Hard Drive Letter assignment

xAkirax2004

xAkirax2004

2,932
Hey guys, I finished building a computer for a friend of mine, and when I was hooking it up, I hooked up his printer that has a card reader on it (HP PSC 1315) So, when I was installin windows on the Hard drive, It labeled the Hard drive to "E:" And labeled the Card reader on the printer to "C:" At first I didnt think it was a problem, Untile I started installing some stuff. Aparently, the conclusion I can draw is that some installer programs Like the C: drive and selects it by default in the .ini file. And of course, it cannot find it, therefore giving me Low space errors and C: drive not found errors.

I've tried formatting with the USB cable (the one that created the "C:" drive in the first place) but it dosent work. I'm stumped right now...Can anyone help me?

The HD is a Maxtor Diamondmax 160gb SATA
 
The only thing i can think of is a reformat.

But wait until you hear some other replies before you do that!
 
It's not recommended to change the system drive letter...I'd leave it how it is if I were you. Any windows installer should allow you to change the path (e.g. from C:\... to E:\...), just go into "Custom" or "advanced installation". Also, some viruses/trojans/hack tools work by assuming windows is installed on C drive, so you're slightly more secure now too :)
 
Under Start>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management do the following:

1. Right-Click the drive you wish to change the drive letter on.
2. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..."
3. Click Change.
4. Select the new drive letter.
5. Click Ok.

Note: I did not do this because I have my drives setup correctly. I have no idea how this will affect the boot drive either if you are going to change it's letter.

I hope that helps.
 
Matrixhasu77
Under Start>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management do the following:

1. Right-Click the drive you wish to change the drive letter on.
2. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..."
3. Click Change.
4. Select the new drive letter.
5. Click Ok.

Note: I did not do this because I have my drives setup correctly. I have no idea how this will affect the boot drive either if you are going to change it's letter.

I hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Personally, I really wouldn't do this, but it's up to you if you want to...
 
amp88
Personally, I really wouldn't do this, but it's up to you if you want to...
Click to expand...

Yeah, neither would I considering he's wanting to change the boot drive letter. Changing a drive letter can royally mess things up anyhow.
 
I'm guessing that you had the printer on and plugged into the computer while you were installing windows, and that would be your mistake.
 
The solution Matrixhasu77 posted is correct. It will not mess the boot partition because drive letters are only actually assigned for the benefit of users and programs. The boot partition is located by the description within the Protected OS File boot.ini. Here is mine:
Code: 
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

As you can see, it references the partition by using the interface/disk/partition location, not by using a drive letter.
 
VTGT07
I'm guessing that you had the printer on and plugged into the computer while you were installing windows, and that would be your mistake.
Click to expand...


Bingo. I formatted correctly this time. I couldnt get the system to boot off of the Cd at first, and what I did was that booted up to windows, and I would start the install through Windows, which was was wrong. So, I changed the boot order, reformatted without the printer cable, and behold, she works.
 
GilesGuthrie
The solution Matrixhasu77 posted is correct. It will not mess the boot partition because drive letters are only actually assigned for the benefit of users and programs. The boot partition is located by the description within the Protected OS File boot.ini. Here is mine:
Code: 
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

As you can see, it references the partition by using the interface/disk/partition location, not by using a drive letter.
Click to expand...

If you try to change the drive letter of the boot partition you get the error:

"Windows can't change the drive letter of your boot volume" (paraphrasing).

I don't know if you could perhaps do it in safe mode, but I can't do it to mine in normal operation. Even if you were able to change it, I don't know whether any registry entries associated with the old drive letter would be modified in line with the change (if not, the PC would start functioning very strangely indeed (if at all)).
 

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