Changing Drive Letter Paths

[ezkim0x]

in the disk management under computer management .. I was trying to change one of my drive letters from G: to B:

I don't currently have anything set to B: . .for instance if I type that in and press enter there's no path found.. and if I scroll through the disk management it doesn't show B: for anything. however when I go to change the drive letter path it doesn't give me B: as an option. I tried restarting in safe mode, and tried there.. but it's still not showing.

does anybody know how I can change one of my hdds to B:

 

[RebateMonger]

Since DOS 1.0, B: has been reserved for floppy drives. As far as I know, that hasn't changed.

 

[ezkim0x]

I have B: assigned as a hdd on another computer.

it also gives me the option on my laptop.. which is running vista..

but not on the computer where i'm wanting to change it.. which is running winxp pro

http://i27.tinypic.com/axmyp0.jpg

 

[RebateMonger]

This Microsoft KB article says that A: and B: are reserved for floppy disk drives in XP. But it says that if your computer doesn't HAVE a floppy disk drive, then you can assign these letters to removable drives.

 

[ezkim0x]

hmm.. i'm going to try unplugging the floppy drive and starting it up.. then plug it back in and see what happens.


edit;
nope not showing.. when I try to setup a map network drive it shows B: as an available drive choice though. I don't know how I got it as a choice on my other PC for the hdds.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: ezkim0x
hmm.. i'm going to try unplugging the floppy drive and starting it up..

You might have to completely delete the floppy drive in the BIOS, too, if there's an option for that.

I'm running XP and have a floppy drive installed as A:. I see the option of using B: for a mapped network drive, but no option for using B: to name a CD-ROM drive or, presumably, a fixed hard drive.

It's also possible that very recent BIOSes report the floppy drive situation differently to the OS than older BIOSes do.

 

[jackschmittusa]

lol

I still have a 5½" floppy in one of my rigs. Probably once a year, somebody pays me to copy stuff from old floppys to a cd.

 

[networkman]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
lol

I still have a 5½" floppy in one of my rigs. Probably once a year, somebody pays me to copy stuff from old floppys to a cd.

More likely it's a 5.25" drive. 😉

To the op: One thing you can do in XP(and other O/S versions) is use the SUBST command to assign a sub-folder or drive to B:; it doesn't address your issue exactly, but might be handy to know. The SUBST'd drive will even show in Explorer looking like a real drive.

 

[EQTitan]

Originally posted by: networkman

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
lol

I still have a 5½" floppy in one of my rigs. Probably once a year, somebody pays me to copy stuff from old floppys to a cd.

More likely it's a 5.25" drive. 😉

To the op: One thing you can do in XP(and other O/S versions) is use the SUBST command to assign a sub-folder or drive to B:; it doesn't address your issue exactly, but might be handy to know. The SUBST'd drive will even show in Explorer looking like a real drive.

Have you tried turning off the floppy drive in the BIOS?

On your other systems was the drive letter you were trying to change also your recovery partition? As it is in this case.

I still have 5.25 floppies and an external 5.25 disk reader they mainly have voice synth software from wayyyyy back in the day

 

[jackschmittusa]

networkman

You are absolutely correct, 5¼" drive. Must have had a brain-fart.

First thing that goes with old age is the memory. I forget what the second one is.