how to change drive letters when XP is not booting?

[Guest gabrtome1@yahoo.de]

Hi folks,

 

I need a programm able to start from CD which can:

 

format only the C: drive

then make drive D: to drive C and boot it.

 

If I don't made myself clear, please let me know.

 

Many thanks.

Gabriel

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: how to change drive letters when XP is not booting?

 

<gabrtome1@yahoo.de> wrote in message

news:1189365832.671828.240650@r29g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

> Hi folks,

>

> I need a programm able to start from CD which can:

>

> format only the C: drive

> then make drive D: to drive C and boot it.

>

> If I don't made myself clear, please let me know.

>

> Many thanks.

> Gabriel

 

 

Is XP currently installed on D:? If so, this plan (re-assigning D as C)

won't work as the drive references in the registry will almost all be wrong,

and there is no practical way to change this.

 

If XP isn't on D, simply physically remove or detach the C drive, put D in

its place as the primary drive (correct position on cable, jumpers set

properly) and when you install XP that drive will be C. Leave the current

C detached during install so that there is no question of conflicts.

 

HTH

-pk

[Guest Script]

RE: how to change drive letters when XP is not booting?

 

It's not clear.

Are C: and D: seperate hardware disk drives, or partitions on a single drive?

What is on C: now, and D:. (Operating Systems?)

What is your purpose for the change; what are you hoping to accomplish or

correct?

hth

 

"gabrtome1@yahoo.de" wrote:

> Hi folks,

>

> I need a programm able to start from CD which can:

>

> format only the C: drive

> then make drive D: to drive C and boot it.

>

> If I don't made myself clear, please let me know.

>

> Many thanks.

> Gabriel

>

>

[Guest gabrtome1@yahoo.de]

Re: how to change drive letters when XP is not booting?

 

Thanks for answering, my problem is that somehow all my Data has now

moved to partition D:

 

The actual C: drive now is a removable SD Card. I need to change the

drive letter, my images of course do not fit on a SD card.

 

I have backup images of my partitions, I just need to assign a new

drive letter to the removable drive, then assign D to C and the PC

should boot.

 

If not, I can always use my backup image, but therefore I need a C

drive.

 

Is there a way to do this?

 

Thanks in advance.

Gabriel

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: how to change drive letters when XP is not booting?

 

<gabrtome1@yahoo.de> wrote in message

news:1189468999.594490.309070@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> Thanks for answering, my problem is that somehow all my Data has now

> moved to partition D:

>

> The actual C: drive now is a removable SD Card. I need to change the

> drive letter, my images of course do not fit on a SD card.

>

> I have backup images of my partitions, I just need to assign a new

> drive letter to the removable drive, then assign D to C and the PC

> should boot.

>

> If not, I can always use my backup image, but therefore I need a C

> drive.

>

> Is there a way to do this?

>

> Thanks in advance.

> Gabriel

 

This kind of problem was previously seen with Zip drives and Windows 2000,

which if connected during initial setup would be assigned "C".

 

To get around it, you have to remove or disconnect the SD card and possibly

its reader during setup. You may also be able to reassign this from the

recovery console - fixmbr and fixboot will probably help when you get

another hard disk installed . But you can't change the letter of the

active boot drive while the system is running.

 

Again, if XP is currently on D, there is *no practical way* to change its

drive letter to C other than a clean reinstall. You cannot reasonably find

or change all of the existing drive references in the registry and various

configuration files. Keep in mind you will have to do this for every

installed user, and there are likely thousands of references for each user.

It would be faster and more reliable to wipe the system and reinstall clean

than to even attempt changing the drive letters.

 

So, changing the drive letter of the current D drive to C isn't going to

help you at all, but instead compound your system problems.

 

Unfortunately what appears to be a shortcut isn't.

 

HTH

-pk

[Guest gabrtome1@yahoo.de]

Re: how to change drive letters when XP is not booting?

 

Thank you very much for your time and your help.

 

I unplugged all drives except one HDD, formattet it and installed a

backup image over it, it works!

 

Thanks again.