Changing drivers letters without access to Admin tools

freelancer91

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In my last topic, I needed help fixing a boot problem. This is a follow up.

Upon logging in, I realized that my computer could not find any of the contents of ProgramData, Program Files, Program Files (x86), or Users. I had all of those folders symlinked because of my ssd boot drive configuration. Whenever I removed my old data partition (from before I got my ssd) it changed around the drive letters and now Windows 7 cannot seem to find all of my stuff. Unfortunately, due to this problem, I cannot access administration tools and thus cannot change drive letters. Is there any way I can change drive letters? I can also not access command prompt from inside the installation. I can still access all of my installed programs by going to the Program Files folder where they are stored. Is there any third party program that can do this?

EDIT: Here is a bit more information: For those of you who might have trouble understanding how I have things setup: I have pretty much everything except the C:\Windows folder symlinked to my HDD. I did this so that my computer doesn't have to do nearly as much writing the the SSD (SSD's are not very good that that) and to free up space in case Linux or OS X ever start supporting trim and I want to put a boot partition for them on it.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Desktop, Dell Studio XPS 1340 laptop
OS
DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
CPU
DT: Intel QX9770, LT: Intel P8600
Motherboard
DT: Intel DX48BT2
Memory
DT: 8GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Gold Edition LT: 4GB DDR3-1066
Graphics Card(s)
DT: BFG Geforce GTX 295 (B), LT: NVidia Geforce 9400M G
Sound Card
DT: Integrated LT: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
DT: Acer 23 inch 1920x1080 monitors, LT: 13 inch
Screen Resolution
DT: 3840x1080 LT: 1280x800
Hard Drives
DT: Samsung SpinPoint 1TB HD103UJ 7200RPM HDD+Fantom Drives 2TB 7200rpm External+OCZ Vertex Series 30GB SSD (boot)
LT: Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 320GB 2.5'' HDD
PSU
DT: Rosewill Bronze Series 1000W LT: 6 cell 62837mWh Li-ion
Case
DT:Thermaltake Armor Series LCS, LT:Dell Black Studio XPS 13
Cooling
DT: Custom watercooling setup
Keyboard
DT: Kengsinton PC/Mac LT: Integrated backlit keyboard
Mouse
DT: Logitech USB Optical Mouse LT: Integrated Track Pad
Internet Speed
380KB/s download on a good day...
Other Info
DT: CD/DVDRW Drive: Hp dvd1140, Multifunction front panel w/ 4 USB ports (2 Powered with 5V and 12V), Powered External SATA, 25-in-1 card reader, and audio ports

LT: Integrated Webcam with Microphone array, 8-in-1 card reader
I doubt it'll work, but you can change drive letters via Partition Wizard

BTW, Make sure your user account has full adminstrative priviledges (Although you may not be able to change that :))
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Apple Macbook Pro (April 2009)
OS
W7 Ult. x64 | OS X
CPU
Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo 2.93Ghz [T9800 Penryn]
Motherboard
NVIDIA nForce 730i Rev. B1 [Mac-F2268EC8 (U2E1)]
Memory
4096MB Samsung DDR3 Dual Channel [PC3-8500F 1066Mhz]
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB [G96M Rev. C1]
Sound Card
SB X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB | Onboard Realtek (Disabled)
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer x223wbd 22" | Apple Anti-Glare 17" (Disabled)
Screen Resolution
{Current} 1440x900 {Acer} 1680x1050 {Apple} 1920x1200
Hard Drives
{Internal}
Seagate Momentus 320GB 2.5" 7200RPM [ST9320421AS]

{Externals}
LaCie 320GB USB 2.0 HDD [301284UR]
LaCie 750GB USB 2.0 FW400 eSATA HDD [301314U]
LaCie 1TB USB 2.0 HDD [301304UR]
PSU
Magsafe
Case
Aluminum/Unibody (MBP52)
Cooling
2 x 6000 RPM Fans
Keyboard
Logitech G-15v2 [PN 920-000379]
Mouse
Logitech G-9 [PN 910-000338]
Internet Speed
12Mbps/2.5Mbps w/ 24Mbps Speed Boost [Comcast]
Other Info
Logitech X-540 Speakers [PN 970223-0122]
Sennheiser PC-151 Headset
I doubt it'll work, but you can change drive letters via Partition Wizard

BTW, Make sure your user account has full adminstrative priviledges (Although you may not be able to change that :))

Ok I installed partition editor to a thumbdrive on another computer and then inserted it. It will run, but I cannot change it to G:, the letter that it was before. Is there any way to fix this?

EDIT: Wait, I think I found the problem. that is because the thumb drive I inserted is letter G. I'll fix that first

EDIT 2: OK, now that that is done, I need to boot with the recovery disk and remake the symlinks back to G:
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Desktop, Dell Studio XPS 1340 laptop
OS
DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
CPU
DT: Intel QX9770, LT: Intel P8600
Motherboard
DT: Intel DX48BT2
Memory
DT: 8GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Gold Edition LT: 4GB DDR3-1066
Graphics Card(s)
DT: BFG Geforce GTX 295 (B), LT: NVidia Geforce 9400M G
Sound Card
DT: Integrated LT: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
DT: Acer 23 inch 1920x1080 monitors, LT: 13 inch
Screen Resolution
DT: 3840x1080 LT: 1280x800
Hard Drives
DT: Samsung SpinPoint 1TB HD103UJ 7200RPM HDD+Fantom Drives 2TB 7200rpm External+OCZ Vertex Series 30GB SSD (boot)
LT: Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 320GB 2.5'' HDD
PSU
DT: Rosewill Bronze Series 1000W LT: 6 cell 62837mWh Li-ion
Case
DT:Thermaltake Armor Series LCS, LT:Dell Black Studio XPS 13
Cooling
DT: Custom watercooling setup
Keyboard
DT: Kengsinton PC/Mac LT: Integrated backlit keyboard
Mouse
DT: Logitech USB Optical Mouse LT: Integrated Track Pad
Internet Speed
380KB/s download on a good day...
Other Info
DT: CD/DVDRW Drive: Hp dvd1140, Multifunction front panel w/ 4 USB ports (2 Powered with 5V and 12V), Powered External SATA, 25-in-1 card reader, and audio ports

LT: Integrated Webcam with Microphone array, 8-in-1 card reader
This is an unusual setup you have for your system. You became victim of the "SSD write paranoia". many people think it is bad to write to an SSD where in fact it makes no difference one way or another. All you get with your setup is a performance degradation. I would put the whole system back on the SSD.

As far as your drive letter dilemma goes, did you try Disk Management. You may have to move a few other letters around first in order to free up G.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
There will have to be some symlinking either way. It is only a 30GB ssd and I have a 1TB HDD. Also, isn't disk management part of admin tools? No I could not access disk management.
 
Last edited:

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Desktop, Dell Studio XPS 1340 laptop
OS
DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
CPU
DT: Intel QX9770, LT: Intel P8600
Motherboard
DT: Intel DX48BT2
Memory
DT: 8GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Gold Edition LT: 4GB DDR3-1066
Graphics Card(s)
DT: BFG Geforce GTX 295 (B), LT: NVidia Geforce 9400M G
Sound Card
DT: Integrated LT: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
DT: Acer 23 inch 1920x1080 monitors, LT: 13 inch
Screen Resolution
DT: 3840x1080 LT: 1280x800
Hard Drives
DT: Samsung SpinPoint 1TB HD103UJ 7200RPM HDD+Fantom Drives 2TB 7200rpm External+OCZ Vertex Series 30GB SSD (boot)
LT: Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 320GB 2.5'' HDD
PSU
DT: Rosewill Bronze Series 1000W LT: 6 cell 62837mWh Li-ion
Case
DT:Thermaltake Armor Series LCS, LT:Dell Black Studio XPS 13
Cooling
DT: Custom watercooling setup
Keyboard
DT: Kengsinton PC/Mac LT: Integrated backlit keyboard
Mouse
DT: Logitech USB Optical Mouse LT: Integrated Track Pad
Internet Speed
380KB/s download on a good day...
Other Info
DT: CD/DVDRW Drive: Hp dvd1140, Multifunction front panel w/ 4 USB ports (2 Powered with 5V and 12V), Powered External SATA, 25-in-1 card reader, and audio ports

LT: Integrated Webcam with Microphone array, 8-in-1 card reader
But a 30GB SSD is ample for the OS. My Win7 is at 17GB after running for 5 months and a lot of programs installed. I deleted the hibernation file but kept the page file.
If you cannot get to Disk Management, then Partition Wizard is your next best bet. I just used it yesterday. It seems to do a good job.
 
Last edited:

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
I'm also waiting for Linux and OS X to support Trim, at which time I will create boot partitions for them in a tripleboot-hackintosh setup. Also, most smaller SSD's have subpar write speeds. I have put my paging file on my HDD as well.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Desktop, Dell Studio XPS 1340 laptop
OS
DT and LT: Windows 7 and Fedora 14
CPU
DT: Intel QX9770, LT: Intel P8600
Motherboard
DT: Intel DX48BT2
Memory
DT: 8GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Gold Edition LT: 4GB DDR3-1066
Graphics Card(s)
DT: BFG Geforce GTX 295 (B), LT: NVidia Geforce 9400M G
Sound Card
DT: Integrated LT: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
DT: Acer 23 inch 1920x1080 monitors, LT: 13 inch
Screen Resolution
DT: 3840x1080 LT: 1280x800
Hard Drives
DT: Samsung SpinPoint 1TB HD103UJ 7200RPM HDD+Fantom Drives 2TB 7200rpm External+OCZ Vertex Series 30GB SSD (boot)
LT: Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 320GB 2.5'' HDD
PSU
DT: Rosewill Bronze Series 1000W LT: 6 cell 62837mWh Li-ion
Case
DT:Thermaltake Armor Series LCS, LT:Dell Black Studio XPS 13
Cooling
DT: Custom watercooling setup
Keyboard
DT: Kengsinton PC/Mac LT: Integrated backlit keyboard
Mouse
DT: Logitech USB Optical Mouse LT: Integrated Track Pad
Internet Speed
380KB/s download on a good day...
Other Info
DT: CD/DVDRW Drive: Hp dvd1140, Multifunction front panel w/ 4 USB ports (2 Powered with 5V and 12V), Powered External SATA, 25-in-1 card reader, and audio ports

LT: Integrated Webcam with Microphone array, 8-in-1 card reader
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