WinXP - Hard Disk not Drive C: !!!

[Arcman]

Just installed WinXP Prof (Upgrade - Clean Install) on Computer with following configuration:

Primary IDE:
Master - 60Gb IBM Hard Drive
Slave - Toshiba CD Drive

Secondary IDE:
Master - Plextor CDRW
Slave - Iomega 250mb Internal Zip

Installation resulted in the following Drive letter designations:

A: Floppy Drive
C: Iomega Zip
D: Toshiba CD
E: Plextor CDRW
F: 60Gb Hard Drive

Would prefer hard drive to be "C:" Any ideas as to what's going on here? Solutions?
Thanks!

 

[Adrian Tung]

I don't know of a solution save a complete reformat, but I've experienced the problem when Windows 2000 and Windows XP doesn't default to C:. I've learnt to identify the problem early - when during install it asks for your install directory and the default is not "C:\Winnt" - and abort before the installation is complete but I didn't bother searching the Net for a solution.

Hope someone else has a solution for your problem though.


atwl

 

[EHobaX]

I really don't see a big reason to change it. It's only a naming convention.

However, I believe XP has the MMC in which you can change the drive letters of all your devices.

Be aware that changing the drives may screw up your registry associations, though.

 

[Iron Woode]

Just change the drive letters. All will be good.

 

[AndyHui]

Please read the FAQ: How do I change drive letters?

 

[mee987]

i could be wrong, but i dont think you can change the drive letter of your system drive

 

[AndyHui]

You can. Please read the FAQ above.

 

[SinNisTeR]

mee987
you are correct. ive been through this more times than i can remember =P


what i suggest you do, is either leave it alone if it doesnt bug you too much (may bug you more down the road, i suggest you reformat now because you just recently installed.) or you can reformat and unplug your zip and only install the zip after windows is installed. follow the advice of Adrian Tung, i also do this. =P

 

[TheOmegaCode]

<< mee987
you are correct. ive been through this more times than i can remember =P


what i suggest you do, is either leave it alone if it doesnt bug you too much (may bug you more down the road, i suggest you reformat now because you just recently installed.) or you can reformat and unplug your zip and only install the zip after windows is installed. follow the advice of Adrian Tung, i also do this. =P >>


Read the damn FAQ's


<< Changing the System/Boot Drive letter is a little more complex. For the most part, this is not recommended, especially if the drive letter is the same as when Windows was installed. The only time that you may want to do this is when the drive letters get changed without any user intervention. This may happen when you break a mirror volume or there is a drive configuration change. This should be a rare occurrence and you should change the drive letters back to match the initial installation.

NOTE : In these steps, drive D refers to the (wrong) drive letter assigned to a volume, and drive C refers to the (new) drive letter you want to change to, or to assign to the volume.

This procedure swaps drive letters for drives C and D. If you do not need to swap drive letters, simply name the \DosDevice\letter: value to any new drive letter not in use.

For your safety, it is best to make a full system backup of the computer and system state.


Log on as an Administrator.


Start Regedt32.exe.


Go to the following registry key:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Click MountedDevices.


On the Security menu, click Permissions.


Check to make sure Administrators have full control. Change this back when you are finished with these steps.


Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe.

Go to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for "\DosDevices\C:".


Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.

NOTE : You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry key.


Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:". (This will free up drive letter C: to be used later.)


Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:".


Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename.


Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:".


Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename , and then name it back to "\DosDevices\D:".


Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.


Change the permissions back to the previous setting for Administrators (this should probably be Read Only).


Restart the computer. >>

 

[monopoly]

Like AndyHui suggests,

Read the FAQs. It is in there and works.

All the other advice may work, and if you know it in advance to unhook the offending drives prior to the installation would circumvent your problem. But since you are already formatted and may have some stuff already installed, do it as listed in the FAQs.