Windows NT Tries to Duplicate MS-DOS Drive Letter Scheme

 Last reviewed: May 7, 1997
Article ID: Q101703

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

SUMMARY

Windows NT attempts to assign drive letters to partitions in the same manner that MS-DOS does. However, there are cases in which drive letter assignments are not the same.

MORE INFORMATION

Consider the following example in which a system has two hard disks, each of which has two partitions: 

   Windows NT assigns drive letters as follows:

      --------------------
      | C: FAT | E: NTFS |
      --------------------

      --------------------
      | D: FAT | F: FAT  |
      --------------------

   However, MS-DOS assigns drive letters as follows:

      --------------------
      | C: FAT | Unknown |
      --------------------

      --------------------
      | D: FAT | E: FAT  |
      --------------------
Because MS-DOS does not recognize the NTFS partition, it marks the partition as "unknown" and does not assign it a drive letter. 

   NOTE: In Disk Administrator, you can customize the drive letter
   assignments by choosing Drive Letter from the Partition menu.

Additional query words: prodnt
Keywords : kbbug3.10 kbother ntfilesys
Version : 3.1
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: May 7, 1997
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