Change boot volume drive letter on xp

[dopangle]

I have a xp machine with boot volume of F:. I need to change to C:. Is there a way to do this without format and reinstall all programs?

Thanks,
Donny

 

[ArtemusComputerTechnology]

Did you try in Computer Management, Disk Management, right click the drive and click change drive letter and path...

 

[dopangle]

Yeah I tried and it won't let you change it.

 

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188

Can't say it's going to work well, ESP with programs that have installed to F.

 

[gikstar]

I've never had any luck with changing it... usually caused by leaving the card reader that is attached to the onboard USB, attached when reinstalling a fresh O/S.
I've learned the hard way... now I disconnect that dang card reader and attach it after installing the O/S.

Love to hear if anyone can come up with a good solution... if one can change that drive letter, what will it do with the rom drive letter that the O/S was installed on and will continue to look for that drive letter?

 

[Xander]

I've never heard of this being done. The registry would be replete with "F:\Program..." entries. Thousands upon thousands of them and many in active use. The only feasible way would be to do it outside of Windows.

 

[Rocco]

The cleanest way would be to reinstall.

If for whatever reason that is out of the question, just download a program to change the MBR. There are plenty of them out there. This is dirty though. It is OK for your house. It would not, in my opinion, be OK for a customer's house, and especially not a business.

Edit: Disregard the above. Keeping it to show I am an idiot, and should probably not read posts while tired... The most efficient way would be back up the computer and reinstall. As someone else posted, to just change the drive letter would create a lot more issues that would probably take a very long time to correct.

 

[Majestic]

I have a xp machine with boot volume of F:. I need to change to C:. Is there a way to do this without format and reinstall all programs?

Thanks,
Donny

Unfortunately I've had the experience a few times where a machine was installed like that due to XP seeing the removable drives as the principal drives for whatever reason. On all these occasions I have had to disconnect the physical drives and just connect the C: and reinstall.

Best I would suggest is backup all the license keys and perhaps the email. A good program for this would be Fabs autobackup.

As for the other programs, you will have to reinstall unless they are more modular (??)...

Of course for the standard stuff, do use www.ninite.com.

Good luck!

Majestic

 

[mkeathley]

I've had this problem a few times. never had any luck changign it. Usually causes more trouble than its worth. Reinstall is the answer.

 

[johnrobert]

What about making an image and restoring to C after you have nuked drive
I'm sure it could be done that way with a bit of fiddling
You could try it on a test computer first

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Never tried it but the first idea that comes to mind is like a bulk find and replace registry program.

 

[Xander]

What about making an image and restoring to C after you have nuked drive

The registry, etc. would still be rampant with entries referencing the F: drive. A lot of things would be relative like %windir% but there would be tons that have the letter "F" in them.

 

[johnrobert]

I think when you did a restore it would still be F no matter what
Either live with F witch I have seen many times owner did not even know
Or N&P

 

[dopangle]

I have tried,
Cloning to different hard drive
Norton Ghost
Carbonite online backup and restore
Partition Magic

None of the above have worked. I am still looking for a way to do this. Thanks for all the help !!!!!
I would greatly appreciate anymore ideas !!!

 

[Larry Sabo]

No idea if this would work, but perhaps try Registrar Lite and its search and replace. Search for all "C:' and replace with "Z:" (or whatever comes after the last-assigned drive letter on the system), then "F:" and replace with "C:". I'm not optimistic, but what have you to lose. (I'd image the drive first.)

Edit: You would have to tdo a text scan of all .ini and other config files and do a similar change manually, I suppose. I think a re-install makes more sense, but if that's absolutely not an option, keep trying.

 

[CLC]

Backup Files Plus Nuke and Pave What is stopping you from doing this? Is this just you wanting to see if you can do it, or the customer insisting on it?

 

[dopangle]

Customer insisting on it if it can be done. There is led sign software on Hard drive and no disk to reload it.

 

[JustInspired]

I think when you did a restore it would still be F no matter what
Either live with F witch I have seen many times owner did not even know
Or N&P

Exactly this. Why is it so important to have the drive letter changed? Is there a program that has to be installed on drive C?
What about a hard link?

 

[PeterH92]

I really don't see the point why you would want to change, but It's your choice you do know that there are going to be problems along the line?

Be careful when making drive-letter assignments make sure you have backed up all your data.