive C: (has XP Home)

All op systems are usable via the Vista boot mgr
The default via the Vista boot menu is Vista
The XP boot.ini menu is used for the non-Vista op systems

Following was added to boot.ini file via Vista install:
;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
 
1) I find that using a defrag Perfect Disk from XP Pro works well even
though it won't install onto Vista--8.0 and above. There are go arounds to
getting a defragger to work if it is not yet Vista compatible.

2) You can use Executive Soft's www.diskeeper.com Diskeeper 10 now as a 30
day full functionality trial available for Vista X86. I have Diskeeper 8.0
with its latest update working fine on Vista and it is much better than the
defragger that Vista or Windows One Care will ship with. Since defragging
is highly important, and not a sexy enough feature for MSFT to ever
emphasize anywhere on their websites or in their promotional material, I
think it's mandatory to get a 3rd party defragger. Let me put it
simply--defragging helps speed your PC significantly if done regularly. I
noticed that in the http://oca.microsoft.com hang errors explanations that
no mention is made of degragmentation and its vaule, but a number of off the
wall causes for hang are mentioned.

3) You can use Perfect Disk www.raxco.com but in order to do it you have to
patch the MSI or the installer with ORCA from the platform SDK.

Either of these two is light years better than anything XP or Vista ships
with and it is important--it's not in the frill category.

CH
 
You probably have removable drives like a zip drive or a card reader. These
all have to be disconnected in order to guarantee the system is on C:. It
probably isn't a big problem for you like it might have been with Win9x/ME.
 
This is the first time it has ever happened to me. As I mentioned, my first
install of Vista to my N partition was showing as N in Vista.

Joe
 
So, what you are saying is that if I boot to XP and install Vista through
XP, Vista will see Partition N and recognize it as partition N when I boot
to Vista.

Am I understanding you correctly?

Joe
 
IC - thanks.

Joe

if you install by booting from DVD, vista STEALS "C" drive letter.
if you install by running the setup from another OS, then VISTA takes the
drive letter you assign.

file a complaint with ms on this behavior. many others have done so already.
maybe enough will do to make them chance this bhavior.

AND NO IT IS NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR.


(e-mail address removed)

Hi - I reinstalled Vista on my multi-boot (98SE - XP Pro SP2 - Vista Beta 2
Build 5384) computer. The partition I have for Vista is labeled N.

When I originally installed Vista to N, Vista correctly reported that it was
installed on the N partition. Windows XP and Partition Magic 8 also report
that Vista is installed on N.

However, since the reinstallation, Vista is now reporting that it is on the
C partition, even though XP and Partition Magic 8 are reporting it as being
installed on the N partition.

When I reinstalled Vista (two times now), I selected N as the target
partition. It certainly can't be installed on my C partition because that
is only about 750MB in size. C partition holds the boot loader for all
three OSs, because that is where Windows dumps them.

Because Vista thinks it is on C, I can't change the drive letter using the
disk management tool even when I turn off pagefile.

Question: How can I change the drive letter within Vista to reflect its
proper location? How do I change it from C to N?

I am more than willing to reinstall Vista to get this corrected.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. I formatted my N partition with Partition Magic 8 - NTFS as I did when
I originally installed Vista.
 
Joe --

What you want to do is run your Vista setup from *within XP* (boot into XP
first) and that way your setup will see the drive letter assignments from XP
and preserve them in Vista--you will get the chance in the Vista setup to do
a type of browse to send Vista to your Partition N.

When you boot from the Vista DVD and run the setup, then setup is going to
read the disc order from your Bios.

Give it a shot.

CH
 
not over till code is finalized.

and IT IS NOT NORMAL
this is the first os that does this.
back from WINDOWS 1(ONE) this has never happened till vista.

just like search is being revised, so can this.



(e-mail address removed)



"Chad Harris" <Bushisamoron.net> wrote in message Yo Mikey--

The complaints were filed by the ton load yessiree by TBTs as soon as they
got their hands on setup and the setup team said it ain't changing; it's by
design and they explained and I recapitulated how you can control things two
ways already.

IT IS THEIR BEHAVIOR; THIS IS A BIG BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT BACK IN
JUNE -SEPTEMBER AND THE SETUP TEAM RESPONDED. HOW BOUT THEM BIG LETTERS. LOL

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT "NORMAL" BUT IT AINT' CHANGING--AND IT'S NOT UNIQUE TO
VISTA WHICH HAS BEEN STATED ABOUT 3000 TIMES ON THIS THREAD.

The setup team said this is the way they have it and are keeping it this way
about 9-10 months ago. File all the bugs you like. But it's long ago been
closed as a bug.

CH

if you install by booting from DVD, vista STEALS "C" drive letter.
if you install by running the setup from another OS, then VISTA takes the
drive letter you assign.

file a complaint with ms on this behavior. many others have done so already.
maybe enough will do to make them chance this bhavior.

AND NO IT IS NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR.



(e-mail address removed)



Hi - I reinstalled Vista on my multi-boot (98SE - XP Pro SP2 - Vista Beta
2
Build 5384) computer. The partition I have for Vista is labeled N.

When I originally installed Vista to N, Vista correctly reported that it
was
installed on the N partition. Windows XP and Partition Magic 8 also
report
that Vista is installed on N.

However, since the reinstallation, Vista is now reporting that it is on
the
C partition, even though XP and Partition Magic 8 are reporting it as
being
installed on the N partition.

When I reinstalled Vista (two times now), I selected N as the target
partition. It certainly can't be installed on my C partition because that
is only about 750MB in size. C partition holds the boot loader for all
three OSs, because that is where Windows dumps them.

Because Vista thinks it is on C, I can't change the drive letter using the
disk management tool even when I turn off pagefile.

Question: How can I change the drive letter within Vista to reflect its
proper location? How do I change it from C to N?

I am more than willing to reinstall Vista to get this corrected.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. I formatted my N partition with Partition Magic 8 - NTFS as I did
when
I originally installed Vista.
 
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