Vista install changes my drive letters

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mason
  • Start date Start date
M

Mason

Hi all-

I installed Vista Ultimate 64-bit onto a 250 GB hard disk which was
partitioned as follows:

c:\ - 32GB
d:\ - 50GB (Vista)
e:\ - 50GB (XP)
f:\ - 50GB (other)
g:\ - 50GB (other)

I had XP installed on E:\ and use the C:\ drive to hold the boot
configurations and my documents folders which are shared across OS installs.
I installed Vista by booting from the DVD and telling it to install to D:\.
This completed fine, but when I boot into Vista it assigns the OS drive as
C:\ and sets itself as boot partition. Because of this I cannot reassign
the drive to be D:\ as it should be or get the original C:\ to act as the
boot partition. Is there any way for me to reassign this drive (perhaps
from WinPE)? I would really like the drive assignments to match up to what
they were originally and to have them consistent across OS again.

Thanks,
Mason
 
Hi,

No, there is no way. First, you cannot change the drive letters assigned to
the system or boot volumes and second, Vista by design will always designate
it's boot volume as C:.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
 
Hi Mason--

Had you installed Vista by running it's setup on the XP drive, your drive
letters would not have changed--so you might note this for a future dual
boot. Once you setup though by restarting on a different drive, the BIOS is
going to dictate the drive letters and you'll have your present
configuration. When and if you boot to the XP drive, you'll have the drive
letters the way you want them but not on Vista.

Once you get used to it, it's no big deal.

This may be redundant for you, but I want to make sure you know you can
shortcut from your Vista desktop to your XP desktop and although you can't
access XP's OE but can merge Outlook easily, you can access any file or
folder on XP from Vista with a couple mouseclicks.

I have also noticed(Win Mail must have undergone some kind of change) that
what I send to Winmail on Vista now shows up in OE mail in XP.

If you're on the Vista desktop (let's say it is on C:\ drive), you can reach
the XP desktop by using

[XP Drive Letter]\Documents and Settings\Cheddarhead's Profile\Desktop

and from your XP Dsktop you can access Vista by using

[Vista Drive Letter]Users\Cheddarhead's Profile\Desktop

This may reduce your need to actually have to boot to XP which I do from
time to time to make sure the AV is running correctly, etc.

If a file is really important, I just drag it from the XP desktop to Vista's
desktop or any folder I want it in. Sometimes I move them around to
different drives if I want more space on one drive and the folder is large.

CH
 
Hey... don't get me involved in this ;)

Cheddarhead



Chad Harris said:
Hi Mason--

Had you installed Vista by running it's setup on the XP drive, your drive
letters would not have changed--so you might note this for a future dual
boot. Once you setup though by restarting on a different drive, the BIOS
is going to dictate the drive letters and you'll have your present
configuration. When and if you boot to the XP drive, you'll have the
drive letters the way you want them but not on Vista.

Once you get used to it, it's no big deal.

This may be redundant for you, but I want to make sure you know you can
shortcut from your Vista desktop to your XP desktop and although you can't
access XP's OE but can merge Outlook easily, you can access any file or
folder on XP from Vista with a couple mouseclicks.

I have also noticed(Win Mail must have undergone some kind of change) that
what I send to Winmail on Vista now shows up in OE mail in XP.

If you're on the Vista desktop (let's say it is on C:\ drive), you can
reach
the XP desktop by using

[XP Drive Letter]\Documents and Settings\Cheddarhead's Profile\Desktop

and from your XP Dsktop you can access Vista by using

[Vista Drive Letter]Users\Cheddarhead's Profile\Desktop

This may reduce your need to actually have to boot to XP which I do from
time to time to make sure the AV is running correctly, etc.

If a file is really important, I just drag it from the XP desktop to
Vista's
desktop or any folder I want it in. Sometimes I move them around to
different drives if I want more space on one drive and the folder is
large.

CH

Mason said:
Hi all-

I installed Vista Ultimate 64-bit onto a 250 GB hard disk which was
partitioned as follows:

c:\ - 32GB
d:\ - 50GB (Vista)
e:\ - 50GB (XP)
f:\ - 50GB (other)
g:\ - 50GB (other)

I had XP installed on E:\ and use the C:\ drive to hold the boot
configurations and my documents folders which are shared across OS
installs. I installed Vista by booting from the DVD and telling it to
install to D:\. This completed fine, but when I boot into Vista it
assigns the OS drive as C:\ and sets itself as boot partition. Because
of this I cannot reassign the drive to be D:\ as it should be or get the
original C:\ to act as the boot partition. Is there any way for me to
reassign this drive (perhaps from WinPE)? I would really like the drive
assignments to match up to what they were originally and to have them
consistent across OS again.

Thanks,
Mason
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
In
Mason said:
Hi all-

I installed Vista Ultimate 64-bit onto a 250 GB hard disk
which was
partitioned as follows:

c:\ - 32GB
d:\ - 50GB (Vista)
e:\ - 50GB (XP)
f:\ - 50GB (other)
g:\ - 50GB (other)

I had XP installed on E:\ and use the C:\ drive to hold the
boot
configurations and my documents folders which are shared
across OS
installs. I installed Vista by booting from the DVD and
telling it to
install to D:\. This completed fine, but when I boot into
Vista it
assigns the OS drive as C:\ and sets itself as boot
partition. Because of this I cannot reassign the drive to be
D:\ as it should be
or get the original C:\ to act as the boot partition. Is
there any
way for me to reassign this drive (perhaps from WinPE)? I
would
really like the drive assignments to match up to what they
were
originally and to have them consistent across OS again.
Thanks,
Mason
Click to expand...

Whenever I've created a multi boot configuration of XP and
Vista, I've been able to retain the drive letters assigned in
XP by starting the Vista installation from within Windows XP. I
used a Vista upgrade DVD and chose Custom (Advanced) when
offered that option. The next screen allows you to select the
drive where you want to install Vista. Here's what Vista sees
for drive letter assignment.

Vista Computer Management
http://home.comcast.net/~nepatsfan2005/CompMgmt.html

Hopefully, I've understood the nature of the problem you're
dealing with and what you're trying to accomplish. Bottom line
is that starting the Vista installation by booting from the DVD
results in Vista reassigning drive letters. Boot into XP and
start the Vista installation there.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
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