Is it possible to change the drive letter on the system drive?

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This is similar to, but slightly different from a previous post. In a
newly-built system, with two drives (one IDE and one SATA), I installed a
virgin copy of WinXP Pro on an SATA drive, but Windows configured this as the
I drive (the IDE drive has four partitions, and I have two CD drives). If I
disconnect the other drive, is there any easy way, short of re-installing, to
change the WinXP Pro configuration information from I to C (i.e., through the
Recovery Console or some other utility)? As has already been stated, the
normal drive re-assignment procedure doesn't work on the system drive. I was
several hourss into software installation when I discovered this, and I would
prefer not to re-install everything if I can avoid it, but if no one has any
better suggestios, I will bite the bullet and do a complete re-installation.
 
Robert Williams said:
This is similar to, but slightly different from a previous post. In a
newly-built system, with two drives (one IDE and one SATA), I installed a
virgin copy of WinXP Pro on an SATA drive, but Windows configured this as the
I drive (the IDE drive has four partitions, and I have two CD drives). If I
disconnect the other drive, is there any easy way, short of re-installing, to
change the WinXP Pro configuration information from I to C (i.e., through the
Recovery Console or some other utility)? As has already been stated, the
normal drive re-assignment procedure doesn't work on the system drive. I was
several hourss into software installation when I discovered this, and I would
prefer not to re-install everything if I can avoid it, but if no one has any
better suggestios, I will bite the bullet and do a complete re-installation.
Click to expand...

I see no mention of where you attempted to re-assign the drive letter. What are
you referencing as "the normal drive re-assignment procedure"?

Click Start > Run, type in: diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.
Right click on a volume/partition and click "Change drive letter and paths..." in the
popup menu.
Click the "Change" button.
Make sure "Assign the following drive letter" is selected.
Select an available drive letter in the dropdown list.
You may need to juggle letters to make available the letter you want to use.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
message
Click to expand...


Brian A. said:
I see no mention of where you attempted to re-assign the drive letter.
What are you referencing as "the normal drive re-assignment procedure"?

Click Start > Run, type in: diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.
Right click on a volume/partition and click "Change drive letter and
paths..." in the popup menu.
Click the "Change" button.
Make sure "Assign the following drive letter" is selected.
Select an available drive letter in the dropdown list.
You may need to juggle letters to make available the letter you want to
use.
--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Click to expand...


(In another later message by Robert using a slightly different subject-line,
he states...)

Robert Williams said:
This is similar to, but somewhat different from a previous post. Just
installed a virgin copy of WinXPPro on a home-built computer with one SATA
and one IDE drive (with multiple partitions on the IDE drive). BIOS was
set to look for the SATA drive first; however, when the install on the
SATA drive had been completed, the system drive was designated as "I". If
I temporarily disconnect the IDE drive, is there a relatively easy way of
re-configuring the system to "C" without doing a complete re-install? The
standard Windows re-assignment procedure can't be used on a system drive.
Can one use the Windows Recovery Console or some other utility instead? I
was several hours into software installation before I noticed this
problem. I would like to avoid doing a complete re-installation, but if
no one has any good suggestions, I will probably bite the bullet and
re-install everything.
Click to expand...


Robert:
I really don't know at this point of any practical way you can change the
boot/system HDD drive letter from I to C without performing a fresh install
of the OS onto the SATA HDD. Disk Management will not permit a change in the
drive letter assignment along those lines in this instance. Setting the
BIOS, as you did prior to undertaking the XP install, to select the SATA
HDD as first in the boot priority order before the PATA HDDs would not, in
itself, have created the system environment to establish the SATA HDD as the
C: drive. During the installation the OS would have recognized the current
drive assignment letters of your PATA HDDs including the one designated as
C: so that your SATA HDD would have been given a drive assignment letter
following the last one assigned to your other drives (including your optical
drive(s). Thus it received the I: designation.

Your only recourse would be to undertake a fresh install of the OS onto that
SATA HDD. In doing so it would be best to temporarily disconnect all other
storage devices from the system during the install process, including your
printer should it contain memory card readers that may have drive letters
assigned to them.

Now I should add that there have been some published hacks that supposedly
let one get around this situation by editing the registry, Frankly, it's
never worked for us.
Anna
 
Robert Williams said:
This is similar to, but slightly different from a previous post. In a
newly-built system, with two drives (one IDE and one SATA), I installed a
virgin copy of WinXP Pro on an SATA drive, but Windows configured this as the
I drive (the IDE drive has four partitions, and I have two CD drives). If I
disconnect the other drive, is there any easy way, short of re-installing, to
change the WinXP Pro configuration information from I to C (i.e., through the
Recovery Console or some other utility)? As has already been stated, the
normal drive re-assignment procedure doesn't work on the system drive. I was
several hourss into software installation when I discovered this, and I would
prefer not to re-install everything if I can avoid it, but if no one has any
better suggestios, I will bite the bullet and do a complete re-installation.
Click to expand...

If you decide to go forward with the article in the supplied link, you do so on
your own accord and take all responsibilities for any consequences that can occur.
Performing the steps in the article can make your system UNBOOTABLE with total data
loss.

How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q223188

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
(In another later message by Robert using a slightly different
subject-line, he states...)
Click to expand...



Anna said:
Robert:
I really don't know at this point of any practical way you can change the
boot/system HDD drive letter from I to C without performing a fresh
install of the OS onto the SATA HDD. Disk Management will not permit a
change in the drive letter assignment along those lines in this instance.
Setting the BIOS, as you did prior to undertaking the XP install, to
select the SATA HDD as first in the boot priority order before the PATA
HDDs would not, in itself, have created the system environment to
establish the SATA HDD as the C: drive. During the installation the OS
would have recognized the current drive assignment letters of your PATA
HDDs including the one designated as C: so that your SATA HDD would have
been given a drive assignment letter following the last one assigned to
your other drives (including your optical drive(s). Thus it received the
I: designation.

Your only recourse would be to undertake a fresh install of the OS onto
that SATA HDD. In doing so it would be best to temporarily disconnect all
other storage devices from the system during the install process,
including your printer should it contain memory card readers that may have
drive letters assigned to them.

Now I should add that there have been some published hacks that supposedly
let one get around this situation by editing the registry, Frankly, it's
never worked for us.
Anna
Click to expand...


Brian A. said:
If you decide to go forward with the article in the supplied link, you do
so on your own accord and take all responsibilities for any consequences
that can occur. Performing the steps in the article can make your system
UNBOOTABLE with total data loss.

How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q223188
Click to expand...


Pegasus said:
If your system drive letter used to be C: then you can safely do this:
Run regedit.exe, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices and
rename \DosDevices\I: to DosDevices\C:. If "C:" is already occupied,
delete it first. You must reboot the machine for the change to take
effect.
Click to expand...


Brian & Pegasus:
I'm familiar with that MS KB article since it's an oft-cited source that
allegedly can resolve the problem raised by the OP. However, our experience
in invoking those registry changes enumerated in that KB article has been
less than satisfactory, to put it mildly.

Let me say at the outset that in the majority of cases where we experienced
the basic problem of a HDD receiving a drive letter assignment other than
C:, it occurred because of a faulty disk cloning operation, i.e., the user
failed to disconnect his or her source disk following the disk cloning
operation and immediately booted to the source disk while the newly-cloned
drive was present. As you probably know, this can sometimes (but not always)
result in a situation where the newly-cloned drive will be assigned a drive
letter other than C: and thereafter will not boot when that drive is
*solely* connected to the system. So naturally the user desires to change
its drive letter to C:.

We have never been able to do this successfully following the process in the
KB article. Has your experience been different in this regard? As I
mentioned in my response to the OP we have come across other registry hacks
purported to effect this drive letter assignment change but none of them
have proven reliable in our experience.

In other cases that we've come across where the problem arose but wasn't a
result of the disk cloning situation referred to above - perhaps more
similar to what the OP experienced - we *were* able in some (but not all)
cases to effect a drive letter change to C: following the instructions in
the referenced KB article. But in virtually every case even when we did
achieve this initial success we found that the system proved unstable with
all sorts of anomalies & problems occurring in the future, to the point
where only a fresh install of the OS was a practical solution to this
dilemma. Again, has your experience been different in this regard?
Anna
 
Anna said:
Brian & Pegasus:
I'm familiar with that MS KB article since it's an oft-cited source that
allegedly can resolve the problem raised by the OP. However, our
experience in invoking those registry changes enumerated in that KB
article has been less than satisfactory, to put it mildly.

Let me say at the outset that in the majority of cases where we
experienced the basic problem of a HDD receiving a drive letter assignment
other than C:, it occurred because of a faulty disk cloning operation,
i.e., the user failed to disconnect his or her source disk following the
disk cloning operation and immediately booted to the source disk while the
newly-cloned drive was present. As you probably know, this can sometimes
(but not always) result in a situation where the newly-cloned drive will
be assigned a drive letter other than C: and thereafter will not boot when
that drive is *solely* connected to the system. So naturally the user
desires to change its drive letter to C:.

We have never been able to do this successfully following the process in
the KB article. Has your experience been different in this regard? As I
mentioned in my response to the OP we have come across other registry
hacks purported to effect this drive letter assignment change but none of
them have proven reliable in our experience.

In other cases that we've come across where the problem arose but wasn't a
result of the disk cloning situation referred to above - perhaps more
similar to what the OP experienced - we *were* able in some (but not all)
cases to effect a drive letter change to C: following the instructions in
the referenced KB article. But in virtually every case even when we did
achieve this initial success we found that the system proved unstable with
all sorts of anomalies & problems occurring in the future, to the point
where only a fresh install of the OS was a practical solution to this
dilemma. Again, has your experience been different in this regard?
Anna
Click to expand...

I have experienced the drive letter change on quite a few occasions
and always as a result of a disk cloning installation. I was able to fix
it each and every time, with no ill effect on the long-term stability.
In each case I made the registry change immediately after discovering
the problem.
 
Anna said:
Brian & Pegasus:
I'm familiar with that MS KB article since it's an oft-cited source that allegedly
can resolve the problem raised by the OP. However, our experience in invoking those
registry changes enumerated in that KB article has been less than satisfactory, to
put it mildly.

Let me say at the outset that in the majority of cases where we experienced the
basic problem of a HDD receiving a drive letter assignment other than C:, it
occurred because of a faulty disk cloning operation, i.e., the user failed to
disconnect his or her source disk following the disk cloning operation and
immediately booted to the source disk while the newly-cloned drive was present. As
you probably know, this can sometimes (but not always) result in a situation where
the newly-cloned drive will be assigned a drive letter other than C: and thereafter
will not boot when that drive is *solely* connected to the system. So naturally the
user desires to change its drive letter to C:.

We have never been able to do this successfully following the process in the KB
article. Has your experience been different in this regard? As I mentioned in my
response to the OP we have come across other registry hacks purported to effect
this drive letter assignment change but none of them have proven reliable in our
experience.

In other cases that we've come across where the problem arose but wasn't a result
of the disk cloning situation referred to above - perhaps more similar to what the
OP experienced - we *were* able in some (but not all) cases to effect a drive
letter change to C: following the instructions in the referenced KB article. But in
virtually every case even when we did achieve this initial success we found that
the system proved unstable with all sorts of anomalies & problems occurring in the
future, to the point where only a fresh install of the OS was a practical solution
to this dilemma. Again, has your experience been different in this regard?
Anna
Click to expand...

Anna,
It may not have worked for you, yet there are those that have reported it worked
for them although as noted in the article it should be avoided on a system drive,
especially if the drive letter is the assigned letter at install.
I caution against it and give due warning that there can be consequences, but if
someone feels it's worth a shot, it's their choice and their choice alone.

I personally take a different route if need be which has always worked for me in
the cloning scenario drive letter assignment. If it can't be cured using Acronis
Disk Director I'll wipe out all of the entries listed under Mounted Devices except
Default, all drives will then be re-enumerated upon reboot after each shutdown and
reconnection.

If things get rough there's other avenues to which I will take before performing a
total re-install which is the last on the list.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Brian A. said:
Anna,
It may not have worked for you, yet there are those that have reported it worked
for them although as noted in the article it should be avoided on a system drive,
especially if the drive letter is the assigned letter at install.
I caution against it and give due warning that there can be consequences, but if
someone feels it's worth a shot, it's their choice and their choice alone.

I personally take a different route if need be which has always worked for me in
the cloning scenario drive letter assignment. If it can't be cured using Acronis
Disk Director I'll wipe out all of the entries listed under Mounted Devices except
Default, all drives will then be re-enumerated upon reboot after each shutdown and
reconnection.

If things get rough there's other avenues to which I will take before performing a
total re-install which is the last on the list.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Click to expand...

Brian, Anna and Pegasus:
Thank you for your collective responses.

Brian, your first response was no help, since that procedure cannnot be used
on the Systm Drive. I do appreciate your referral to the Knowledge Base
article, but your warning and Anna's comments leave me disinclined to try
this (even though Pegasus has had great success with it. However, since this
was never the C drive, Pegasus' other suggestion doesn't seem to apply to my
situation.) Your suggestion about wiping out all entries under Mounted
Devices except Default has me intrigued. However, isn't the System Drive the
Default? I know how to re-assign all of the other drives, once I get this
mess straightened out, but will this procedure work for the System Drive. If
you indicate in a return message that you think it will, then I may try it.
However, on balance, and especially in light of Anna's comments, I will
probably save more time in the long run by re-installing WinXP Pro now,
rather than after spending additional hours with this or anther workaround,
and then finding that my system is unstable and has to be re-installed
anyway..
 
Robert Williams said:
Brian, Anna and Pegasus:
Thank you for your collective responses.

Brian, your first response was no help, since that procedure cannnot be used
on the Systm Drive.
Click to expand...

I later realized that after a second read of the Subject.

I do appreciate your referral to the Knowledge Base
article, but your warning and Anna's comments leave me disinclined to try
this (even though Pegasus has had great success with it. However, since this
was never the C drive, Pegasus' other suggestion doesn't seem to apply to my
situation.) Your suggestion about wiping out all entries under Mounted
Devices except Default has me intrigued. However, isn't the System Drive the
Default?
Click to expand...

If you have a look-see at the key: HKLM\System\MountedDevices, you will see that
(Default) has no Value set. As well you will see that with all of the main Hives,
Keys and Subkeys with exception to some which will contain a value.

I know how to re-assign all of the other drives, once I get this
mess straightened out, but will this procedure work for the System Drive. If
you indicate in a return message that you think it will, then I may try it.
However, on balance, and especially in light of Anna's comments, I will
probably save more time in the long run by re-installing WinXP Pro now,
rather than after spending additional hours with this or anther workaround,
and then finding that my system is unstable and has to be re-installed
anyway..
Click to expand...

Even though my mention of the process was in response to Anna's cloning scenario,
it can't hurt to try it with only the SATA drive connected after deleting the entries
and shutting down, if anything it will keep the same assignment. If the OS is on
another drive and not the SATA, it only matters that after shutting down you only
have the drive with the OS connected when you boot back up.

Personally, I myself would do it and then run a Repair Install only if needed. If
it still had issues I'd run Recovery Console to attempt fixing the MBR, however you
may not want to go that far after all of the time spent and a fresh format/install
would be the way to go. I'm a stickler when it comes to fixing a problem and won't
give up on any attempts for a solution until either the machine or myself crashes and
burns forcing a fresh install.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Brian A. said:
I later realized that after a second read of the Subject.

I do appreciate your referral to the Knowledge Base

If you have a look-see at the key: HKLM\System\MountedDevices, you will see that
(Default) has no Value set. As well you will see that with all of the main Hives,
Keys and Subkeys with exception to some which will contain a value.

I know how to re-assign all of the other drives, once I get this

Even though my mention of the process was in response to Anna's cloning scenario,
it can't hurt to try it with only the SATA drive connected after deleting the entries
and shutting down, if anything it will keep the same assignment. If the OS is on
another drive and not the SATA, it only matters that after shutting down you only
have the drive with the OS connected when you boot back up.

Personally, I myself would do it and then run a Repair Install only if needed. If
it still had issues I'd run Recovery Console to attempt fixing the MBR, however you
may not want to go that far after all of the time spent and a fresh format/install
would be the way to go. I'm a stickler when it comes to fixing a problem and won't
give up on any attempts for a solution until either the machine or myself crashes and
burns forcing a fresh install.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Click to expand...
A search of the Registry using
Run Regedit
Edit:Find "HKLM\System"
failed to find any entries. Any other suggestions?
 
HKLM = Hkey_Local_Machine

OK, got it and I will probably give it a try. However, I have one other
question before I commit. You mentioned Acronis Disk Director. I don't have
that, but I do have (but have not yet used) Acronis True Image Version 9.
Does that software package have the smarts to let me save an image to CD,
external USB drive or a jump drive, and restore to a different drive letter,
of does it merely make an image that can't be edited or altered during the
restore process?
 
Robert Williams said:
OK, got it and I will probably give it a try. However, I have one other
question before I commit. You mentioned Acronis Disk Director. I don't have
that, but I do have (but have not yet used) Acronis True Image Version 9.
Does that software package have the smarts to let me save an image to CD,
external USB drive or a jump drive, and restore to a different drive letter,
of does it merely make an image that can't be edited or altered during the
restore process?
Click to expand...

You can create an image to the HD, CD or "external drive AFAIK", check the manual
or help in the application for exacts on it. If you're asking that an image you
create on a volume other than C: can be restored to the C: volume, I would have to
say Yes. When restoring the image to a drive you should be asked if you want to
assign a drive letter, if C: is available then you would be able to select it from
the list.

I use ATI Enterprise Server and it states in help:
<quote>
You can restore data to their original location, to another folder or disk.
• Original location - backup files will be restored to their original location with
the same folder structure
• New location - backup files will be restored to the new location with the same file
structure.

Under Windows NT 4.0 SP6/2000/XP, Acronis True Image Enterprise Server will assign an
unused letter to a restored partition. You can select the desired letter. Under
Windows 9x/Me, this step is bypassed since letters are assigned automatically.You
should not assign letters to partitions inaccessible to Windows, such as to those
other than FAT and NTFS.To assign a letter to the partition:
• Choose Yes, I want to assign a logical drive letter to restored partition and
select the desired letter from a drop-down list.
If you set the switch to No , no letters will be assigned to the restored partition,
hiding it from OS.
</quote>

FYI, the image can not be restored to a volume that contains the image. If the
image happened to be on the same volume it would have to be moved to a different
volume.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
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