Vista Drive Letter Question

[Joe727]

Hi - I reinstalled Vista on my multi-boot (98SE - XP Pro SP2 - Vista Beta 2
Build 5384) computer. The partition I have for Vista is labeled N.

When I originally installed Vista to N, Vista correctly reported that it was
installed on the N partition. Windows XP and Partition Magic 8 also report
that Vista is installed on N.

However, since the reinstallation, Vista is now reporting that it is on the
C partition, even though XP and Partition Magic 8 are reporting it as being
installed on the N partition.

When I reinstalled Vista (two times now), I selected N as the target
partition. It certainly can't be installed on my C partition because that
is only about 750MB in size. C partition holds the boot loader for all
three OSs, because that is where Windows dumps them.

Because Vista thinks it is on C, I can't change the drive letter using the
disk management tool even when I turn off pagefile.

Question: How can I change the drive letter within Vista to reflect its
proper location? How do I change it from C to N?

I am more than willing to reinstall Vista to get this corrected.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. I formatted my N partition with Partition Magic 8 - NTFS as I did when
I originally installed Vista.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

1. The drive letters are relative to the operating system. What may be "C:"
to one is something else to another.

2. What difference does it make?

Hi - I reinstalled Vista on my multi-boot (98SE - XP Pro SP2 - Vista Beta 2
Build 5384) computer. The partition I have for Vista is labeled N.

When I originally installed Vista to N, Vista correctly reported that it was
installed on the N partition. Windows XP and Partition Magic 8 also report
that Vista is installed on N.

However, since the reinstallation, Vista is now reporting that it is on the
C partition, even though XP and Partition Magic 8 are reporting it as being
installed on the N partition.

When I reinstalled Vista (two times now), I selected N as the target
partition. It certainly can't be installed on my C partition because that
is only about 750MB in size. C partition holds the boot loader for all
three OSs, because that is where Windows dumps them.

Because Vista thinks it is on C, I can't change the drive letter using the
disk management tool even when I turn off pagefile.

Question: How can I change the drive letter within Vista to reflect its
proper location? How do I change it from C to N?

I am more than willing to reinstall Vista to get this corrected.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. I formatted my N partition with Partition Magic 8 - NTFS as I did when
I originally installed Vista.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

This is normal behavior. Do NOT play with the drive letters thinking to
make both system volumes "C:" as viewed from either system. Neither OS
needs to have a gestalt of the computer as you do.

 

[Rick]

I would like to see this question both answered
and corrected. For some reason the powers to be
decided that Vista should recognize the drive or
partition is has booted into should always be C:

Personally, I feel this is not something the OS
should dictate. If I want to install to E:
Drive, then that's where I want it to be when I
boot my system. My dual boot XP & x64 is that
way - XP on C: and x64 on E:, and that's the way
it shows up in the Windows Explorer regardless
of which OS I boot into.

On my Vista system, it started out that way. I
installed x86 to the 1st partition and it was
C:. When I booted the x64, it indicated it was
installing to E:. After it was all done Vista
changed it. when I boot x64, it comes up as C:,
x86 as D;, and DVD as E:. When I boot x86, it
comes up as C:, x64 as D:, and DVD as E:.

I do not like the OS deciding what is "best" for
me! I want to setup my system the way I want it!!

Why not just do away with drive letters and
mount volumes like Unix and Linux?

 

[Kerry Brown]

I would like to see this question both answered
and corrected. For some reason the powers to be
decided that Vista should recognize the drive or
partition is has booted into should always be C:

Personally, I feel this is not something the OS
should dictate. If I want to install to E:
Drive, then that's where I want it to be when I
boot my system. My dual boot XP & x64 is that
way - XP on C: and x64 on E:, and that's the way
it shows up in the Windows Explorer regardless
of which OS I boot into.

On my Vista system, it started out that way. I
installed x86 to the 1st partition and it was
C:. When I booted the x64, it indicated it was
installing to E:. After it was all done Vista
changed it. when I boot x64, it comes up as C:,
x86 as D;, and DVD as E:. When I boot x86, it
comes up as C:, x64 as D:, and DVD as E:.

I do not like the OS deciding what is "best" for
me! I want to setup my system the way I want it!!

Why not just do away with drive letters and
mount volumes like Unix and Linux?

You have hit on one answer. Give all your drives Volume Names like
XPInstall, VistaInstall, Data, USBBackup, etc. then the drive letter is
superfluous.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

This is not confined to Vista. If is expected behavior in other versions of
Windows as well.

 

[Todd]

I have named my two boot drives/partitions "Windows 2000" and "Windows
Vista". It helps a lot.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

I always name them stuff like "Fred" or "Dirt."


I have named my two boot drives/partitions "Windows 2000" and "Windows
Vista". It helps a lot.

 

[Rick]

Vista is the first time I have experienced this.
Previous version of Windows, that I have
installed, did not appear with a different drive
letter after installation than what I expected.

 

[Rick]

As far as the partition volume names are
concerned, they are Vista x86 and Vista x64.
But I still don't like the OS deciding what the
drive letters should be after I have selected a
drive letter I want at install time.

 

[John Barnes]

If you want the drive letters as you want them, you need to learn the way
they are enumerated and then the first time you bring up one of your
installations have the drives configured so that the letter you want will be
assigned. Since you can change all except the boot or system drive letters
those letters are irrelevant

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

As I said it is not unusual for Windows in multi-boot scenarios. It is
expected behavior.

If you think it looks confusing now, try multibooting XP Pro, XP Pro x64,
Vista x86 and Vista x64 on the same box. You might somehow work out a
scheme for dual-booting before the beta ended, but you would still be
fiddling with a quad-boot scheme long after Vista rtm's.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I have seen it often. It is a cosmetic issue only detected by the user.
The currently running OS doesn't give a hoot about it.

 

[Rick]

You apparently read what I said, John.

I had made 2 partitions on my hard drive. when
I booted the Vista x86 DVD, I selected C: drive
(1st partition) and it installed to C:. When I
booted Vista x64, I selected E: drive (it should
I had C: & E: available. D: was the DVD).
After the installation was complete (to E:
Drive) Vista x64 showed it was now C: drive when
it booted, not E:.

Read my 3rd paragraph on how I tried to set up
my system. You advise may or may not be what I
was trying to do, but Microsoft decided my drive
should be the way they wanted it!

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You can even see this behavior without a multiboot scenario. Re-installing
Windows on a system with a zip or other removable drive (without first
disconnecting it) can produce a system drive letter like H: or N:.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

That's because C: and E: are not device names. They are logical names.

 

[Rick]

Correction to 1st sentence: You apparently did
not read what I said, John.

 

[Rick]

I get the feeling we are not on the same sheet
of music. And, if that is so, we will never be
in harmony.

Your responses don't seem to correlate to what I
have expounded on. When I booted from the x64
DVD, my choices of where to install were shown
as C: drive and E: drive. I already had x86 on
C: so I select to install to E:. However, Vista
x64 tells me it is on C: drive when I boot in
x64, not E: drive as I told it to go to.

When I installed my Win x64, I had the same
scenario and I selected to install Win x64 to E:
drive. It indicates it is E: drive when I boot
my system to Win x64, not C:!

How much clearly can I explain what has happened?

 

[John Barnes]

Colin's right. You can go to Knowledge base article Q234048 and read the
enumeration, then connect up the drives and partitions in a way that will
have the right letter assigned to the system the first time it is booted
(new installation) To get an os to be assigned as E it would have to be the
third partition in the enumerating order. Takes some playing around with
drive order in the bios and activating partitions correctly, but if you
follow the order in the article and plan it out, works fine. Remember to
get your boot files on the first drive active partition before starting up
the new system.

 

[Chad Harris]

If you boot the box from Vista DVD, setup sees drive letters in bios, and
assigns drive letters from the BIOS. If you run the Vista setup from Within
XP, setup will see the partition letters assigned within XP and migrate/use
them for Vista.

CH