Incorrect drive lettering

[zakiwis]

I'm trying to format my C: drive from my windows xp cd. When I boot my
computer up from and go all the way through the option till where it askes
which drive or partition to install windows it has all the dirves lettered
incorecctly. Calling my current C: drive, where windows is currently
installed, D: where C: is a partition on a completly different drive.

If I was to go ahead with the install where C: is supposed to be, that is
what is lettered D:, then when windows is finished installing and loaded up,
explorer thinks it is installed on D: drive and and wont let me re-letter the
drive back to C: as it is the one that contains the O/S.

Currently, before format and re-install, 'disk management' has the drives
correctly lettered. So I'm puzzled as to why the windows xp setup changes
the order of the drive letteres.

Any help will be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Jacques

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm trying to format my C: drive from my windows xp cd. When I boot my
computer up from and go all the way through the option till where it askes
which drive or partition to install windows it has all the dirves lettered
incorecctly. Calling my current C: drive, where windows is currently
installed, D: where C: is a partition on a completly different drive.

If I was to go ahead with the install where C: is supposed to be, that is
what is lettered D:, then when windows is finished installing and loaded up,
explorer thinks it is installed on D: drive and and wont let me re-letter the
drive back to C: as it is the one that contains the O/S.

That's correct. You can change the drive letter of any drive except
the one Windows is installed on.

But note that, other than it's being unusual, there's really no
downside to Windows being on D: or any other drive. It doesn't have to
be on C:, and it works just as well on D: I happen to have it
installed on F: here.

The reason it's on D: is that some other drive has grabbed the letter
C:. If you want to change it, disconnect that other drive, and
reinstall Windows.

 

[zakiwis]

Thanks for your response Ken

I do know that it doesnt really affect what the drive letter is called, I'm
just one that like things to stay the way they are.
When you spoke about disconeccting my other drive and then formatting my
main one, it occured to me that I might have the drives set up incorrectly as
in which is slave and which is master. Would that have something to do with
the automatic drive lettering?

Jacques