Changing system volume drive letter

[Ted Telesky]

While trying to upgrade the hard drive in my laptop, I
have managed to get both the old and new drive to boot up
as "E" now instead of "C" - so nothing wants to run
properly as the original drive with all the files
was "C". Nowhere in Windows XP can I change the system
drive letter - is there a way to do this?
Thanks
Ted

 

[Guest]

Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter
Make a full system backup of the computer and system
state.
Log on as an Administrator.
Start Regedt32.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Click MountedDevices.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
Check to make sure Administrators have full control.
Change this back when you are finished with these steps.
Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look
for "\DosDevices\C:".
Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.

NOTE: You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename
this registry key.
Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:".
(This will free up drive letter C: to be used later.)
Find the drive letter you want changed. Look
for "\DosDevices\D:".
Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename.
Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive
letter "\DosDevices\C:".
Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and
then name it back to "\DosDevices\D:".
Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.
Change the permissions back to the previous setting for
Administrators (this should probably be Read Only).
Restart the computer

 

[Ted Telesky]

I did this, and then when I rebooted, I got an error
message that Windows could bot reverify the program key,
so I am re-installign Windows.

But one question - I do not want to keep the drive
at "E". The physical drive is removed now, and I left
the entry as "Z"... can I just delete this entry in the
registry or just leave it?

Thanks for your help.
Ted