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It seems that drive letters may change during unattended XP install.
I'm trying to install XP on a PC with 1 primary partition an 1 logical volume on the hard drive, and 1 CD drive.

After the install I expected to get (as usual):
- C: = Primary partition
- D: = Extended partition
- E: = CDROM

But what I got instead was:
- C: = Ext
- D: = CDR
- E: = Pri

And from all the files that were supposed to be on C:, some are actually on C: (not much) and the rest are on E: (including "program files", "document and setting", ...)
So the install doesn't work, since it's unattended. It expects some files to be in some places but doesn't find them. BTW : This install works just fine on many other PCs.

Where does that come from? Is there any way to fix it?

Dennis Williamson
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dugres
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2 Answers2

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I've never switched the drive letter of the primary partition. But you can give it a try.

Right Click on My Computer
Select "Manage"
Select "Disk Management"
Right click on the drive you want to change the letter on
Select "Change Drive Letter and Path"
Follow the dialog

I know this will work for you extended partition and CDROM, but I am not too sure about your primary. It might break something.

I would also like to add: you should verify that your answers file (in your unattended install) is correctly configured. While the above method works. The whole idea of an unattended install is ... to tend to something else.

Mop the floor, but don't forget to fix the leaky pipe.

Joseph Kern
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  • Yeah...be REALLY REALLY wary of moving the driveletter for the primary partition if Windows is booting. I did it via the registry and it created a terrible mess. Make backups first! – Bart Silverstrim Oct 14 '09 at 14:01
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Is the drive the first drive in the system? I have had trouble in the past with the drive being on the second IDE cable or a slave. If it's SATA make sure it's drive 0.

Chris Nava
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