Reboot after deleting partitions.

[Guest Sid Elbow]

If you do a new Win2K install and first delete any existing partitions,

you need to reboot after that to avoid unexpected drive letters.

 

Does anyone know if the same is true for XP?

[Guest Dave Patrick]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

I believe it is a good time saving practice.

 

 

 

--

 

Regards,

 

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

"Sid Elbow" wrote:

> If you do a new Win2K install and first delete any existing partitions,

> you need to reboot after that to avoid unexpected drive letters.

>

> Does anyone know if the same is true for XP?

[Guest Andy]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:37:47 -0400, Sid Elbow <here@there.com> wrote:

>If you do a new Win2K install and first delete any existing partitions,

>you need to reboot after that to avoid unexpected drive letters.

>

>Does anyone know if the same is true for XP?

 

What unexpected drive letters? If you look at the Windows setup screen

that shows the drives and their partitions, the drive letters that are

shown next to the partitions are the same drive letters those

partitions will have in the installed Windows.

[Guest Sid Elbow]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

Andy wrote:

> What unexpected drive letters? If you look at the Windows setup screen

> that shows the drives and their partitions, the drive letters that are

> shown next to the partitions are the same drive letters those

> partitions will have in the installed Windows.

 

Perhaps "unexpected" is the wrong word - "inconvenient" might be more to

the point.

 

Lets say you currently have a C-partition (containing a bootable OS).

You decide to dump the OS on C: and install Win2K in its place.

 

So you boot to the Win2K CD and use the option to delete the partition

on C: If you then immediately create a new partition and continue the

install, the new install partition won't be created as C: (because C:

was existing and enumerated when you booted and the Win2K install

doesn't re-use the drive letter - it simply picks the next available

letter).

 

This isn't an actual problem but it's a bit "inconvenient" to have an OS

who's boot partition and all path references are to, say, E: (not to

mention that some application installs still seem to assume C: as the

location for, say, <Program Files> instead of actually checking).

 

The solution usually recommended is to reboot the install immediately

after deleting the original C-partition so that the drive is

re-enumerated. However, I thought I had heard that the XP installation

takes care of this by re-allocating the drive letter after partition

deletion .... but I'm not sure.

[Guest Sid Elbow]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

It wasn't really time saving that I was concerned with so much as having

the new OS installation show up as a C-partition as opposed to some

other drive letter.

 

 

 

Dave Patrick wrote:

> I believe it is a good time saving practice.

[Guest Dave Patrick]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

Correct, and that's was the gist of the statement. It saves time by not

having to start over because the drive letter is incorrect.

 

 

--

 

Regards,

 

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

"Sid Elbow" wrote:

> It wasn't really time saving that I was concerned with so much as having

> the new OS installation show up as a C-partition as opposed to some other

> drive letter.

[Guest Andy]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:56:07 -0400, Sid Elbow <here@there.com> wrote:

>Andy wrote:

>

>> What unexpected drive letters? If you look at the Windows setup screen

>> that shows the drives and their partitions, the drive letters that are

>> shown next to the partitions are the same drive letters those

>> partitions will have in the installed Windows.

>

>Perhaps "unexpected" is the wrong word - "inconvenient" might be more to

>the point.

>

>Lets say you currently have a C-partition (containing a bootable OS).

>You decide to dump the OS on C: and install Win2K in its place.

>

>So you boot to the Win2K CD and use the option to delete the partition

>on C: If you then immediately create a new partition and continue the

>install, the new install partition won't be created as C: (because C:

>was existing and enumerated when you booted and the Win2K install

>doesn't re-use the drive letter - it simply picks the next available

>letter).

 

I've never seen that happen. When you delete the C: partition, the

drive letter is freed. If you immediately recreate it, the partition

becomes C: again.

>

>This isn't an actual problem but it's a bit "inconvenient" to have an OS

>who's boot partition and all path references are to, say, E: (not to

>mention that some application installs still seem to assume C: as the

>location for, say, <Program Files> instead of actually checking).

>

>The solution usually recommended is to reboot the install immediately

>after deleting the original C-partition so that the drive is

>re-enumerated. However, I thought I had heard that the XP installation

>takes care of this by re-allocating the drive letter after partition

>deletion .... but I'm not sure.

 

Doing that is a recipe for making the primary partition not C: if

there are other existing partitions. When you restart Windows setup,

it will assign drive letters beginning with C: to the already existing

partitions, so when you recreate the primary partition it will not be

C:.

 

Unless you want to change the partition size, there is no reason to

delete the partition. Just select the partition to install Windows,

and you will be offered the option to format the partition before file

copying begins.

[Guest John John (MVP)]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

Andy wrote:

> On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:56:07 -0400, Sid Elbow <here@there.com> wrote:

>

>

>>Andy wrote:

>>

>>

>>>What unexpected drive letters? If you look at the Windows setup screen

>>>that shows the drives and their partitions, the drive letters that are

>>>shown next to the partitions are the same drive letters those

>>>partitions will have in the installed Windows.

>>

>>Perhaps "unexpected" is the wrong word - "inconvenient" might be more to

>>the point.

>>

>>Lets say you currently have a C-partition (containing a bootable OS).

>>You decide to dump the OS on C: and install Win2K in its place.

>>

>>So you boot to the Win2K CD and use the option to delete the partition

>>on C: If you then immediately create a new partition and continue the

>>install, the new install partition won't be created as C: (because C:

>>was existing and enumerated when you booted and the Win2K install

>>doesn't re-use the drive letter - it simply picks the next available

>>letter).

>

>

> I've never seen that happen. When you delete the C: partition, the

> drive letter is freed. If you immediately recreate it, the partition

> becomes C: again.

 

It is something that happens frequently enough, users have often

reported and asked about this drive lettering behaviour in these groups.

The time it takes to reboot is less than the time spent reinstalling.

 

Setup Changes Drive Letters After a Partition Is Deleted and Reinstalled

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225025

 

John

[Guest Sid Elbow]

Re: Reboot after deleting partitions.

 

John John (MVP) wrote:

> It is something that happens frequently enough, users have often

> reported and asked about this drive lettering behaviour in these groups.

> The time it takes to reboot is less than the time spent reinstalling.

>

> Setup Changes Drive Letters After a Partition Is Deleted and Reinstalled

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225025

 

FWIW, I tried it both ways for an XP install.

 

- I booted the XP install CD, deleted the original (first) C-partition,

created a new partition and immediately installed XP. The OS showed up

as E:

 

- I then rebooted the XP install CD, deleted the first partition,

created a new partition then canceled the setup and rebooted. I then

installed to that partition and the OS showed up as C:

 

So, same behaviour as Win2K apparently.