Swapping System Drive Letters in Dual Boot Setup

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  1. Posts : 78
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #1

    Swapping System Drive Letters in Dual Boot Setup


    I set up an XP/Win7 dual boot system using 2 partitions on a single hard disk (XP was pre-installed). All seemed to go smoothly, except for the fact that I couldn't boot from the Win7 DVD for some reason. The process would start loading files from the DVD but would keep stalling just after the progress bar got to 100% and disappeared. After several attempts and trying 2 different DVD drives, I ended up just running the Win7 setup.exe from XP and that got the install completed.

    The problem is when I boot into Win7 the system drive is designated as "W:\" not "C:\" ("W" is the letter I assigned to it when creating the partition that would hold Win7). I hate this. Some people mentioned in different how-to's I checked out that their dual boot system automatically designates the system drive as "C:\" regardless of which OS they boot into or partition letters assigned to each OS. How can I get that to work?

    Everything else seems to be working properly when in either XP or Win7.
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  2. Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       #2

    The problem you are faced with is that by default Windows looks for the boot files on your C drive and that is why you've got a problem.

    I'm fairly certain there is no other way round your problem, but to boot into Windows 7 and change the system (Windows) drive letter to C.

    I'm just intrigued as to why you dislike the default settings so much.
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  3.    #3

    Win7 will always see itself as C as long as you boot the installer and not run it from another OS.

    You would have to reinstall to change it now as you cannot change an OS drive letter without ruining your OS.

    Did you try wiping the HD first so installer autostarts to install? SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

    Did you test your HD with maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan, run Disk Check?
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  4. Posts : 78
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
    Thread Starter
       #4

    seavixen32:
    By default settings do you mean the fact that Win7 defaulted to the "W:\" partition? I'm so used to the system drive being C:\ (which it is when I'm booted into XP) that it gets a little confusing, esp. since the C:\ is visible within Win7 in all navigational dialogs and I find myself going there by habit. Plus, I only plan on keeping XP until I get all my programs installed and configured on Win7 and give them all a thorough testing to make sure they're going to function properly in 7, which will take a few weeks or so. Then when XP's gone, I'd like my Win7 system drive to be C:\

    When you say "boot into Windows 7 and change the system (Windows) drive letter to C", will that not wreak havoc on my system, esp. if the boot files are on C?
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  5. Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       #5

    I'm still a bit confused as to why you changed the Windows 7 partition letter to W.

    Please post a screenshot of your expanded disk management layout so we can see exactly what is going on.

    Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

    What normally happens when you create a dual-boot system is this:

    If you boot into XP that will take drive letter C and Windows 7 will take the next available drive letter; typically D.

    If you boot into Windows 7 then 7 will take drive letter C.
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  6. Posts : 78
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
    Thread Starter
       #6

    gregrocker:
    Yeah, I had a feeling this happened because I installed Win7 while in XP (because I wasn't able to boot from the Win7 DVD). I didn't wipe the HD first because I wanted to keep XP and have access to it for the next few weeks. I didn't test the HD with the extended HD Diagnostic test you asked about, but before I created the extra partition for Win7, I did run an error check and full defrag.
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  7. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #7

    I'm still a bit confused as to why you changed the Windows 7 partition letter to W.
    If you install Windows 7 from the Win XP desktop, Windows 7 will use the same drive letters as Win XP.
    Therefore if you install to Win XP drive W:, Windows 7 will take drive W: as it's drive letter.
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  8. Posts : 78
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
    Thread Starter
       #8

    When I set up the extra partition for Win7 on my C drive I assigned it the drive letter "W" since "C" wasn't available.
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  9. Posts : 78
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
    Thread Starter
       #9

    theog said:
    If you install Windows 7 from the Win XP desktop, Windows 7 will use the same drive letters as Win XP. Therefore if you install to Win XP drive W:, Windows 7 will take drive W: as it's drive letter.
    All makes perfect sense. When starting the Win7 install from within XP it asked which partition I wanted to install to. I clicked the new partition of course since I was keeping XP, and the new partition was "W".
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  10. Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       #10

    theog said:
    I'm still a bit confused as to why you changed the Windows 7 partition letter to W.
    If you install Windows 7 from the Win XP desktop, Windows 7 will use the same drive letters as Win XP.
    Therefore if you install to Win XP drive W:, Windows 7 will take drive W: as it's drive letter.
    Thanks for that, as the OP says, it all makes sense now.
      My Computer


 
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