Drive root stuck on T:

[Unholywater]

How do I get the default installation root back to C: instead of T:?

 

[Phantasm66]

Do this.

Open regedit.

Find this area of the registry:-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Find the value called \DosDevices\T:

DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THE HEX CODES!!!!!

Rename \DosDevices\T: to \DosDevices\C:

If there already is a \DosDevices\C: , then rename it to something else.

Reboot your machine.

 

[Phantasm66]

Its a pain in the *** when that happens. The Disk Administrator snap in thingy on the management console should let you do it after a reboot, but instead it out and out refuses. And it does work because if you do the above, you will see that it does (provided you do it properly.)

 

[Unholywater]

So should I switch the name from T: to C:, and the current C:, to T:?

 

[DigitAlex]

Phant that's a great tip out there !!!

I was always trying to figure out how to do that the right way to have my 2Kpro on drive D (I have 98 just in case on C). I was just hiding all the partitions before installing so it was getting D.

I tried to change the drive letter in disk admin but like u said it never worked.

great to know it's possible to hack that oh and unholywater don't forget to change all the references in registry and files from T to C with some program like the ones that come with Partition Magic for example

Phant, it maybe could be great to have a frequent asked tips section on the boards or on techspot ??

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by Unholywater
So should I switch the name from T: to C:, and the current C:, to T:?

I guess that would do, yeah. Seems pretty straightforward.

 

[Phantasm66]

Oh, the catch is , you can't just change the root installation drive letter to anything you like. If it was something upon initially installation, you can change it BACK, but changing it to something else it wasn't before isn't recommended.

example:

I install my machine, it thinks my XP partition is D:. I add some HDD or something, now on boot it thinks its F:. I can change it BACK TO D:, but if I change to something else, albeit that the registry will let me with the above hack, I will run into problems if I do anything other than restore the original letter.

So that is FOR DRIVE LETTER RESTORATION, not just to change it to whatever you like.

 

[DigitAlex]

Originally posted by DigitAlex
oh and unholywater don't forget to change all the references in registry and files from T to C with some program like the ones that come with Partition Magic for example

Phant, it maybe could be great to have a frequent asked tips section on the boards or on techspot ??

I tried to do this and as long as you replace all the occurences of the drive letter it's ok

what about the tips section ?

 

[Unholywater]

I have two mounted Devices keys in my registry. Which one should I edit?

 

[Phantasm66]

To change the letter of a drive, locate its current drive letter and rename it, its as simple as that, except remember not to have any two with the same letter.

Rename \DosDevices\C: to \DosDevices\T:
Rename \DosDevices\Tthe original one, not the new one you just made when you renamed C to \DosDevices\C:

Its as simple as that.

 

[Unholywater]

Because of this, all my uninstall information is weird.

 

[Phantasm66]

What, before or after you tried what I said? Do you mean that this is what you are trying to fix, or this is a new side-effect? If so, maybe you'd better tell us all the whole sorry tale right now. What happened and why are you in this fix?

 

[acidosmosis]

You know it really would be easier to just reinstall Windows. And usually if you don't know enough to figure this out on your own you probably shouldn't be attempting something like this. It will just cause you a headache and sooner or later your going to realize that installing Windows would have been easier. I'm just being honest. Normally a PC expert would only attempt all these things, but to think about it, if anything it will be a learning experience for you, and in the future you will know how to do this. Like I said though, you will probably realize soon that re-installing Windows will just be easier and much less of a headache.

 

[Phantasm66]

You know it really would be easier to just reinstall Windows.

Of course not. If people go around spouting off that kind of advice to everything, then no one ever learns, you are reliant on having to be spoon fed all the time. That way you never progress, and that's useless.

He was messing around with his machine enough to get into this pickle to begin with - he should try to get out.

When I have a problem with a server at work, do you think I get to reinstall Windows 2000 Server every time ? Get real. You have to figure out what's causing the problem and fix it.

The thing he was told to do wasn't exactly rocket science - and if this user learns to solve all of their problems by "just reinstalling windows" they will stay in computer retard land forever.

 

[DigitAlex]

hmm hmmm

reinstall windows, reboot, reinstall the application ...

the most dumb and usual helpdesk answers you get

 

[Phantasm66]

I remember calling Dell Tech Support once. Why, I don't know, but reinstall OS was the most intelligent thing he had to say. What a waste of space.

I think acidosmosis meant that it might be the easier thing, but I don't think that it is. I think trying to use some sense and following the simple instructions to fix the problem is the easier thing.

 

[Unholywater]

Once I recovered my Hard Drive, my other hard drive, T: was the active partition. C: seemed to be my secondary. I don't know why, but it was...

Then I tried to switch them with Partition Magic. C to T, and T to C. What it didn't do, was change the references from T, to C. So all my shortcuts and uninstall information still pointed to T, which doesn't exist anymore because I removed it physically.

So I fixed the references, and it was partially fixed. I just needed to change the shortcuts, because it didn't change references on shortcuts. So I have something very tedious to do.

So then, I install my new computer parts that got shipped in, and I boot up and get the blue screen of death upon loading. Reset, Blue screen of death.

Then I repaired Windows installation, and I guess I am OK now. Just a lot of downloading to do. I preserved my important data though, it was only a repair installation.