Cannot Change the Drive Letter of Removable Drives
ID: Q142635
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The information in this article applies to:
-
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
-
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
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Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
SYMPTOMS
Disk Administrator will not allow you to change the logical drive
letters of removable media drives such as an Iomega Zip, Jaz drives or
Media Optical (MO) and recordable cd-rom drives.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack
WORKAROUND
To ensure that the logical drive in question receives a certain drive
letter:
- With a disk in the removable drive, start Disk Administrator and look
at how the devices have been identified.
- Change the drive letters of the hard disk drive and CDROM devices to
their desired locations. If a desired letter is being used by the
removable drive, decide what letter the removable drive should use and
make sure it is available.
- Shut down the computer and disconnect the removable drive.
- Restart. Use Disk Administrator to make any changes to drive letters.
Any drive letter previously used by the removable drive should be
available for use. Be sure to leave the desired letter available for
the removable drive. Make the drive letters statically defined in the
registry by highlighting each partition in turn and clicking Assign
Drive Letter... from the Tools menu. Then placing it at the drive
letter you want it to be clicking the OK button.
- Shut down the computer, reconnect the removable drive, and restart.
CAUTION: If the Windows NT system files are installed to a logical
partition, and a removable drive is added to the system, the boot
partition for Windows NT will be given a new letter. A message stating
that the "ARC Path Needs To Be Changed" will appear. Until this correction
is made in the Boot.ini file, Windows NT will not boot. When this
correction is made, there are many registry entries that will not be
changed and will still refer to the old location of the Windows NT system
files. Therefore, it is recommended that the Windows NT system files be
installed to a primary partition on a drive, not a logical one.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.
MORE INFORMATION
Windows NT assigns drive letters first to physical devices, then to
logical subdivisions/partitions. Therefore a removable drive such as JAZ
and ZIP will receive a letter before any logical partitions.
For example, if there are two hard drives, each with two partitions, and a
removable drive, the drive letters will be assigned as follows:
- First drive, first partition = C:
- Second drive, first partition = D:
- Removable (ZIP, JAZ etc ..) drive = E:
- First drive, second partition = F:
- Second drive, second partition = G:
Additional query words:
jazz assign drive letter cdrom
Keywords : NT4SP4Fix kbbug4.00 kbfix4.00.sp4
Version : Winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug