# How to Change Boot Drive Letter ??



## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

I am improving the efficiency of a friend's computer (AMD Duron homebuilt running Win2K) and an application I am trying to run will only work if the boot drive is "C:". Unfortunately, this computer's boot HD is named "E:" (there is no "C:", or any other HD other than the Primary. The CD-ROM is "D:".)

I've done some research and have found that (apparantly) Win2000 doesn't like you to change it's boot drive letter name, unlike WinXP. I read a bit about modifying some Registry entries with the caution that it could cause you to lose the whole HD, so I won't do that.

IS this an absolute dead-end ? Or is there a way to (safely) change the letter name of the boot drive in Win2000 ??


Any help appreciated, and thanks in advance,


Johnny F.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

Johnny:

I lnow of no practical way to change the drive letter of an OS once it has been established / I have heard guys say they have dont it by messing with All the resgistry keys / but I wouldnt bet a McDonald's happy meal lunch on that one!

I think you would be better served trying to change a partition on your hard drive and get that labeled "C" and then use a free prog called xxclone to clone your OS drive to the knew partition / xxclone is kindergarten easy to use / only one main window and an advanced tab shich you must give a check mark to three necessary bootable option files

if you dont have a partition you can use / then buy a "cheap" used IDE drive on ebay

sorry I cant be of more help / but I would seriously abandon the thought of trying to change the drive letter of the OS

regards

Joe


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## Silverhawk (Jun 24, 2005)

*changing the main boot drive letter*

The above post hit it on the head. You can go into the registry (not recommended unless your familiar with it) and simply edit the boot drive letter acess and the volume entries for the hardware device BUT realize that you ahev installed other programs that will now need reinstalled soo long story short .... back up data .... reinstall windows on the drive creating a new partition.


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## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

*Final Report*

I intended to come back here after trying the Registry change idea, but didn't have the time.

All cautions against doing this are right on the money. This is something I would recommend NOT even trying, at least the way I did it. (I don't know if there is "another" way, but THIS one was sure a crapper.

I read an article from an on-line magazine that gave instructions on how to do it (I won't post it) and I disregarded the article as unreliable as it was from "someplace" on the internet. But then I found a link to Microsoft and MS listed the exact same instructions, so it was obvious to me that MS was the source for the article.

So thinking I had MicroSoft's endorsement (while ignoring their cautions), I went ahead and tried it.

It wasn't too difficult. You had to change the permissions or verify you had them using Regedt32 (no big deal) and then change the Drive Letter Name in the Registry. No big deal.

The "Big Deal" came when it wouldn't boot into Win2000 afterwards. Twice.

Nor would it boot into Safe Mode. Twice.

Running every program I could think of from Recovery Console didn't work and
a Repair Installation didn't work either.

Only a Full Install allowed me to boot into Win2000 successfully again.

Total Time Involved: @ 20 hours.

This is a friend's computer and I was desparate to get it looking like it did before she went out of town. The Full Install "zapped" the Microsoft Office 2000 programs (how or why I can't say), and I didn't notice it so I was busted immediately.

"What happened to my computer while I was gone ?"

"Uh.... Nothing honey, why ?"

"How come all my Word documents are coming up in Notepad ?"

"Uh..."

"Also, where's my firewall, and my other anti-virus scanning program, and why do all my icons look different ?"

"uh...."

(At least I got the desktop picture back.)

The other blunder I made here was assuming that if I simply overwrote the existing data from Microsoft's "Back-up" program, everything would be good as new.

El-Wrongo. I don't know why; maybe it was because all the data that was backed up referenced the (now non-existant) "E:" drive and so it either didn't find it's way there or only partially. I can't say. My computer priveledges have been revoked; limited only to those times when no one is home and so there are no witnesses.

Anyways, the whole point I am trying to convey is that the Microsoft method of changing your drive letter name is one big dookie, if you asked me. Maybe there is a better method, but this one sure isn't worth trying. Personally I think MS shouldn't even publish it.


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