Main Partition Drive letter change

[ben chi(f4)]

Someone installed the OS on the D drive and I need to change this to the C drive. Can this be done without corrupting everything?

 

[CrimsonKnight13]

Main idea: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188
Some more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249321
Use some from here afterwards: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SwitchingMyWindows7BootDiskFromDToCWithBCDBootRatherThanBCDEdit.aspx

After that, you will probably need to use a registry fixer in order to change entries with D: to C:

I did this once but it took me a while to get everything back to normal, so be warned. You might just want to do a fresh installation.

 

[mls1995]

You might just want to do a fresh installation.

This. It'll be just easier to do a fresh install.

 

[ben chi(f4)]

thanks is what I thought... fml.

 

[Chuklr]

thanks is what I thought... fml.

Hi, ben chi(f4),

When you do the reinstall make sure you disconnect all other HDDs or SSDs so the MBR doesn't get placed on a drive other than C:.

Hope this helps.

Chuklr

 

[Stoly]

and you need to change it because...

if you must, then use a boot cd, like bartpe or ubcd and use an off line registry editor and change all references from d: to c: a simple search/replace should do.

 

[grimster]

From the Microsoft Article:

Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article to change a drive on a computer where the drive letter has not changed. If you do so, you may not be able to start your operating system. Follow the procedure that is described in this article only to recover from a drive letter change, not to change an existing computer drive to something else.

This basically says if during installation, the drive where the OS was installed on, was made say D, then you cannot ever change it to C, you must re-install Windows.

 

[CrimsonKnight13]

From the Microsoft Article:
This basically says if during installation, the drive where the OS was installed on, was made say D, then you cannot ever change it to C, you must re-install Windows.

Despite that, you can still do it but its a pain in the ass & requires a lot of patience. Not really worth it since certain apps throw fits even if the registry has been repaired correctly. Config files for different apps can also have the system drive location written in & that takes even longer to fix. Usually if I see something jacked in Windows after a fresh install, I start over again w/ the correct fix again on hand to make it all work out well.