Solved Swapping System Drive Letters in Dual Boot Setup

[pjfarr]

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.

 

[seavixen32]

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.

 

[gregrocker]

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?

 

[pjfarr]

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?

 

[seavixen32]

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.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

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.

 

[pjfarr]

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.

 

[theog]

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.

 

[pjfarr]

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.

 

[pjfarr]

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".

 

[seavixen32]

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.

 

[gregrocker]

If you install Win7 from XP desktop, it will take another letter besides C because XP is holding C.

XP is sitting on C and too old to know how to release it so that the booted OS can always be C as when Win7 and Vista are installed from boot.

 

[pjfarr]

At this point I have no problem starting over and giving it another go. Is the best way to go to delete the Win7 partition and recreate it without assigning it a drive letter? I still won't be able to boot from the Win7 DVD, since for some reason neither of my DVD drives will co-operate which is how I got into this mess in the first place. Someone recommended this article about installing Win7 from a USB drive, which sounds promising, but involved.

 

[seavixen32]

Try this Windows Seven Forums tutorial instead.

I used it a couple of weeks ago on a neighbour's laptop whose system was hosed and had a non-working DVD drive. It got me out of trouble big-time.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[gregrocker]

You want to boot the installer or you'll not solve the drive letter problem. You also need it for Repairs if Win7 won't start.

Write the DVD ISO (extracted with ImgBurn) to flash stick using Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu. Boot under USB, Removable, or HD's using one time Boot Menu key.

But you should be able to boot a good DVD if you tried other OD's. Did you burn it yourself? If so, confirm ISO or download another and burn to DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed. Then use the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key, or set it to boot in BIOS: How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD

 

[theog]

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

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

For better help, can you post the screenshot.

 

[pjfarr]

Thanks for all the great info guys.
seavixen32, the article looks interesting but I'll have more time to read it later this week. If I try the boot from USB technique, will it work with a USB Ext. drive too? I just glanced over the article at this point but it seems to be geared toward Flash drives.

gregrocker, it's a commercial DVD. I did see a "Removable" listing in my BIOS under in Boot sequence and it was the first listed until I changed it to my DVD drive, so my pc will boot from a USB drive. But as I asked sv32 does that go for an ext. HD as well?

 

[pjfarr]

theog:
Is this what you're asking for?It's my Disk Management dialog (while in XP)

 

[gregrocker]

I'd use a flash stick as externals can be problematic but stick works every time.

Then set your HD first in BIOS so the stick doesn't interfere later during install by autostarting at reboots.

Use the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key to initially boot the flash stick.

 

[pjfarr]

I already own a program called PowerISO and I have a 4GB flash drive that's only been used a few times. I can clear everything off it, np.

So in PowerISO I would choose "Make image from CD/DVD ROM", select .iso as destination file and the flash drive as the destination. Correct?

 

[gregrocker]

I'm pretty sure however that PowerISO will extract the ISO intact as well as ImgBurn.

However the only app I've found which never fails writing to flash stick is Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu. It's tiny and doesn't even need to be installed, just run it.