Change the xp system drive letter. How to change the drive letter in Windows

In this article, I will show you how to change the drive letter without using any programs or utilities. Of course, there are special software methods, but we will do without them now. The method I will tell you about is suitable for Windows XP, Windows 7 and other operating systems.

Why change the drive letter? There can be many reasons for this. Perhaps the system missed some letter, and you are not happy when, say, drive D comes first, and then, instead of E, immediately F (for example, such a mess makes me nervous). Or this will be needed if the system has assigned the same letter to two different drives (this also happens). One of them will not work correctly. I even already considered this case in ways to solve the problem when .

So, whatever your motivation, here's a guide on how to change your drive letter. I show using Windows XP as an example. On some other OS everything will be approximately the same, you can figure it out from my pictures.

How to change the drive letter

To change the drive letter, follow the instructions below.

Click “Start” and select “Run” (or the keyboard shortcut win+R).
Enter “diskmgmt.msc” (without quotes) in the window that opens, and click the “OK” button.
Launch "Disk Management"
In the “Disk Management” window that opens, right-click on the desired drive and select “Change drive letter or drive path.”
Changing the drive letter
Now another window has opened in which you need to click the “Change” button and select the letter you want to assign from the drop-down list this disk. Then click the "Ok" button.
Changing the drive letter
A warning will appear that changing the drive letter will cause some programs to fail to launch. Here we agree and click “Yes” (other warnings may appear, you also need to agree to them).
Changing the drive letter

You should now see that the drive letter has changed.

operating system Windows, in my opinion, is the most flexible and intuitive operating system, but despite this, I realize that there are a lot of controversial points in it, in particular those who concern its settings. Sometimes when you need to do minor changes or perform a couple of actions in this OS, you may encounter hours of searching for the necessary parameters or options, since the developers did not consider it necessary place them in a visible place and make life easier for users. One such setting is ability to change drive letter installed on the computer. And now I'm talking about it I'll tell you in detail.

Background

When I had desktop computer , it was installed somewhere six hard drives different volumes. And this was extremely convenient, since in total I had memory in ten terabytes. But the only thing that upset me when you start your computer for the first time with all media installed, this is that they received their letters in the system in a completely random way. Yes, the most capacious could have the first letters alphabet, and those that less follow-up.

What's the problem? In fact there was no problem, I'm just used to holding everything in a more or less logical order, that's why such chaos was happening on my computer an eyesore for me. And in the end I just took it swapped all existing disks, changing their letters and placing from smaller volume to larger volume. This was the end of my “problems”, but much more interesting the way I got rid of them.

How to change the drive letter?

To begin with, it is worth understanding that changing the drive letter on which at least one program installed, will disrupt its work, since the path along which it was added to the system, will cease to exist. Therefore, if something like this happened, then the only way return it to its previous state - reinstallation. Therefore I am extremely I don't recommend it make similar changes if the disk is in use for a long time And it has a large number of programs you need installed.

The very same change drive letter there is nothing complicated about it. First you need to go along the following path:

"Start" menu - "Control Panel" - "Administrative Tools" - "Computer Management" - "Disk Management"

As soon as the window will load and will appear in front of you list of drives with letters assigned to them, you can start setting up. To do this, click on the disk right click and select the item " Change drive letter or drive path...", then press the button " Change" and on the right side of the window click on the letter, which will unfold list of all possible options . When you have made your choice, click " OK", answer the question " Yes" and your disk will receive new letter, which means its place in the “ ” hierarchy will change.

When in front of you a list of disks will appear, there is a high probability that it will contain those whose existence is known you didn't even suspect. These disks can't touch! In fact, these are the sections in which backup files are stored for system recovery and other operations, which are included in the computer by the manufacturer. Most often, these sections are present in devices assembled in factories under the brand name of a famous brand, therefore it is desirable don't touch them at all so as not to disrupt the operation of the computer. In the same devices which you collected yourself, similar sections there won't be, so worry about it in this case not worth it.

If the letter you wanted to use busy, then first you should free her, changing the value of the disk that occupies it. Just make sure that this the disk is not key to the operation of the computer and you can change its location.

In addition to disks, you can change drive letter, which also has it and is displayed in " Conductor". I usually prescribe it last of all, to the very first of the remaining free letters.

NEVER change drive letter C! This disc is fundamental, so any changes to it will lead to very bad consequences, in particular, to computer failure.

Now we can!

That's all. That's it for this extremely short and simple instructions ends. Yes I understand that few people will find it useful, but what if there are more people willing to use it after they find out that something like this can be implemented? Well, what if?

Splitting hard drive to logical drives simplifies working with your computer and optimizes data storage. For example, if you keep the operating system and all programs on the system drive, and important data on a logical drive, then in case of failures you can simply clean the system drive and reinstall the OS. The data will not be affected. We’ve sorted out the advantages of several logical drives, now let’s move on to the main topic - how to configure drive letters in the system in your own way.

Why would anyone need to change the drive letter? Yes, there are many reasons. Some people just want to designate a logical drive, say, not E, but D. But more often this is necessary not out of idle curiosity, but for the sake of order in the system. At Windows installation, the system assigns system drive C, drive D, and only then assigns letters to logical drives - E, F, etc. I really want to see the disks in order, and only then the drive, which will require changing the drive letter.

Changing the drive letter may be necessary when connecting a flash drive. Special programs, such as a client bank, are configured to read key files from a flash drive, which is assigned a specific letter. When connecting other drives, the flash drive may be assigned a different letter, and the client bank will not be able to work. In order not to reconfigure the program, you can simply change the drive letter assigned to the flash drive.

How to change the drive letter?

There are many programs to work with hard drives who can perform this operation. For example, Partition Magic or software from Acronis are suitable. But they are paid and require certain skills to use. But you can do without these “monsters”. The system already includes everything you need out of the box so that you can easily change the drive letter.

In order to change the letter of a logical drive, you need to go to the “Disk Management” snap-in. This can be done in various ways, but as a user with administrator rights:

For those who like to click the mouse: Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. On the left you will need to find the “Disk Management” item;

A faster method: right-click on “my computer”, there is a drop-down menu item “Management”;

Another way is Start > Run... (or win +r) > diskmgmt.msc.

In this snap-in we see the current disk settings. To change the drive letter, right-click on to the desired disk and select “Change drive letter or drive path...”. You can't go wrong further. If you need to swap drives D and E, you won’t be able to immediately assign a drive letter. First, you need to change the letter of any of the drives to an unallocated one, for example, change E to X, then assign the letter E to drive D, and only then change drive letter X to D.

Changing the system letter or boot disk

This is a more complicated operation, and one awkward move can cause the system to stop booting. And you will have to reinstall everything. And in general, it is assumed that the drive letter D was assigned incorrectly and should be changed to the letter currently assigned to drive C. So the following instructions are intended for those who want to cure the system, and not play with the settings.

Following the steps below will swap drive letters C and D. If you simply want to change the drive letter, set the \DosDevice\letter: parameter to any letter that is not currently in use. Instructions taken from the official Microsoft website.

1. Create backup copy state of the system and data located on the computer.

2. Log in with administrator rights.

3. Run Regedt32.exe.

4. Navigate to the following registry key:

5. Click the MountedDevices section.

6. From the Security menu, select Permissions.

7. Grant the “Administrators” group the “ Full access" After completing the steps described below, you must restore the rights that previously existed.

8. Close Regedt32.exe and run Regedit.exe.

9. Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevice

10. Find the parameter that contains the letter that should be assigned to the drive. In this case, this is the “\DosDevices\C:” parameter.

11. Right-click the \DosDevices\C: parameter and select Rename.
Note. To rename this setting, you must use Regedit instead of Regedt32.

12. In the new name, specify one of the currently unused letters (for example, “\DosDevices\Z:”).
Now the letter C is free.

13. Find the setting that corresponds to the drive letter you want to change. In this case, this is the “\DosDevices\D:” parameter.

14. Right-click the \DosDevices\D: parameter and select Rename.

15. Specify the name taking into account the new drive letter (in this case, “\DosDevices\C:”).

16. Right-click the \DosDevices\Z: parameter, select the Rename command and change the name to “\DosDevices\D:”.

17. Close Regedit and run Regedt32.exe.

18. Reset the pre-existing permissions for the Administrators group (usually Read Only permission).

19. Restart your computer.

All instructions described above are suitable for any Windows from 2000 to Windows 7.

Often, for user convenience, the entire hard disk space is divided into partitions. Thus, the “Seven” is occupied by the system disk on the hard drive, and the remaining logical volumes are allocated for storing user files.

It is necessary to take into account a very important point that it is impossible to change the letter of the system drive on which Windows 7 itself is located, otherwise such a change will lead to the impossibility of starting operating system. Next we will talk about how to change the letter of a logical drive in Windows 7, i.e. the volume on which the computer owner saves ordinary files, for example, Microsoft Office documents, music, videos, images, etc.

Methods for solving the problem

If a PC owner has wondered how to change the drive letter in Windows 7, then solving it will not take a significant amount of time and labor. Such a change can be quickly made using Windows 7 itself. Below is a description of two simple methods of implementation - through the Disk Management service built into the system.

Method 1: Through “Start”

The following sequential steps must be performed:

Method 2: Using a special command

The following several steps are required:

Procedure for changing the disc designation

Immediately after starting the Disk Management service, you can proceed directly to solving the question of how to rename a disk in Windows 7. To do this, you should perform the following sequential steps:

Note: after correcting the disk name, all shortcuts to files and programs installed in this volume will no longer function.

In this case, the computer owner will be required to take additional steps to configure the familiar system interface.

Using the capabilities of the Windows 7 Registry Editor

operating room Windows system always assigns a letter to all drives. Be it a floppy disk drive, DVD drive, flash drive, SD card of a camera, hard drive and so on. But we are not always comfortable with how Windows assigns them.

Very often there is a situation when after the system drive “C” there is a second hard drive, or partition, with the letter “E”. A DVD drive with the letter "D". And “I want it in order.” In this article we will look at the question - how to change the letter Windows disk 7.

This operation is very simple and quick, and does not require you to go deep into the system. The only note is that you cannot change the letter of the system partition “C”.

To work with disks in Windows there is special program– “Disk Management”.
There are several ways to launch it. I will consider only 2 of them.

1) Click the “Start” menu - right-click on “Computer” - select “Management”