supra dan Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 need some help from the computer geniuses. i fitted a new hard drive and loaded windows xp. didn't notice at the time but it set the hard drive as G, not C. i now understand that i should have unplugged the card reader first.anyway, i reloaded windows again bit it only shows partition G, any idea how i can change it back to C? bear in mind i am a computer numpty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Before the installed windows for the 2nd time, did you completely wipe your hard disk (by re-formatting it)? If you didn't, I would suggest you do that. Re-installing windows when a copy already exists doesn't completely refresh everything, and it may be using the drive letter that it was given on the first attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra dan Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 no i didnt wipe it, how would i do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 If its your boot volume, I.E. where you have put windows then windows cannot change that letter. You will need to use a non windows tool such as partition manager or another (many out there) but if you dont know what you are doing, you could compleately fork your windows install and files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaireRZ-S Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 try this but at your own risk Change the System/Boot Drive Letter Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows Make a full system backup of the computer and system state. Log on as an Administrator. Start Regedt32.exe. Go to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices Click MountedDevices. On the Security menu, click Permissions. Verify that Administrators have full control. Change this back when you are finished with these steps. Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe. Locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for "\DosDevices\C:". Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename. Note You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry key. Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:". This frees up drive letter C. Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:". Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename. Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:". Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and then name it back to "\DosDevices\D:". Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32. Change the permissions back to the previous setting for Administrators (this should probably be Read Only). Restart the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra dan Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 thanks guys i think i have partition magic somewhere, i will try that first. if you dont here from me again you will know i have messed it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Some versions of PartitionMagic also came with a utility called DriveMapper. It *might* help in this case, but I think it would be best to start from scratch again, assuming you've got all the installation disks for Winodws (and any other software you've got installed) handy. By all means try Claire's suggestion, but I think the registry will be full of references to the G: drive. If you don't change them all, it will cause lots of errors to appear when you use the PC, assuming it will actually start. If you don't mind spending a few minutes on it, it's worth a go. It's only software tinkering and you won't cause any permanent damage (assuming you have the ability to re-install windows and your applications). Do take a backup of any files you want to keep before trying any of these techniques though, that's an absolute must! I'm typing this from memory, but I think it goes like this: When you boot the PC from the Winsdows installation disk, one of the early options is to format the partition(s) on the hard disk. If you do this, the computer will be forced to re-install Windows from scratch (which is a good thing ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Why don't you just leave it as G: ? It'll work perfectly fine. Realistically, you aren't going to be able to change it to C: without reinstalling the operating system and most/all installed applications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaveriK Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 When you follow Clairs instructions and your system reboots to the Windows XP logo but no further you are nearly there. Then you re-install windows, it will have it listed as C: and you can quick format and stuff it on top As Jake says (haaaway the toon BTW) there is little need to rename the system partition, most code will use the windows logicals to install. Only a few self extractors will fail and you can usually amend the extract to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 As Jake says (haaaway the toon BTW) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra dan Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 ok folks tried partition majic and it just came up an error half way through. tried claires way but i was getting lost halfway through the only reason i wanted to change it was because i was told it will cause problems when i install new stuff, but i have installed a couple of things and i just had to change the location to G when installing. will it cause problems if i leave as you gus have said? dont want to install anything else untill i know im not going to have to wipe it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 If it were me, I'd wipe it and start again, but that's mainly because I'm @nal. 99.9% of software installation packages will be able to work with a G drive with no problem. It's the 0.1% that can't that would screw me up. These problems have a habit of appearing when you need to get something done quickly. If you use your PC for mainstream stuff only (surfing, email, MS Office, looking at photos and videos, playing non-obscure games, that sort of thing), then you should be OK to leave it as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra dan Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 If you use your PC for mainstream stuff only (surfing, email, MS Office, looking at photos and videos, playing non-obscure games, that sort of thing), then you should be OK to leave it as it is. that me to a "T" stevie, i think i will leave it and see how it goes. thanks all you guys for the advice, much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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