# How to change Boot Drive Letter Name



## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

I've asked this question in the Win2000 forum, but since then I have upgraded to Win2000 Pro and am hoping that the slightly different O/S gives me a better answer.

This is a friend's machine, and I am tweaking it into better performance. Certain Apps I like to run will only install to the "C:" drive, and I cannot manually select this computers boot (and only) HD, which is (for some reason) "E:".

I had hoped the upgrade would have allowed me to change the Boot Drive's name to "C:", but it does not.

Is there any way to get around this ? I have another HD I can use, and am contemplating backing up the whole "E:" drive to it, then doing a fresh re-install of 2000 pro, hoping it will pick "C:" as the new boot drive name. But I don't even know for sure if I can influence the Installation procedure to get it to do this.

Can I ?

Plus I am worried about data loss. It's not my data, so the loss of it would be MORE than catastrophic, it could negatively impact my (shall we say) "personal" life.

:sayyes: 

So preserving this data is of highest priority. No "Files & Settings Transfer Wizard" in this O/S to do the back-up safely; how likely is it that I can resurrect this machine back to where it was before the new O/S install goes in ?


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## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

*Answering my own Question...*

I had read an article that gave these steps, but just now I found the Microsoft help file that they came from. So I am going to do it, against the advice of MicroSoft, which cautions that it should only be done if the drive letter has changed from what it was to something else.

To the best of my knowledge, this machine has always had it's boot drive as "E:", which, if you have never experienced this, is a real, 4-barrel and fiery red-hot pain in the kabuttnick. If you are ever in this situation and have the option, NEVER let your boot drive be anything other than "C:". I've had 3 applications just straight-up refuse to install to it today, plus navigating around trying to find drivers that need to be manually located has ALSO been a painus in the kabuttnick.

It is for all these reasons, plus a mad, careening toward the vanishing point personality that drives me to try this risky manuever. If you all don't here from me for a couple of days, it will be because I blew the thing up, and won't be getting any personal "special time" for a while, either.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q223188/

An excerpt:

Change the System/Boot Drive Letter
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.1. Make a full system backup of the computer and system state. 
2. Log on as an Administrator. 
3. Start Regedt32.exe. 
4. Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices 
5. Click MountedDevices. 
6. On the Security menu, click Permissions. 
7. Verify that Administrators have full control. Change this back when you are finished with these steps. 
8. Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe. 
9. Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices 
10. Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for "\DosDevices\C:". 
11. Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.

Note You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry key. 
12. Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:".

This frees up drive letter C. 
13. Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:". 
14. Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename. 
15. Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:". 
16. Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and then name it back to "\DosDevices\D:". 
17. Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32. 
18. Change the permissions back to the previous setting for Administrators (this should probably be Read Only). 
19. Restart the computer.

EDIT ***

Oh yeah, I wanted to theorize WHY this drive has "always" had it's primary boot drive as "E:". The owner of this machine had it repaired recently, a fried HD was replaced and Win2000 was installed (with an illegally made O/S disk, BTW).

In addition to many other shortcomings, these Computer Tech Yahoos seem to have done most of the work while this thing's HD was loaded as a "Slave" on their computer. I suspect they did the O/S installation while the host machine was booted as primary. I think this because I see references to "Mass Storage Device" here and there on the HD, but there is nothing on it that would/could be called that. So I think their Primary boot was called this, and it's existance is peppered throughout my friend's machine. My theory is that this HD got named "E:" because the "Tech's" HD was taking up the "C:" spot.

I mention this because this situation has caused no end of problems and frustration. If you are a Professional Tech, or have aspirations of being one, I would highly advise against ever doing this kind of thing to a paying customer. (She paid $90.00 for the HD install, plus the copy of the bootleg copy of Win2000.)

In addition to this, these Yahoos also installed 2 AV prgrams, one of which had a firewall, while her DSL provider also had a firewall active. (This has also caused lots of problems; First I have to learn that PcCillin has a firewall, then I find out SBCglobal provides a SECRET (hidden and buried deep, you can only access it's settings by typing in the numerical ISP - took a phone call to SBCGlobal Customer Service to discover THAT ONE) firewall, which requires a password in order to access the settings (so as to open certain ports).

NONE of these prgrams were configured properly. The settings were either disfunctionally too high, or they were not turned on at all. Such as the Automatic Virus Definitions.

This experience has really opened my eyes to how poor Tech Service can still get paid.


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

i myself run a "quad boot" with 4 operating systems sharing a hard disk, so my windows xp thinks it's boot drive is "H".

not sure what you mean by it being a pain in the rear.


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## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

*GAWD what a MESS ! ! !*

So I followed the directions to the letter. Verified Admin had permission, changed the Reg Entries, re-booted and got the error message saying y Pagefile was too small or non-existant. Failed to boot normally twice.

Failed to boot into Safe Mode twice.

Failed to repair from Recovery Console using "Fixboot", "FixMBR", "CHKDSK" and anything else I could think of to use.

Failed to boot after doing a Repair installation, twice.

Failed to boot after doing a Clean Installation, once.

For some reason, the second clean install managed to work. Now the system has it's primary boot as "C:" as it should, and all NORMAL people should have it.
:1angel: 

However, NONE of the Apps I had on the drive would work normally. They were all looking for their files on the (now non-existant) "E:" drive.

The Firewall program wouldn't work, I didn't have the Reg Key to re-install it so now the system is naked.

The AV program wouldn't work, and I didn't have the Reg Key so I had to install AVG. It choked the first install, and I had to uninstall and re-install it a second time.

The Spyware programs had to be re-installed.
Reinstalled the DSL Internet Software, about 5 or 6 times.
Reinstalled the DSL modem software, about 4 or 5 times, plus a call to the ISP Customer Service.

Spent about 2 hours manually migrating all the files & settings folders from the back-up file to where they used to be. MS back-up is barely useful, and makes me miss my XP's Files & Settings Transfer Wizard.

All-in-all, I've spent about 25 hours messing with it, over the last 2 days. (Went to bed at 7:00 am this morning...)

But the Primary HD is now labeled "C:", :sayyes: 


But I forgot why it was so important for me to have it this way...


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