WinXP on the "D" drive?

BBThumper · 03-11-2006, 05:24 PM

......working on a pc and some how Windows has been install on the "D" drive instead of "C". Running into various problems now and I think that is why. Is there anyway to change the drive letter on the OS drive to "C". Right now "C" is only a program storage drive and can be removed if nessary......

wonderwrench · 03-11-2006, 05:30 PM

I have had the same thing happen unsure why though. And no the only drive letter you cant change is the one windows is installed on. Looks like its time to start over. Sorry

JaGWiRE_abx · 03-11-2006, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wonderwrench

I have had the same thing happen unsure why though. And no the only drive letter you cant change is the one windows is installed on. Looks like its time to start over. Sorry

I had this too, I don't know why it even allows D:\, considering a lot of apps (most will go to any drive), but a lot will only go to C:\ when installing.

I tried partition magica nd many things, and nothing fixed it. Maybe the easiest if possible is to load upa cronis, do an image of DRIVE D:\ and drive C:\, and then on bootup have acronis boot, and then load D:\ into C:\, and C:\ into D:\. That is definitley the easiest way.

TweakHound · 03-11-2006, 06:29 PM

I wouldn't try changing the drive letter but it is possible:
How can I change the System partition drive letter in Windows XP?

Why you shouldn't:
How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP
"Many MS-DOS-based and Microsoft Windows-based programs refer to specific drive letters for environmental or other variables. If you modify the drive letter, these programs may not function correctly." or you may not even be able to boot.

A good registry cleaner MAY be able to help.

wonderwrench · 03-11-2006, 10:11 PM

I was thinking and if I remember correctly I had more than one HD installed when this happened to me. Does this system have more than one physical HD? I think I disconnected the second HD then formated the first partition on the problematic HD and reloaded windows. Once this was done reconnected the second HD and it was fine.

BBThumper · 03-13-2006, 10:23 AM

......thks for the replies guys. I too thought a reformat was the only way to go. Its do for a clean install anyway. Thks again...

CYCLOPS · 03-13-2006, 11:27 AM

You can install Windows on any drive you want, just go through the process of creating partitions beforehand to force the letters and which hd you want it on. I run all my machines with XP on a 10g E: partition on the Raid0 all by itself. I think this is a major factor in keeping bad stuff out as it can't locate Windows on a defaut C:

Once installed, you can't move it as all the reg keys relate to the install. Wipe and load.

TweakHound · 03-13-2006, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CYCLOPS

You can install Windows on any drive you want, just go through the process of creating partitions beforehand to force the letters and which hd you want it on. I run all my machines with XP on a 10g E: partition on the Raid0 all by itself. I think this is a major factor in keeping bad stuff out as it can't locate Windows on a defaut C:
Once installed, you can't move it as all the reg keys relate to the install. Wipe and load.

Installing XP on a different drive/partition does not improve security. Basically, that "bad stuff" is written to look to the registry for your default folders just like any other program.

shaihulud · 03-13-2006, 05:00 PM

It has to do with the partitions that are active during enumeration. Enumeration can be slightly affected by the BIOS boot order. If you were to create a partition on the volume, reboot, and start the installation process again the enumerated partitions will be mapped different.

Example: If I am to have 2 PATA drives, one SATA drive, and one DVD-ROM drive. The 2 PATA drives located on the primary channel as master and slave with primary partitions only and one unformatted SATA drive. The DVD-ROM drive is on the secondary channel with master termination. The drive letters will be assigned as so. The primary channel master drive will be C:\ because default BIOS boot order, D:\ will be primary slave drive, E:\ will be the ROM device. SATA once formated will be F:\. If extended partitions are created it still goes in the order of enumeration.

If you were to create a partition on the SATA drive, reboot, change the boot order to the SATA drive the SATA drive will be C:\, and the others accordingly as enumerated. However, Windows may see the order different due to the channels used. Drive 0 will be primary channel 1 master, drive 1 will be primary channel 1 slave, and SATA will be drive 2, using this example. Even though logically it is higher.

The drive letter does not change anything but the logic order and the pointer to the physical location of the bits.

JoeFrat · 03-13-2006, 05:09 PM

Iomega Zip drives have been known to cause this during the install of XP. It can also happen when a usb jump drive is plugged in and initialized by the bios during setup.

Most programs do not have an issue with it being on the d drive, although it has been my experience that windows update does not like this setup. Re-install is the cleanest way to rectify this.

shaihulud · 03-13-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Iomega Zip drives have been known to cause this during the install of XP

The issue you may be implying is this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896536/en-us. Drive letters do nothing but point to the volumes. Having boot on a letter other than C:\ will not affect anything, unless there is something intrinsically erroneous with the code. This has a commonality factor of almost non-existent.

JoeFrat · 03-14-2006, 10:28 AM

Yes that is what I was referring to. I have done this by accident and I can tell you from experience that windows update will not properly function. Manual updates (like installing sp2 after downloading etc.) work fine.

Yes, you are correct that drive letters should not affect anything, but as I sit here I know that this is not the case. There are other quirky things but this is the biggest reason to redo the install.

JoeFrat · 05-15-2006, 05:30 PM

This just in....

USB Card readers cause the same issue as Zip Drives. I just built a pc using the Antec Aria case and forgot to unplug the built in card reader....XP installed to the F: drive and will not run windows update, it gives me the same error that a zip drive does.

Amazing that Microsoft's flagship consumer OS does't install properly unless it's on the c: partition......Hell even PC-BSD doesn't have this problem!

03-11-2006, 05:24 PM	#1
BBThumper Happy, Joyous and Free Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Philly Posts: 2,024	WinXP on the "D" drive? ......working on a pc and some how Windows has been install on the "D" drive instead of "C". Running into various problems now and I think that is why. Is there anyway to change the drive letter on the OS drive to "C". Right now "C" is only a program storage drive and can be removed if nessary...... __________________ ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe AMD Phenom 9600 XP-90c w/ a T.T. 92mm fan 2 x 2gig pc26400 Nvidia 8400 2 x Raptors in Raid 0 ......My City's moto: Welcome to Philly, now get the heck out!!!!!!!
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03-11-2006, 05:30 PM	#2
wonderwrench ABXpert Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mpls MN Posts: 1,615	I have had the same thing happen unsure why though. And no the only drive letter you cant change is the one windows is installed on. Looks like its time to start over. Sorry __________________ C2Q Q6600 @ 3 GhzMSI P35 Neo2-FR bios 1.104x 2 gig Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 ramEvga 8800GT SSC SATA HD's 1 Seagate 320 gig, 1 Samsung 320 gig LiteOn sohw-1693sPlextor PX 716aTeac FloppyOCZ 700GXSSLI PSU* Rosewill R6AR6-BK case*XP pro sp3 32 bit\Vista Ultimate 64 bit Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.
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03-11-2006, 06:29 PM	#4
TweakHound . Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 2,669	I wouldn't try changing the drive letter but it is possible: How can I change the System partition drive letter in Windows XP? Why you shouldn't: How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP "Many MS-DOS-based and Microsoft Windows-based programs refer to specific drive letters for environmental or other variables. If you modify the drive letter, these programs may not function correctly." or you may not even be able to boot. A good registry cleaner *MAY* be able to help.
(Offline)

03-11-2006, 10:11 PM	#5
wonderwrench ABXpert Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mpls MN Posts: 1,615	I was thinking and if I remember correctly I had more than one HD installed when this happened to me. Does this system have more than one physical HD? I think I disconnected the second HD then formated the first partition on the problematic HD and reloaded windows. Once this was done reconnected the second HD and it was fine. __________________ C2Q Q6600 @ 3 GhzMSI P35 Neo2-FR bios 1.104x 2 gig Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 ramEvga 8800GT SSC SATA HD's 1 Seagate 320 gig, 1 Samsung 320 gig LiteOn sohw-1693sPlextor PX 716aTeac FloppyOCZ 700GXSSLI PSU* Rosewill R6AR6-BK case*XP pro sp3 32 bit\Vista Ultimate 64 bit Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.
(Offline)

03-13-2006, 10:23 AM	#6
BBThumper Happy, Joyous and Free Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Philly Posts: 2,024	......thks for the replies guys. I too thought a reformat was the only way to go. Its do for a clean install anyway. Thks again... __________________ ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe AMD Phenom 9600 XP-90c w/ a T.T. 92mm fan 2 x 2gig pc26400 Nvidia 8400 2 x Raptors in Raid 0 ......My City's moto: Welcome to Philly, now get the heck out!!!!!!!
(Offline)

03-13-2006, 11:27 AM	#7
CYCLOPS Registered User Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: S NJ Posts: 527	You can install Windows on any drive you want, just go through the process of creating partitions beforehand to force the letters and which hd you want it on. I run all my machines with XP on a 10g E: partition on the Raid0 all by itself. I think this is a major factor in keeping bad stuff out as it can't locate Windows on a defaut C: Once installed, you can't move it as all the reg keys relate to the install. Wipe and load.
(Offline)

03-13-2006, 05:00 PM	#9
shaihulud Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 1,254	It has to do with the partitions that are active during enumeration. Enumeration can be slightly affected by the BIOS boot order. If you were to create a partition on the volume, reboot, and start the installation process again the enumerated partitions will be mapped different. Example: If I am to have 2 PATA drives, one SATA drive, and one DVD-ROM drive. The 2 PATA drives located on the primary channel as master and slave with primary partitions only and one unformatted SATA drive. The DVD-ROM drive is on the secondary channel with master termination. The drive letters will be assigned as so. The primary channel master drive will be C:\ because default BIOS boot order, D:\ will be primary slave drive, E:\ will be the ROM device. SATA once formated will be F:\. If extended partitions are created it still goes in the order of enumeration. If you were to create a partition on the SATA drive, reboot, change the boot order to the SATA drive the SATA drive will be C:\, and the others accordingly as enumerated. However, Windows may see the order different due to the channels used. Drive 0 will be primary channel 1 master, drive 1 will be primary channel 1 slave, and SATA will be drive 2, using this example. Even though logically it is higher. The drive letter does not change anything but the logic order and the pointer to the physical location of the bits.
(Offline)

03-13-2006, 05:09 PM	#10
JoeFrat Registered Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 3,850	Iomega Zip drives have been known to cause this during the install of XP. It can also happen when a usb jump drive is plugged in and initialized by the bios during setup. Most programs do not have an issue with it being on the d drive, although it has been my experience that windows update does not like this setup. Re-install is the cleanest way to rectify this.
(Offline)

03-14-2006, 10:28 AM	#12
JoeFrat Registered Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 3,850	Yes that is what I was referring to. I have done this by accident and I can tell you from experience that windows update will not properly function. Manual updates (like installing sp2 after downloading etc.) work fine. Yes, you are correct that drive letters should not affect anything, but as I sit here I know that this is not the case. There are other quirky things but this is the biggest reason to redo the install.
(Offline)

05-15-2006, 05:30 PM	#13
JoeFrat Registered Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 3,850	This just in.... USB Card readers cause the same issue as Zip Drives. I just built a pc using the Antec Aria case and forgot to unplug the built in card reader....XP installed to the F: drive and will not run windows update, it gives me the same error that a zip drive does. Amazing that Microsoft's flagship consumer OS does't install properly unless it's on the c: partition......Hell even PC-BSD doesn't have this problem!
(Offline)

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