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I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. Now my drive is
shown as (F drive. I want to install several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive management. What would be my solution to this short of doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks |
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"kmayes" wrote in message ... I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive management. What would be my solution to this short of doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks Sounds like you rebooted with both drives attached after you clone the drive. What you will need to do is reclone your drive... then *prior* to rebooting...remove the original drive and put the new one in it's place. To be on the safe side...you may want to entirely disconnect your zip drive while doing that |
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I only have one drive installed as the old one crashed on me.
"philo" wrote: "kmayes" wrote in message ... I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive management. What would be my solution to this short of doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks Sounds like you rebooted with both drives attached after you clone the drive. What you will need to do is reclone your drive... then *prior* to rebooting...remove the original drive and put the new one in it's place. To be on the safe side...you may want to entirely disconnect your zip drive while doing that |
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kmayes wrote:
I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive management. What would be my solution to this short of doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks I'd like to hear a global explanation of why this happens and what to do about it. With Win98, I could switch drives around in my system, use boot managers that swizzled drive letters, basically do anything I wanted and the system would still boot. With Win2K and XP, moving drives around confuses the OS so it can't tell where it is. Boots part way and then gives a STOP error...it says it can't find the drive it's been execting programs from...game over. Reinstall time. I'd like to be able to plug a second ide drive in/out without having to reinstall windows... mike -- Return address is VALID! |
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On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:09:00 -0800, kmayes
wrote: I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is now my Zip drive. There may be an occasional poorly-written program that won't install anywhere but on C:, but I haven't seen one in a long time. The great majority of installations let you change whatever the default is, and specify where you want to install the, Please check again; you will probably find that you can do this easily. My first hard drive is also F: (for complicated reasons that I don't want to go into). I have never had *any* problems with that setup, and have never an installation fail as a result. I also cannot change letters in drive management. Correct. You can change any drive letter except the one Windows is installed on. What would be my solution to this short of doing the system all over again. There is no other solution, but you are trying to solve a problem that probably doesn't exist. If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. Disconnect the other drives before starting installation, then reconnect them afterward. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
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Ken wrote on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:24:43 -0700:
?? I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. ?? Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install ?? several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is ?? now my Zip drive. KBM There may be an occasional poorly-written program that KBM won't install anywhere but on C:, but I haven't seen one KBM in a long time. The great majority of installations let KBM you change whatever the default is, and specify where you KBM want to install the, Please check again; you will probably KBM find that you can do this easily. KBM My first hard drive is also F: (for complicated reasons KBM that I don't want to go into). I have never had *any* KBM problems with that setup, and have never an installation KBM fail as a result. ?? I also cannot change letters in ?? drive management. KBM Correct. You can change any drive letter except the one KBM Windows is installed on. ?? What would be my solution to this short of doing the ?? system all over again. KBM There is no other solution, but you are trying to solve a KBM problem that probably doesn't exist. ?? If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it ?? doesn't happen again. KBM Disconnect the other drives before starting installation, KBM then reconnect them afterward. My machine is becoming a little old and has Windows 97 on C: and the working system Windows XP on D: for reasons that seemed suitable at the time. I have never had any problems apart from an occasional ignorant program *offering* to instal itself on C: It has never been necessary to accept the suggestion. James Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not |
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What I am trying to install is an HP printer an also the drivers for my
GForce 4 video card. So can I change the location that my printer goes to from C: to my F: drive? I dont think I can change the location for my video card. "James Silverton" wrote: Ken wrote on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:24:43 -0700: ?? I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. ?? Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install ?? several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is ?? now my Zip drive. KBM There may be an occasional poorly-written program that KBM won't install anywhere but on C:, but I haven't seen one KBM in a long time. The great majority of installations let KBM you change whatever the default is, and specify where you KBM want to install the, Please check again; you will probably KBM find that you can do this easily. KBM My first hard drive is also F: (for complicated reasons KBM that I don't want to go into). I have never had *any* KBM problems with that setup, and have never an installation KBM fail as a result. ?? I also cannot change letters in ?? drive management. KBM Correct. You can change any drive letter except the one KBM Windows is installed on. ?? What would be my solution to this short of doing the ?? system all over again. KBM There is no other solution, but you are trying to solve a KBM problem that probably doesn't exist. ?? If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it ?? doesn't happen again. KBM Disconnect the other drives before starting installation, KBM then reconnect them afterward. My machine is becoming a little old and has Windows 97 on C: and the working system Windows XP on D: for reasons that seemed suitable at the time. I have never had any problems apart from an occasional ignorant program *offering* to instal itself on C: It has never been necessary to accept the suggestion. James Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not |
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"kmayes" wrote in message ... I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive management. What would be my solution to this short of doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks kmayes: Although as you've heard from a number of responders that it's not crucial that your system (boot) drive be designated as the C: drive and you can live with your system (boot) drive as the F: drive, our experience in a Windows environment tells us that for a variety of reasons it *is* most desirable for your system (boot) drive to have the C: letter designation. As you have discovered you cannot use XP's disk management utility to change your system (boot) drive from F: to C:. While there have been some published hacks indicating that registry modifications can achieve this change, we have never found these changes reliable. So my advice would be that if it's practical for you to do so, "bite the bullet" and perform a fresh install of the XP OS. As I'm sure you recognize, should you do this, all your programs will need to be subsequently reinstalled. Presumably before undertaking a fresh install of the OS you will copy off your F: drive your user-created data to some removable media, so that shouldn't be a problem in later transferring that data to your freshly-installed OS. So you will have to decide whether a fresh install is practical under your present circumstances. Should you go that route, remember to disconnect your ZIP drive and any other storage devices, e.g., another HDD should one be installed, *before* undertaking a fresh install of the OS. That's what probably caused your problem in the first place, i.e., your ZIP drive was connected and the XP setup process designated it as your C: drive. Anna |
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"kmayes" wrote in message ... I only have one drive installed as the old one crashed on me. Well, that sometimes happens if imaging a drive and the system is re-booted with both drives in place... The next thing I'd check is the boot order in the bios. Normally a machine would be setup with the DVD or CDROM first... then the main HD as second. At any rate...you will have to reinstall windows to get your main drive back to being listed as C: and as mentioned...you may want to just plain disconnect your zip drive while re-installing |
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Anna wrote on Fri, 1 Feb 2008 22:59:19 -0500:
A "kmayes" wrote in message A ... ?? I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. ?? Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install ?? several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is ?? now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive ?? management. What would be my solution to this short of ?? doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all ?? over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. ?? ?? Thanks A kmayes: A Although as you've heard from a number of responders that A it's not crucial that your system (boot) drive be designated A as the C: drive and you can live with your system (boot) A drive as the F: drive, our experience in a Windows A environment tells us that for a variety of reasons it *is* A most desirable for your system (boot) drive to have the C: A letter designation. Since I have only experienced the minor annoyance of having to change a *suggested* location, I would be interested in knowing some of "the variety of reasons". Please don't think I am being sarcastic :-) James Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not |
#11
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A "kmayes" wrote in message A ... ?? I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. ?? Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install ?? several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is ?? now my Zip drive. I also cannot change letters in drive ?? management. What would be my solution to this short of ?? doing the system all over again. If I have to do it all ?? over again, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again. ?? ?? Thanks Anna wrote on Fri, 1 Feb 2008 22:59:19 -0500: A kmayes: A Although as you've heard from a number of responders that A it's not crucial that your system (boot) drive be designated A as the C: drive and you can live with your system (boot) A drive as the F: drive, our experience in a Windows A environment tells us that for a variety of reasons it *is* A most desirable for your system (boot) drive to have the C: A letter designation. "James Silverton" wrote in message ... Since I have only experienced the minor annoyance of having to change a *suggested* location, I would be interested in knowing some of "the variety of reasons". Please don't think I am being sarcastic :-) James Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not James: Over the years in a Windows environment we've encountered many problems and annoyances with users' machines where their system (boot) drive had not been designated with the ubiquitous C: drive assignment letter because of one reason or another, chiefly because another (potentially) bootable storage device had been connected in the system while the user was attempting to fresh-install the XP OS. (I believe this is the root of the OP's problem.) Also, problems arising from faulty processes involving a disk cloning operation. In any event, the problems we subsequently encountered because of this situation involved the inability (present & future) for the user to install a particular program on his/her system (boot) drive because the program simply balked at any attempt to install such program other than on a C: designated drive. True, virtually any major program in existence today will allow this capability but there are still a host of programs out there (including "custom-made" programs) that simply don't have this capability. We also encountered problems where future user configuration modifications simply wouldn't work because the program had originally been installed on a non-C: designated drive. Also, we've run into many problems with subsequent upgrades, patches, fixes of one sort or another affecting an installed program that either would not modify the targeted program because the program resided on an other-than-C: drive (even though the user had not originally experienced any difficulty in installing that program on a non-C: drive), or even if the upgrade, patch, etc. appeared to be installed properly we ran into subsequent problems of one kind or another which we attributed to the fact that the program resided on a non-C: designated drive. So all-in-all as I've suggested to the OP, if it's not too terribly onerous to "start over" as it were and perform a correct fresh install of the XP OS so as to install that OS on a C: designated drive, our advice is do so. On the other hand if it's simply impractical for the user to do this because the programs/applications installed on drive make it too difficult or impossible for the user to reinstall these programs/applications following a fresh install of the OS (together with the usually onerous chore of reinstalling all the MS critical updates), then he or she can live with the present situation and hope for the best. Anna |
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On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 17:31:02 -0800, kmayes
wrote: What I am trying to install is an HP printer an also the drivers for my GForce 4 video card. So can I change the location that my printer goes to from C: to my F: drive? I dont think I can change the location for my video card. Almost certainly you can. It should be no problem at all. "James Silverton" wrote: Ken wrote on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:24:43 -0700: ?? I recently installed a new hard drive and Windows XP Pro. ?? Now my drive is shown as (F drive. I want to install ?? several Programs but cannot do it because my (C drive is ?? now my Zip drive. KBM There may be an occasional poorly-written program that KBM won't install anywhere but on C:, but I haven't seen one KBM in a long time. The great majority of installations let KBM you change whatever the default is, and specify where you KBM want to install the, Please check again; you will probably KBM find that you can do this easily. KBM My first hard drive is also F: (for complicated reasons KBM that I don't want to go into). I have never had *any* KBM problems with that setup, and have never an installation KBM fail as a result. ?? I also cannot change letters in ?? drive management. KBM Correct. You can change any drive letter except the one KBM Windows is installed on. ?? What would be my solution to this short of doing the ?? system all over again. KBM There is no other solution, but you are trying to solve a KBM problem that probably doesn't exist. ?? If I have to do it all over again, how do I make sure it ?? doesn't happen again. KBM Disconnect the other drives before starting installation, KBM then reconnect them afterward. My machine is becoming a little old and has Windows 97 on C: and the working system Windows XP on D: for reasons that seemed suitable at the time. I have never had any problems apart from an occasional ignorant program *offering* to instal itself on C: It has never been necessary to accept the suggestion. James Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
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On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 09:51:16 -0500, "Anna" wrote:
Over the years in a Windows environment we've encountered many problems and annoyances with users' machines where their system (boot) drive had not been designated with the ubiquitous C: drive assignment letter because of one reason or another, chiefly because another (potentially) bootable storage device had been connected in the system while the user was attempting to fresh-install the XP OS. (I believe this is the root of the OP's problem.) Yes, that's almost certainly the reason. Also, problems arising from faulty processes involving a disk cloning operation. In any event, the problems we subsequently encountered because of this situation involved the inability (present & future) for the user to install a particular program on his/her system (boot) drive because the program simply balked at any attempt to install such program other than on a C: designated drive. True, virtually any major program in existence today will allow this capability but there are still a host of programs out there (including "custom-made" programs) that simply don't have this capability. As I said in my earlier message in this thread, yes, there are some older programs that insist on installing on C: and simply won't work otherwise. But my experience is that such programs are *extremely* rare these days. In several years of running with both Windows XP and Windows Vista installed on drive F:, with a wide variety of different programs, I haven't run into a single one. My recommendation to the OP is that, unless he knows that he is in a situation where he has to install a program that won't install on F:, he ignore this possibility. If he doesn't already have such a program, it is *extremely* unlikely that any new program he buys will have such a restriction. We also encountered problems where future user configuration modifications simply wouldn't work because the program had originally been installed on a non-C: designated drive. Can you be more specific? What modifications? I've never run into such a problem. Also, we've run into many problems with subsequent upgrades, patches, fixes of one sort or another affecting an installed program that either would not modify the targeted program because the program resided on an other-than-C: drive (even though the user had not originally experienced any difficulty in installing that program on a non-C: drive), or even if the upgrade, patch, etc. appeared to be installed properly we ran into subsequent problems of one kind or another which we attributed to the fact that the program resided on a non-C: designated drive. Again, please be more specific. I have never run into such a problem in several years on my own computer (again running both XP and Vista), nor on any other computers, nor have I ever heard of such a problem from anyone else. So all-in-all as I've suggested to the OP, if it's not too terribly onerous to "start over" as it were and perform a correct fresh install of the XP OS so as to install that OS on a C: designated drive, our advice is do so. Unless it's a very recent installation, with very little on the drive, reinstalling cleanly *is* usually onerous, and often gets the person into even more difficulties. My advice to him is contrary to yours. Do not do this unless you need to because you are trying to install some program that refuses to install on F:. I doubt very much that he is in that situation and simply needs to change the drive letter from the default that is presented to him. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
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Anna wrote on Sat, 2 Feb 2008 09:51:16 -0500:
A "James Silverton" wrote in A message ... ?? Since I have only experienced the minor annoyance of ?? having to change a *suggested* location, I would be ?? interested in knowing some of "the variety of reasons". ?? Please don't think I am being sarcastic :-) ?? Thank you very much for your extensive reply. I think the major difference between my experience and yours is that I am reasonably computer literate single user unlike, unfortunately, the group whom you serve. I have no trouble in admitting that it may well avoid difficulties to have a uniform nomenclature in a group situation. James Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not |
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Ken:
Without belaboring the issue I can only repeat what I've stated in my last post. The problems we've run into re this issue along the lines I've described involving many, many users over the years in an XP environment have impressed us to strongly suggest that, wherever practical, the user should establish his/her system (boot) disk as the C: drive even if it means a fresh install of the OS. As I've indicated, I fully realize that this is not always the most sensible approach based on the reasons I've previously stated, i.e., it is simply not practical for the user to reinstall his/her programs/applications currently existing on the non-C: drive because they are either so numerous and/or the user simply does not have the requisite reinstall media available or for any other reason that may make a new fresh install of the OS a tortuous process. In those cases he or she will need to live with a system (boot) drive that bears a non-C: drive letter designation. But... As apparently in the OP's case (recall that he or she has already attempted a fresh install of the OS thus deleting all the data on the disk), if the chore of undertaking another fresh install of the XP OS and doing it correctly so that the HDD on which the OS will be installed will then be designated the C: drive and the task of undertaking this process is not terribly onerous, then my advice still holds, i.e., it is *most* desirable that the system (boot) drive be designated with the C: drive letter assignment. Anna "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message ... On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 09:51:16 -0500, "Anna" wrote: Over the years in a Windows environment we've encountered many problems and annoyances with users' machines where their system (boot) drive had not been designated with the ubiquitous C: drive assignment letter because of one reason or another, chiefly because another (potentially) bootable storage device had been connected in the system while the user was attempting to fresh-install the XP OS. (I believe this is the root of the OP's problem.) Yes, that's almost certainly the reason. Also, problems arising from faulty processes involving a disk cloning operation. In any event, the problems we subsequently encountered because of this situation involved the inability (present & future) for the user to install a particular program on his/her system (boot) drive because the program simply balked at any attempt to install such program other than on a C: designated drive. True, virtually any major program in existence today will allow this capability but there are still a host of programs out there (including "custom-made" programs) that simply don't have this capability. As I said in my earlier message in this thread, yes, there are some older programs that insist on installing on C: and simply won't work otherwise. But my experience is that such programs are *extremely* rare these days. In several years of running with both Windows XP and Windows Vista installed on drive F:, with a wide variety of different programs, I haven't run into a single one. My recommendation to the OP is that, unless he knows that he is in a situation where he has to install a program that won't install on F:, he ignore this possibility. If he doesn't already have such a program, it is *extremely* unlikely that any new program he buys will have such a restriction. We also encountered problems where future user configuration modifications simply wouldn't work because the program had originally been installed on a non-C: designated drive. Can you be more specific? What modifications? I've never run into such a problem. Also, we've run into many problems with subsequent upgrades, patches, fixes of one sort or another affecting an installed program that either would not modify the targeted program because the program resided on an other-than-C: drive (even though the user had not originally experienced any difficulty in installing that program on a non-C: drive), or even if the upgrade, patch, etc. appeared to be installed properly we ran into subsequent problems of one kind or another which we attributed to the fact that the program resided on a non-C: designated drive. Again, please be more specific. I have never run into such a problem in several years on my own computer (again running both XP and Vista), nor on any other computers, nor have I ever heard of such a problem from anyone else. So all-in-all as I've suggested to the OP, if it's not too terribly onerous to "start over" as it were and perform a correct fresh install of the XP OS so as to install that OS on a C: designated drive, our advice is do so. Unless it's a very recent installation, with very little on the drive, reinstalling cleanly *is* usually onerous, and often gets the person into even more difficulties. My advice to him is contrary to yours. Do not do this unless you need to because you are trying to install some program that refuses to install on F:. I doubt very much that he is in that situation and simply needs to change the drive letter from the default that is presented to him. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
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