Hard Drive Letter Problem

When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard drive the
letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the letter "C" instead of
"D". This can't be changed under Administrative Tools. Anybody have any
ideas how to reassign the correct letters without doing another clean
install?

Paul J. Veres

Paul J. Veres wrote:

> When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard drive the
> letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the letter "C" instead of
> "D". This can't be changed under Administrative Tools. Anybody have any
> ideas how to reassign the correct letters without doing another clean
> install?
>
>

If it truly can't be changed then your only option is a clean install.
But frankly I'm pretty sure that it can be changed-but I don't have an
XP system available here to check it on.

In Win2K I need to right-click on the partition to get the 'Change Drive
Letter & Path' option. Are you sure that you're checking the right place
when you say that it can't be changed?

Calvin Crumrine wrote:
> Paul J. Veres wrote:
>
>> When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard
>> drive the letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the
>> letter "C" instead of "D". This can't be changed under
>> Administrative Tools. Anybody have any ideas how to reassign the
>> correct letters without doing another clean install?
>>
>>
>
> If it truly can't be changed then your only option is a clean install.
> But frankly I'm pretty sure that it can be changed-but I don't have an
> XP system available here to check it on.
>
> In Win2K I need to right-click on the partition to get the 'Change
> Drive Letter & Path' option. Are you sure that you're checking the
> right place when you say that it can't be changed?

No the system drive cannot be changed without re-installing. My
suggestion for the next install would be to not plug in any hard drives
but the one used for Windows. Unplug them all (you can leave them in
the case), and install windows, once everything is set up (and it should
have C as the main drive now) then you can plug back in all the extra
stuff, and assign any drive letters you want.

--
Night_Seer

"Night_Seer" <ecamacho4 at hotmail dot com> wrote in
news:aM2dnft6apPF94zdRVn-:

> No the system drive cannot be changed without re-installing. My
> suggestion for the next install would be to not plug in any hard drives
> but the one used for Windows. Unplug them all (you can leave them in
> the case), and install windows, once everything is set up (and it should
> have C as the main drive now) then you can plug back in all the extra
> stuff, and assign any drive letters you want.

This is true. I saw this happen during one of my classes. We have
removable drives, mine had 2000 Professional on one partition, Linux, and
2000 Server at the end. 2000 Server is "E:", and that can't be changed, as
it is the system drive.

--
AIM: FrznFoodClerk
email: de_on-lag@co_cast.net (_ = m)
website: under construction
Need a technician in the south Jersey area?
email/IM for rates/services

Reinstall XP, formatting the drive first, and make sure you DO NOT have the
old c: drive connected when you first boot the system to XP. After you have
XP fully installed, and up and running, then shut down and connect the old
drive. The problem is that the XP install saw the old drive and it doesn't
like to change the letter designation when it sees an existing C: drive,
even if you are installing XP on the primary drive and the old drive is the
secondary during the installation. You have to get XP up and running first,
then connect the old drive to prevent that behavior. It happened to me
before.


...
"Paul J. Veres" <> wrote in message
news:TcdQb.33344$P% gy.com...
> When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard drive
the
> letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the letter "C" instead
of
> "D". This can't be changed under Administrative Tools. Anybody have any
> ideas how to reassign the correct letters without doing another clean
> install?
>
>

Take a look at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q223188

I'm not sure if it'll work for your situation, but I've had to do similiar in
the past, but under different circumstances.

Good luck,
Ken Williams

(Remove .zz when replying.)

"Paul J. Veres" wrote:

> When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard drive the
> letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the letter "C" instead of
> "D". This can't be changed under Administrative Tools. Anybody have any
> ideas how to reassign the correct letters without doing another clean
> install?

Night_Seer wrote:

> Calvin Crumrine wrote:
>
>>Paul J. Veres wrote:
>>
>>
>>>When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard
>>>drive the letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the
>>>letter "C" instead of "D". This can't be changed under
>>>Administrative Tools. Anybody have any ideas how to reassign the
>>>correct letters without doing another clean install?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>If it truly can't be changed then your only option is a clean install.
>>But frankly I'm pretty sure that it can be changed-but I don't have an
>>XP system available here to check it on.
>>
>>In Win2K I need to right-click on the partition to get the 'Change
>>Drive Letter & Path' option. Are you sure that you're checking the
>>right place when you say that it can't be changed?
>
>
> No the system drive cannot be changed without re-installing. My
> suggestion for the next install would be to not plug in any hard drives
> but the one used for Windows. Unplug them all (you can leave them in
> the case), and install windows, once everything is set up (and it should
> have C as the main drive now) then you can plug back in all the extra
> stuff, and assign any drive letters you want.
>

Damn! I keep forgetting that exception. And, naturally, every time I
test this I choose a secondary drive to check it on. (Why would I screw
up my production system by changing the boot drive?)

Ken Williams wrote:
> Take a look at:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q223188
>
> I'm not sure if it'll work for your situation, but I've had to do
> similiar in the past, but under different circumstances.
>
> Good luck,
> Ken Williams
>
> (Remove .zz when replying.)
>
> "Paul J. Veres" wrote:
>
>> When I installed WinXP Pro to my system, it assigned my first hard
>> drive the letter "E" instead of "C" and my second hard drive the
>> letter "C" instead of "D". This can't be changed under
>> Administrative Tools. Anybody have any ideas how to reassign the
>> correct letters without doing another clean install?

Keep in mind that doing something like this, AFTER installing programs
to the Windows D: drive, will screw up all the programs you just
installed, and might screw up windows programs. Your better off
re-installing.

--
Night_Seer