Wrong boot drive letter after install?

[Len Cuff]

Quick scenario -- friend's PC hard drive is giving up the ghost. I got
him a new 80Gb drive and installed it as the primary master with the
old drive as the primary slave.

Did a fresh install of XP Home but didn't take note that on the
install it claimed that after creating a 20Gb and a 60Gb parttion they
were F: and G:? (He has a CD drive and a DVD drive which were D and E)

Install went fine but when XP started, it is showing F: as the boot
drive.

OK thinks me, I'll go into disk management and sort them out. Big
mistake as it won't let me move the F: drive to C: saying it's the
boot drive. I can move all the other drives fine. So I am now left
with his drives starting at F: and going up from there.

Is there a fix or am I going to have to start all over again with the
2nd suspect drive disconnected until I've finished the install?

Help!!
TIA


cheers,
Len

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Drive Letters Change Unexpectedly When You Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326683&Product=winxp

You'll have to physically disconnect whatever drive is shown as the current C: drive,
perform a "clean install", then reconnect that drive.

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

7. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Quick scenario -- friend's PC hard drive is giving up the ghost. I got
| him a new 80Gb drive and installed it as the primary master with the
| old drive as the primary slave.
|
| Did a fresh install of XP Home but didn't take note that on the
| install it claimed that after creating a 20Gb and a 60Gb parttion they
| were F: and G:? (He has a CD drive and a DVD drive which were D and E)
|
| Install went fine but when XP started, it is showing F: as the boot
| drive.
|
| OK thinks me, I'll go into disk management and sort them out. Big
| mistake as it won't let me move the F: drive to C: saying it's the
| boot drive. I can move all the other drives fine. So I am now left
| with his drives starting at F: and going up from there.
|
| Is there a fix or am I going to have to start all over again with the
| 2nd suspect drive disconnected until I've finished the install?
|
| Help!!
| TIA
|
|
| cheers,
| Len