[UIM]

I haven't the faintest notion of how she did it but my grand-daughter has changed the letter designation on her one and only drive from C: to E: (WinXP Home edition with SP2). When I tried to change it via Disk Management I got a message saying that the system drive letter can't be changed. The computer appears to be working just fine.

Questions:

1) Does the wrong drive letter designation matter?

2) If it does then how do I change it?

Thanks in advance.

UIM

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it does and doesn't matter all at the same time...generally programs to care what the drive letter is...but some will be expecting the system drive to be c:...of course alot of programs will allow you to change this...but some wont...so you may end up with some issues there...

...how she changed it in the first place.. if it's not lettingyou change it back..is a mystery

is there now another drive labeld as c? have you tried makng the change in safe mode?

[dsenette]

it does and doesn't matter all at the same time...generally programs to care what the drive letter is...but some will be expecting the system drive to be c:...of course alot of programs will allow you to change this...but some wont...so you may end up with some issues there...

...how she changed it in the first place.. if it's not lettingyou change it back..is a mystery

is there now another drive labeld as c? have you tried makng the change in safe mode?

[UIM]

it does and doesn't matter all at the same time...generally programs to care what the drive letter is...but some will be expecting the system drive to be c:...of course alot of programs will allow you to change this...but some wont...so you may end up with some issues there...

...how she changed it in the first place.. if it's not lettingyou change it back..is a mystery

is there now another drive labeld as c? have you tried makng the change in safe mode?

No other drives, virtual or physical appear. I haven't tried to change it via safe mode. But I will give that a try and report back.

[UIM]

it does and doesn't matter all at the same time...generally programs to care what the drive letter is...but some will be expecting the system drive to be c:...of course alot of programs will allow you to change this...but some wont...so you may end up with some issues there...

...how she changed it in the first place.. if it's not lettingyou change it back..is a mystery

is there now another drive labeld as c? have you tried makng the change in safe mode?

No other drives, virtual or physical appear. I haven't tried to change it via safe mode. But I will give that a try and report back.

Nope. Wouldn't let me change it in safe mode either. I wonder if there's a way of doing it in DOS or with some sort of disk manager program such as PCBeginner or what-have-you? It's a Maxtor IDE drive. If they haven't gone to this FAQ self help deal yet I'll Email them and ask their advice. I'll let you know what they say. In the meantime, if you think of anything else.....

[Retired Tech]

Click start then run, type regedit then press enter

Click + next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then the + next to SYSTEM then click MountedDevices

What is listed for \DosDevices\

[UIM]

Click start then run, type regedit then press enter

Click + next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then the + next to SYSTEM then click MountedDevices

What is listed for \DosDevices\

I am beginning to think my grand-daughter has had some "assistance" with her computer via her schoolfriends. I got into it today and the screws holding the hard drive were loose and some of the LED connectors were off.

Anyway, I got into the Registry and under DosDevices are:

A, C, D, E and F.

If I may be permitted an off topic remark? I am so happy to see you "flying" the English flag. I am English and left for Florida in 1978. My recently deceased brother kept me appraised of goings on in England and last year (?) sent me a report that officialdom had advised against the displaying of the English flag for fear of causing offence to others. I thought it odd that a symbol of national unity had morphed into one of potential division. Sort of George Orwellian "Newspeak" coming true.

I aplogise in advance if my off topic aside has caused any offence but the flag did pluck a heartstring..

I was wondering if partioning the E drive and naming the new partition C and then "Ghosting" the contents of E to C and then deleting E and re-booting would then make work? If I did that would all the files get renamed to the C location?

If all else fails I suppose a low level format and a reinstall is in the stars.

Edited by UIM, 06 August 2006 - 03:16 PM.

[Retired Tech]

Hopefully, shuffling the pack will do

Click start, my computer, right click E, click explore

If you see Windows, programme files and documents and settings, that's fine

Right click C, click explore

Post what it has for that

[UIM]

Hopefully, shuffling the pack will do

Click start, my computer, right click E, click explore

If you see Windows, programme files and documents and settings, that's fine

Right click C, click explore

Post what it has for that

Physically the computer has:

A: a 3.5 floppy
D: a DVD optical drive
E: an IDE/133 Maxtor HD as one drive (no partitions).

These appear in my computer. The drives listed under the registry Dos Devices (C & F) do not appear in "My Computer." The Windows operating system, program files, documents etc are in E.

[Retired Tech]

So, in DOS\Devices, right click C and rename to Z

Right click E and rename to C

Reboot

Look in My Computer

[UIM]

So, in DOS\Devices, right click C and rename to Z

Right click E and rename to C

Reboot

Look in My Computer

My Goodness! When do you sleep? It must be 2 or 3 AM in Blighty. I'll try it and report back.
Thanks.

[UIM]

So, in DOS\Devices, right click C and rename to Z

Right click E and rename to C

Reboot

Look in My Computer

My Goodness! When do you sleep? It must be 2 or 3 AM in Blighty. I'll try it and report back.
Thanks.

I'm afraid it didn't work. Now I can't past the welcome screen and the hard drive LED doesn't light. So the inference is that the OS can't find the drive? Is there any way I can get into it and reverse the changes I made?

[Retired Tech]

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

[UIM]

I had already tried that but can't get past the "Welcome" screen. I don't think it can find the OS. I also tried booting it with a recovery disc. I'm going to bed now but tomorrow I'll try resetting the BIOS to boot from the HD in the hope that it may "jar" it into looking and the now C lettered drive. Failing that I'll do a LL format and a re-install. I'm a great believer in LL formats - cures many ills and machines seem to run better for it. The only irritant is the obligatory call to India. But I do thank you for your time and trouble.

[Retired Tech]

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the start button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

XP Repair Install

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update