How to change drive letter for boot drive?

[fafner]

I deleted my existing OS then created two new partitions on the same drive. Then I installed Vista on one partition and that partition was properly named "c" as ususal. Then I started Win7 setup.exe from a different hard drive and let Win7 install itself into its own partition. When I got to "My Computer" the Win7 partition was labelled as "I" instead of the expected "C" which had never happend before when I did the same thing.

Does anyone know a save way to label the Win 7 drive as "C" while in Win7?

Thanks.

fafner

 

[Manco]

In the search box, type "Computer Management". From iwithin computer management select disk management and you will see the ability to change drive letters. I don't know if this might mess up your ability to boot though.

 

[fafner]

In the search box, type "Computer Management". From iwithin computer management select disk management and you will see the ability to change drive letters. I don't know if this might mess up your ability to boot though.

Thanks. I tried this and it said "Parameter is incorrect"

fafner

 

[Manco]

Thanks. I tried this and it said "Parameter is incorrect"

fafner

At which step did it give you parameter incorrect? Did you get the "Computer Management" App started ok? Did it happen when you tried to change the drive letter?

 

[zigzag3143]

try it again and make sure it is spelled correctly. also we could use your system specs

Ken

 

[fafner]

At which step did it give you parameter incorrect? Did you get the "Computer Management" App started ok? Did it happen when you tried to change the drive letter?

It happened after I entered C as the letter that I wanted to change the drive letter to. No problem getting into CM or selecting the "change drive letter option for the partition.

fafner

 

[fafner]

try it again and make sure it is spelled correctly. also we could use your system specs

Ken

System specs added. Make sure what is spelled correctly?

fafner

 

[Manco]

can you provide a screen shot of the drive management screen so we can see all the drives and partitions you have in your system?

 

[zigzag3143]

I deleted my existing OS then created two new partitions on the same drive. Then I installed Vista on one partition and that partition was properly named "c" as ususal. Then I started Win7 setup.exe from a different hard drive and let Win7 install itself into its own partition. When I got to "My Computer" the Win7 partition was labelled as "I" instead of the expected "C" which had never happend before when I did the same thing.

Does anyone know a save way to label the Win 7 drive as "C" while in Win7?

Thanks.

fafner

Lets try this again. in vista drive labeled C:, after win 7 install drive letter changed. If you cange it back by just changing the drive letter you are going to give yourself grief. Vista programs will be looking for C (vista c) and will find win 7 (c not good why do you want to change the letter to C?

Ken

 

[fafner]

Whether I am in Vista or Windows 7, the partition containing Vista is labelled as "C" and the partition containing Win7 is labelled as "I" and the other 5 drives are simply storage drives with their own labels. The boot files etc are on the "I" drive. When I had done the same thing other times, the Win7 installation automatically assigned letter "C" to the Win7 partition and changed the Vista label to something else. I simply want "C" to be the partition containing the OS I am in for simplicity and continuity purposes. I don't want to have to remember that Windows 7 is on "I" I hope that clarifiles my situatioin. Thanks again for your comments.

fafner

 

[copernicus]

When you install an OS and start the setup from within another OS you'll never have the new OS installed onto "c:" if the old OS has itself on "c:".

 

[fafner]

When you install an OS and start the setup from within another OS you'll never have the new OS installed onto "c:" if the old OS has itself on "c:".

Ah...you are right. The other times I did a dual install like this I installed both from DVD's. I guess I am stuck the way I am for the moment.

fafner

 

[busydog]

MS Link to Your Problem

How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows

 

[fafner]

How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows

Thank you for that link. I had been to that page before and was concerned that doing that would cause my system not to boot at all. I found out, however, that I had mistakenly installed 32 bit Win7 instead of 64 bit, so I was resigned to doing a reinstall anyway.

So I followed the instructions in that link and found something interesting that I thought others might like to see. After doing that I attempted to boot into Windows 7 and lo and behold, I got the Windows 7 splash screen, then wierdly, a message that said "preparing your desktop." The donut keep spinning for about 5 minutes and then I pale blue screen with "Windows 7,Build 7600, This is not genuine" in the bottom right hand corner. And, the donut kept spinning. I could access Task Manager or log off etc., but a real desktop never appeared. Due to time pressure, I logged off and went back to Vista where I now am. Later I will try to boot into Win7 again before I do an install of the x64 bit version.

If anyone has any thoughts on what is happeing I would love to hear them.

Thanks.

fafner

 

[copernicus]

Thank you for that link. I had been to that page before and was concerned that doing that would cause my system not to boot at all. I found out, however, that I had mistakenly installed 32 bit Win7 instead of 64 bit, so I was resigned to doing a reinstall anyway.

So I followed the instructions in that link and found something interesting that I thought others might like to see. After doing that I attempted to boot into Windows 7 and lo and behold, I got the Windows 7 splash screen, then wierdly, a message that said "preparing your desktop." The donut keep spinning for about 5 minutes and then I pale blue screen with "Windows 7,Build 7600, This is not genuine" in the bottom right hand corner. And, the donut kept spinning. I could access Task Manager or log off etc., but a real desktop never appeared. Due to time pressure, I logged off and went back to Vista where I now am. Later I will try to boot into Win7 again before I do an install of the x64 bit version.

If anyone has any thoughts on what is happeing I would love to hear them.

Thanks.

fafner

Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article to change a drive on a computer where the drive letter has not changed. If you do so, you may not be able to start your operating system. Follow the procedure that is described in this article only to recover from a drive letter change, not to change an existing computer drive to something else. Back up your registry keys before you make this change.

From the link. You can't just change the driver letter of an OS install.

 

[fafner]

From the link. You can't just change the driver letter of an OS install.

Yes I can read. The interestsing thing is that I did it and it almost works....with OS's prior to Win7 I would never get as far as I did.

fafner

 

[Patyacht]

Same Boat

So I'm in the same boat. I bought a new drive, installed XP because I only had the Upgrade version of Win 7. Did the Custom install and the Boot Drive letter is "L". I tried the fixes discussed like the regedit one that ended up with the same blank blue screen with "Windows 7,Build 7600, This is not genuine" and I tried using the computer management route with the same error "The parameter is incorrect".

So is there a fix or do I have to live with the boot drive being the "L" drive?

 

[gregrocker]

There is no way to change the drive letter of an OS drive without risking failure. I tried it twice and failed twice; I won't try it again.

What you can do is pre-format your partitions and clear the way for it to take the letter C by assuring your optical drive is D in Disk Managment.

Never install an OS from the other OS unless necessary, always boot from the HD and apply a final formatting to assure it's ready for the OS.

 

[Patyacht]

I'm not trying to dual boot. The only reason I put XP on the drive is because I only had the Upgrade version of Win 7. I think it is a Win 7 issue in that it sees XP, Keeps it on C Drive while it looks for the 1st free letter to install Win 7. I'd think MS would be smarter than that. I wonder if I zapped it all, reformated the disk and then tryed to install Win7 upgrade without XP being on the disk if the install would ask for proof of XP like the original disk.

 

[gregrocker]

You didn't need XP to be installed to use Win7 Upgrade DVD.

It doesn't ask for proof of XP, only scans the HD to see any OS is installed before accepting the key, even if booted. There is a workaround given out by MS to install Upgrade if no OS is present.

So get the cleanest possible install by booting from the DVD, selecting Custom intall, and use Advanced drive tools to format before install. It will see the XP before formatting over it, accept your Upgrade key and install.