Solved Change System Drive letter without breaking PC

[osholt]

I installed Windows Server 2008 R2 onto a computer that was running Windows 7. I installed it onto the secondary partition, D:\. I assumed Windows would automatically switch the drive letters around to make the System Drive C:\. It didn't.

How can I change the system drive letter without breaking everything and without a complete reinstall? I've tried the obvious method of 'just' changing the drive letter but that ended with the PC not being able to boot at all.

If some one can enlighten me I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance .

osholt

 

[TVeblen]

I would try changing the Drive letter to C: and then run Startup Repair - you may need to run it up to 3 times.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[seavixen32]

I found this article that may or may not offer a solution to your dilemma:

Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 - Keith Combs' Blahg - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

If the existing C drive is active then would that explain why you couldn't change the drive letter?

 

[osholt]

I found this article that may or may not offer a solution to your dilemma:

Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 - Keith Combs' Blahg - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

If the existing C drive is active then would that explain why you couldn't change the drive letter?

I changed the drive letter of the seven partition the first time but I will look into it again.
I'm more concerned with all the programs and, more importantly, user accounts being accessible without some serious reinstalling.

I will look into the start up repair idea further.

thanks.

osholt

 

[theog]

If you dual Vista & Windows 7 will always see the OS partition as C:, in each OS.

 

[whs]

If you dual Vista & Windows 7 will always see the OS partition as C:, in each OS.

Exactly - I wonder why it is different with Server 2008.

 

[TVeblen]

My understanding is the Startup Repair only recreates the boot files and Master Boot Record for Windows. Barefoot Kid describes it well in the first paragraph here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html . It only corrects the path errors caused when the OS is moved or the drive structure changes.

I never got the impression that the process changes any other settings of the OS, but I defer to the W7 OS experts here on those details.

You are running W7 in a VHD (I assume) on a Mac so I don't know if that has any bearing on the partition structure in the virtual environment, but I doubt it since I believe Windows just ignores non-NTFS partitions anyway. Not my cup of tea.

 

[theog]

If you dual Vista & Windows 7 will always see the OS partition as C:, in each OS.

Exactly - I wonder why it is different with Server 2008.

Exactly, it is the same.






Have you been using 3rd Party Partitioning tools?

 

[osholt]

Sorry for the MASSIVE delay. I've been out of the country for various reasons.

To clear up any issues about hardware etc.The Hardware in question is an Acer Veriton X275 which came with a pre-partitioned hard disk like many PCs these days. One partition showed up in Windows 7 as C:\ and one as D:\. I installed Server 2008 R2 on the second partition, D:/. It just seems to have kept the original drive letter for reasons I don't know.

I now finally have time to give these solutions a go.

I will report back soonish.

Sorry again for the massive delay.

 

[osholt]

I think I've found out why it was on D:\ and not C:\ now. I originally started the installation through the Windows 7 install which shows the drive letters Windows 7 uses when selecting an install disk. As I installed it on D:\ it thought that the drive letter should stay the same.

Starting the installation straight from the disk, however, does not give you the list of drive letters so whatever partition you choose it installs on C:\.

I decided to backup all the stuff I use on the server and just do a clean install (IIS was giving me grief as well about me completely changing how I wanted it to host my websites) and hopefully I can put this problem behind me now; trying to fix it "properly" is just to much of a pain.

Thanks.

 

[seavixen32]

Thanks for the update and I hope the clean install helps.

If you consider the thread is now solved, please let the mods know by clicking the green button at the bottonm of the thread.

Don't hesitate to post back in a new thread if you encounter a fresh problem.

 

[pegnose]

Hi! I know this thread is old, but I have a very simple solution to this problem. I had the same issue because I used Runtime Soft DriveImage XML to copy my OS to a new SSD. Of course the new partition was E: and not C:, as the latter was still in use. I rebooted successfully to the new partition - I had this 100 MB Windows System Reserved partition from an earlier installation on that drive. But my system was a mess: shortcuts weren't working and most of the Windows features were unavailable. Of course, DriveImage XML was still installed and I could start it from command line. Under "Tools" in the menu bar, it contains an option to reset the drive ID. With a new drive ID, Windows assigns a new drive letter as well. Of course, my system partition was rendered unbootable by that method. But I could recover Windows boot with the System Repair option from a Windows installation medium. All in all it took me less than 10 minutes to have my newly placed OS working. And for all who don't have DriveImage XML already installed, there is a boot CD on their webiste. And I believe it is integrated in some emergency and system preparation distributions like BartPE etc. So don't despair!

 

[pegnose]

I am sorry, I just noticed that I posted this in the wrong forum (a little tired here). It was the perfect solution to my problem but does not apply here. I had sereveral tabs in my browser open and chose the wrong one. Apologies! Hopefully, this helps someone with my (former) problem ending up here as well. Over and out!