Hard Drive -- Drive Letter Issue

[s3pHiX]

Hey Guys,

Got a pretty simple question. I've seen on a few PC's that the HDD Drive letter is something other than C:, it's E: F: etc... I've tried going in through disk management in XP, and attempted to change the drive letter there, but have been unsuccessful. I was able to change the drive letter using Partition Magic 8.0, and I'm not a fan of it whatsoever. It changed the drive letter, but now the PC gets to the welcome screen of XP, and goes no further.

I was also wanting to know what other utility is out there other than Partition Magic 8.0 -- is there something that is better than this.

Any input on resolving this issue will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Edited May 17, 2007 by s3pHiX

[Ponch]

If Windows was installed to something else than the C drive, I'm afraid there is no easy way to change that.

Did you mean that or do you mean there is no C drive ( ???) or C is a CD rom or what ?

[TheFlash428]

If Windows was installed to something else than the C drive, I'm afraid there is no easy way to change that.

Did you mean that or do you mean there is no C drive ( ???) or C is a CD rom or what ?

Usually if it's something other than "C" it is because there is a utility partition (or the like) using that designation--I think that gets determined (but not positive) during the initial setup of the OS.

[Sonic]

If you boot on BartPE and load registry hive, you will find many "paths" looks for the old letter so you will have many errors ...

To pass logon, you can change (always from BartPE and with registry hive loaded) HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Winlogon\ userinit value

to YourLetter:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe,

By the way, I have had many systems that have C system partition "will become" (sorry for language fault ..) E or D for example.

No really problems after (it seems its Windows that's changed letter, with upgrading ou repair install perhaps ... )

but unable to properly re-set to C (even with many registry ...

[Yzöwl]

If you boot on BartPE and load registry hive

Just a quick note to let you know that RegistryEditorPE which is perfect for this task has, after over two years, a new version (v1.0a_Beta1).

[spacesurfer]

I would reinstall in this case making sure that no other devices are reserving drive letters. If setup does not make windows your c: drive, disconnect other HDD's.

If your HDD has multiple partitions and drive letters C:, D:, etc are already assigned, then before setup, use BartPE to reassign drive letters then run setup.

[bledd]

best option is to format again and disconnect all other usb and hard drives

otherwise you're bound to have a seriously borked registry