Drive letter change

[Rychster]

Hi,

I recently copied my drive to a new one and I've been having problems
getting the newly copied drive to be the boot up C drive. The drive I
copied from was C and now is the slave. The drive I copied to was D and now
is the master. I swapped them around wanting to eventually format and clean
the old C drive that is now the slave.

My problem is that the newly copied D drive that is now the master will not
change to C using the Windows disk manager. It says it cannot change the
system drive designation. I since changed the slave drive letter to G with
success.

Will TweakUI do this? I don't have it installed but was unsure. Do I need
to remove the G drive and repair windows so that it can make D the C?

Please help.

Thanks

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Rychster,

You cannot change the drive letter that Windows assigns to the system
partition unless it was inadvertantly changed, but as it was originally "C"
on the other drive, this may work. Be aware that if it does not, your system
will likely be a) unbootable and b) require at least a repair installation.

This procedure was written for Win2000, but the same steps apply, use
regedit where it refers to regedit32:

HOW TO: Change the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows [Q223188]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=223188

Before restarting the system, I recommend that you check the location of
boot.ini and its contents to ensure it is pointing correctly. It should be
on the newly renamed "C" and pointing at that disk and partition.

In case it's needed:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

On Fri, 3 Oct 2003 06:34:45 -0400, "Rychster"

|Hi,
|
|I recently copied my drive to a new one and I've been having problems
|getting the newly copied drive to be the boot up C drive. The drive I
|copied from was C and now is the slave. The drive I copied to was D and now
|is the master. I swapped them around wanting to eventually format and clean
|the old C drive that is now the slave.
|
|My problem is that the newly copied D drive that is now the master will not
|change to C using the Windows disk manager. It says it cannot change the
|system drive designation. I since changed the slave drive letter to G with
|success.
|
|Will TweakUI do this?
Dont think so.


|Do I need to remove the G drive and repair windows so that it can make D the C?
I'd remove G from IDE (note where 1 pin is) & reboot.
If it fails, some errors u can fix with PM8. U may not
have MBR on new C - dont know what u used to do copy.
Once new C works, u can reformat old c in DOS or XP, I
think. I use FAT32 - NTFS may have more bells &
whistles.

HTH - Larry

Any advice given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS. Personal attacks, nitpicking & criticism
of anything but content will NOT be responded to. Those
posters should spend their time taking the test @
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/ocdtrt1.htm

 

[Gari]

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

I recently copied my drive to a new one and I've been having problems
getting the newly copied drive to be the boot up C drive. The drive I
copied from was C and now is the slave. The drive I copied to was D and now
is the master. I swapped them around wanting to eventually format and clean
the old C drive that is now the slave.

My problem is that the newly copied D drive that is now the master will not
change to C using the Windows disk manager. It says it cannot change the
system drive designation. I since changed the slave drive letter to G with
success.

Will TweakUI do this? I don't have it installed but was unsure. Do I need
to remove the G drive and repair windows so that it can make D the C?

Please help.

Thanks


.
I have also encountered this problem, the solution that

I came up with destroyed all my data and the system still
won't work right, it has to do with left over system
files, the only way to get rid of them is by formatting
the suspect drive,and reinstalling and reactivating XP
through their tedious activation program that then sends
you to a telephone exchange that isn't working or go to
the store and purchase windows 98, or some other tried
and true OS that dosen't make you jump through hoops to
activate it a second or third time.

 

[Rychster]

Thanks for all your help. It turns out that the system is very unstable and
I have to reformat anyway. Oh well, another few hours lost.