help! changing system drive letter in xp?

[spanky]

hello folks. i need some help. here is what happened. i formatted the hd and reinstalled the os on this guy's laptop, and everything appeared to go pretty smooth. now... after i get into windows, i realize that all programs being installed, are in the path "E:\program files..." first i thought, why is this being installed to the zip drive? then i opened windows explorer and realized that the system drive letter is "E:". the hd only has one partition. "C:" is being occupied by the zip drive, & "D:" is being occupied by the cd-rom. i right click on my computer and go to manage, and in there, i can change the drive letters for the zip drive and the cd-rom drive, but it will not let me change the drive letter for the system partition. does anyone know of another way i can change the drive letter of my system partition? are there some registry entries i need to tweak? any 3rd party software that will do the trick? i'd greatly appreacite your help. thanx!

-spanky

 

[corkyg]

If the Zip is C: and the CD ROM is D:, that would suggest something is haywire. I would try this -

1. Remove the Zip drive so it is gone.

2. Remove the CD ROM drive. Physically if it is modular.

3. Then reboot and see if the OS then claims C:.

4. If it does, then add back the CD ROM so it is D and lastly, the Zip so it is E.

 

[SemperFi]

There is a Microsoft knoledgebase article on this on 2000. Here

Semper Fi

 

[Kovu]

http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q223188#2 is the actual fix, but I think they are the same ... had kitten over this when I tried! but it did work.

 

[mee987]

ill save andy the keystrokes

check out the FAQ: How do I change drive letters?

 

[Bglad]

First try corky's suggestion but I doubt it will work. Remember 2K and XP assign and remember drive letters according to the volume serial number. It doesn't move drive letters according to bus position like 98.

Try changing the drive letter and let us know if it works. I've been curious what would happen but its not something I want to try just for kicks.

My guess is that this will require a reinstall. The instructions tell you how to force the drive letter change, but this won't change all the registry entries to all the files and programs. I think the OS will still be looking for things on the E: drive after you have changed the drive letter to C:. That won't make it too happy.

I would unplug the zip drive when you reinstall and hook it back up after Windows is installed. Also, before reinstalling, make sure that the hard drive is indeed c: in dos. Er, if you are Fat 32 that is.