assignment

change drive letter software

Drive Letter Changer 1.4

Official Download Mirror for Drive Letter Changer

Drive Letter Changer v1.4

Drive letter changer

Installation is not required. Just extract the ZIP to the folder of your choice, and run the program. The user interface is simplified and provides quick access to all the main options. It lists all your drives and the drive letter currently assigned to them.

Drive Letter Changer v1.4 – Thursday, January 9, 2020

[FIXED] – A critical bug which cause the program not running properly [ADDED] – 64 bit version [ADDED] – Using Drive name as a parameter to change drive letter [IMPROVED] – Some code blocks

How to change a Drive Letter

To change a drive letter, either click the “Task” menu, or right-click the drive in the list and use the resulting context menu.

Drive Letter changer task menu

Mount your drive to an NTFS folder

Volume Mount Points are specialized NTFS file system objects which are used to mount an entry point to other volumes. Mounting a drive to a folder path has its pros and cons. For example, doing so allows us to access a drive from anywhere. If you want to hide a drive from other users just mount a drive to a folder path and delete its drive letter. Another example: if you’re already sharing content on your network, you probably have one or more network mapped drives. The problem is, as you add more drives to the network, you are also adding more map points to the system. A better to way to host content might instead be to have a single mapped drive with many mount point folder paths. Drive Letter Changer can easily mount a drive letter to a folder path; just right click a drive and choose “Mount in Empty NTFS Folder”.

Driver Letter changer right clik menu

Use the Task menu or right-click menu to remove a drive letter, or copy a volume name. The Tools menu includes Disk Management, Run Mountvol, Remove Old Mounted Data, and Restart Windows Explorer. “Run Mountvol” will list possible values for volume name, as well as current mount points.

Drive letter changer mountvol

In a command prompt, running “dChanger.exe /?” (no quotes) will list all available parameters. See also the screenshot the following. NOTE: To change Assignet letters without error please use /Force parameter

Driver Letter changer cmd support

Supported operating systems: Windows 11 , Windows 10 , Windows 8.1 , Windows 8 , Windows 7 , Windows Vista , Winsows xp – (both x86 and x64)

Supported languages: English , Turkish , German , Greek , Japanese , Italian , Simplified Chinese , Traditional Chinese , Vietnamese , Polish , Persian , Korean , Hungarian , Dutch , French , Spanish , Russian , Brazilian Portuguese , Slovenian , Indonesian , Arabic , Bulgarian , Thai , Romanian

Eula license for our freware

File: dChanger_x64.exe │ Virustotal MD5: de9d5ee077f3595b18637f4cb09a8367 SHA1: 0c78654d291357c5225f5e7ad901bfd5082bf9ea

File: dChanger.exe │ Virustotal MD5: 8383ee1469606aefb53fdaccdb3017e7 SHA1: 3a91d4a9b115af92254871cb9e210eb61e14064a

Download

Related Posts

Ntfs drive protection

Seems like it might be a nice tool, but where is the button to actually download it, as opposed to numerous things I don’t want

' src=

Nice tool, here is an idea : saving "save as…" encrypted *.set file the actual drive letter seting with the following options. as well as an open option. 1. phyical drives (HWiD) and / or optional + mounted local drives (HWID) non MS filesystems + maped (net use) Network drives via UNC or better identification option

' src=

perfect change letter delete letter >>Hide letter

' src=

Please consider let it work for target OS under PE system.

' src=

Notes about Drive-Letters – Das unterschätzte Problem

1. Früher gaben PartitionierungsTool ständig Hinweise, daß die Daten auf einer Partition für immer verloren sind. Man konnte die fehlenden Laufwerksbuchstaben übersehen – viele APPs können heute immer noch nicht in allen Fällen Laufwerkksbuchstaben zuweisen. Hier hilft tatsächlich nur Windows. Die eigenen Bordmittel lassen in der Regel immer einen Laufwerksbuchstaben zuweisen, und sämtliche, verloren geglaubten Daten sind wie von Zauberhand wieder da.

2. MiniTool Partition Wizard ist besser als AOMEI – beide tun sich aber schwer mit der Zuweisung von Laufwerksbuchstaben.

3. Minitool Partition Wizard weist manchmal zwar erfolgreich Laufwerksbuchstaben zu, kurze Zeit später sind diese ohne Hinweis verschwunden und ebenso kein Zugriff auf die Daten möglich. AOMAI bietet öfter mal diese Option garnicht an. Daher kam ich auch erst auf MiniTool.

Translation English:

Notes about Drive Letters – The Underestimated Problem

1. In the past, partitioning tools kept giving hints that the data on a partition was lost forever. One could overlook the missing drive letters – many APPs are still not able to assign drive letters in all cases. Only Windows really helps here. Your own on-board resources usually always allow you to assign a drive letter, and all data believed to be lost are there again as if by magic.

2. MiniTool Partition Wizard is better than AOMEI, but they both have a hard time assigning drive letters.

3. Minitool Partition Wizard sometimes successfully assigns drive letters, but a short time later these have disappeared without notice and the data cannot be accessed either. AOMAI often doesn’t offer this option at all. That’s why I first came across MiniTool.

' src=

Thank you , so glad to have sordum (Hocam Allah razı olsun senden iyi ki varsın sen ya.)

' src=

Hi! Is that possilble to add more usefull drive info into the tool? I mean MBR/GPT info; drive number; drive space and so on…

' src=

Terima kasih banyak….

' src=

On the lastest Windows 10 x64 (build 18363.657) the new Drive Letter Changer (x64) v1.4 often closes unexpectedly and intermittently. I can reproduce these unwanted ‘closes’ by: 1) Change a drive letter on any existing drive. 2) Click on the ‘Help’ drop-down from the menu bar. 3) Program pauses and then closes unexpectatedly.

Please fix this annoyance on this otherwise awesome utility! Thanks, -JT

Thanks for your feedback , Could you please test the cmd parameters too , Because for example in my Windows 7 Ultimate both version works without Problem.

' src=

Thanks for quick reply. Happy to report test v1.4 file opens correctly. On few operations and tools tried it works correctly. Is this 32bit or 64bit version? Only curious. Happy with either version as long as it works. KPaul

Hi Kpaul we have sended you an email with a Download link of a test Application , thanks for your comment.

On Win7x64 updated thru 12/2019 dchanger 1.4, either 32 or 64bit does not open properly. Windows throws notice – program experienced problem and windows closing program. v1.3 opens and works properly on same system.

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Address: *

Our Software

Recent Comments

My IP Address

This browser is no longer supported.

Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.

Change a drive letter

Applies To: Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2016

If you want to change a drive letter assigned to a drive, or you have a drive that doesn't yet have a drive letter, use Disk Management to change it. You can also mount the drive in an empty folder so that it appears as a folder. For more information, see Mount a drive in a folder .

If you change the drive letter of a drive that already contains Windows or apps, apps might have trouble running or finding the drive. We suggest not changing the drive letter of a drive that already contains Windows or apps.

The following steps show how to change the drive letter.

Open Disk Management with administrator permissions.

In Disk Management, select and hold (or right-click) the volume on which you want to change or add a drive letter and select Change Drive Letter and Paths .

Screenshot showing the Disk Management window with the Change Drive Letter and Paths feature selected.

If you don't see the Change Drive Letter and Paths option or it's grayed out, the volume either isn't ready to receive a drive letter or it's unallocated and needs to be initialized . It might also be that the drive isn't accessible, which is the case with EFI system partitions and recovery partitions. If you've confirmed that your volume is formatted with a drive letter that you can access but you're still unable to change it, that's beyond the scope of this article. We suggest contacting Microsoft Support or the manufacturer of your PC for more help.

To change the drive letter, select Change . To add a drive letter if the drive doesn't already have one, select Add .

Screenshot of the Change Drive Letter and Paths dialog.

Select the new drive letter and choose OK . Then select Yes when prompted about how programs that rely on the drive letter might not run correctly.

Screenshot of the Change Drive Letter or Path dialog that shows how to assign a new drive letter.

Submit and view feedback for

Additional resources

More Recovery Products

Centralized Solutions

MSPs Service

Screen Capture

Video Toolkit

Audio Tools

Transfer Products

File Management

iOS Utilities

More Products

EaseUS Partition Master

Easily manage your disk partitions with this trusted software.

 Windows 11/10/8/7  100% Secure

change drive letter software

Total downloads

Page content

About the Author

Hot Topics in 2023

change drive letter software

3 Simple Ways to Assign a Drive Letter in Windows 10/8/7

What is a drive letter.

A drive letter is an alphabetic character identifying a physical computer disk or drive partition. Windows will assign an accessible drive letter by default, to any storage device. It starts from A to Z, going through all the alphabet. Windows will assign an accessible drive letter by default, to any storage device.

The system reserves the drive letters A: and B: for the floppy drive and portable media, such as tape drives. Even if your computer doesn't have these drivers installed. But you can still assign such letters manually if you wish. On computers with hard drives, the default drive letter is always C:. The CD-ROM or other disc drive is the last drive letter (e.g., D:). It's because C: is the first drive letter available on a hard disk. The drive letter C: can only be assigned to the drive on which Windows or MS-DOS is installed.

Windows will always be the drive letter C:,  even if you have several operating systems running. Most modern desktops and laptops now have hard drives and disc drives, like DVD drives, but not floppy disks. Even in this case, the C: drive is assigned to the hard drive, and the D: drive is assigned to the DVD drive.

Windows assigns the last drive letter to flash drives, smartphones, and other drives. For example, if the last drive letter was F:, and you plug a new drive, it is allocated as a G: drive until you unplug it. If you install more drives or create new partitions, they are allocated to drive letters other than C:, like D:, E:, F:, G:, and so on. Instead of the drive letter given by Windows, you may alter it to any other accessible drive letter.

How Assigned Drive Letters Work

You can alter the drive letter assigned by Windows. In the case you alter a drive's drive letter, the registry saves it per drive and volume ID. This does not permanently assign a drive letter to the device. The drive letter on your PC may change if you unplug the device or if you alter it.

If you use many USB drives, you may have observed that the drive letter changes each time you attach one. When non-assigned drives are attached, the letters D and onwards are assigned in turn. If the assigned drive is not attached, Windows will assign its drive letter to another drive. If you connect the drive with the given drive letter later, it will be assigned the next available letter.

Windows gives you several options for changing the drive letter of your computer. With this guide, you'll learn how to assign drive letters using three different tools. We will use Disk Management, EaseUS Partition Master, and Windows Command Prompt.

Assign a Drive Letter on Windows 10 with Disk Management

The Disk Management utility that comes with Windows lets you manage your disks. Change drive letters, create new partitions, delete existing partitions, and more.

Follow the steps below to change the drive letter.

Step 1. You will need to open Disk Management with administrator privileges. Right-click on the Start button, then choose Disk Management.

open disk management

Step 2. In the Disk Management window, right-click the volume you want to change or add a drive letter. Then click "Change Drive Letter and Paths".

choose change drive letter

Step 3. Pick "Change" to alter the drive letter. Or pick "Add" to add a drive letter for drives without one.

assign drive letter

Step 4. Choose a new drive letter, click "OK". The Disk Management will warn you that some programs might not run properly. Just close the window by clicking "Yes" to confirm.

disk management assign letter

Assign and Change Drive Letter with EaseUS Partition Manager

Your team is working on a project and you need to copy some files to a USB drive. But you have no idea what is the drive letter of the USB of your team. Most people have dealt with this issue before. As an easy solution, you can assign a drive letter to each driver using EaseUS Partition Master .

Users can manage disks with EaseUS Partition Manager without needing to go through a lengthy process. This program also provides advanced features such as  resize/move partition to solve low disk space issues, merge partitions, clone disk , create/delete/format partition, wipe data, disk/partition conversion, etc.

Now, free download this easy partition tool to assign drive letters with simple clicks.

Step 1.  Run EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the target partition, and choose "Change Drive Letter".

Step 2.  In the new window, click the down arrow and choose a drive letter for the partition from the drop-down menu, then click "OK".

Step 3.  Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button in the top-left corner, check the changes, and click "Apply" to change the drive letter of the selected partition.

Assign a Drive Letter Windows 10 Using Command Prompt

Windows Command Prompt can be used to assign drive letters to any directory on a computer. It especially benefits users with many storage devices connected to their computers. Below, we will show step-by-step how to change a drive letter with the command prompt.

Step 1. Access the elevated command prompt. Press Windows + S to run the search box. Type cmd . When the command prompt appears, right-click and select "Run as administrator".

open cmd

Step 2. Type diskpart at the command prompt. Press Enter.

command prompt type diskpart

Step 3. Type list volume , then press Enter.

command prompt  type list volume

Step 4. Pay attention to the volume number of the drive you want to change the letter. Type select volume . Substitute volume number by the number of the volume inside the <>.

select volume

Step 5. Type assign letter . Substitute the new drive letter with the new letter for the drive inside the <>. Done. After finishing, you can close the command prompt.

assign letter

You can assign different letters for your drivers in various ways. For example, with Windows Disk Management, and from the command prompt. But EaseUS partition manager gives you total control over your hard drive.

EaseUS Partition Master will assign a drive letter to any drive or partition and much more. Besides changing drive letters, you can also delete, split and wipe partitions. All without having to restart your PC several times or risk losing data. These features allow avoiding complicated procedures when working with multiple partitions.

How Can We Help You

change drive letter software

Updated by Tracy King 

Tracy joined in EaseUS in 2013 and has been working with EaseUS content team for over 10 years. Being enthusiastic in computing and technology, she writes tech how-to articles and share technical solutions to resolve Windows & Mac data recovery, data backup, partition management, data transfer, Windows update issues, etc.

Read full bio

change drive letter software

Written by Cedric 

Cedric Grantham is one of the senior editors of EaseUS who lives and works in Chengdu, China. He mainly writes articles about data recovery tutorials on PC and Mac and how-to tips for partition management. He always keeps an eye on new releases and loves various electronic products.

Product Reviews

 Product Reviews

I love that the changes you make with EaseUS Partition Master Free aren't immediately applied to the disks. It makes it way easier to play out what will happen after you've made all the changes. I also think the overall look and feel of EaseUS Partition Master Free makes whatever you're doing with your computer's partitions easy.

Partition Master Free can Resize, Move, Merge, Migrate, and Copy disks or partitions; convert to local, change label, defragment, check and explore partition; and much more. A premium upgrade adds free tech support and the ability to resize dynamic volumes.

It won't hot image your drives or align them, but since it's coupled with a partition manager, it allows you do perform many tasks at once, instead of just cloning drives. You can move partitions around, resize them, defragment, and more, along with the other tools you'd expect from a cloning tool.

Related Articles

[SD Card Unavailable] Fix SD Card Wont Mount on Android & PC

author icon

How to Wipe a USB Drive and Permanently Delete Files from USB Flash Drive

author icon

How to Partition, Format or Wipe Hard Drive Without OS

[2023 Update]How to Resize EXT4 Partition in Windows 11/10

author icon

Hot Topics in 2022

disk 100% usage

Fix 100% disk usage

partition hard drive in Windows 10

Partition Windows 10

Format USB in CMD

Format USB Using CMD

Convert MBR to GPT

Convert MBR to GPT

Combime partitions

Combine/Merge Partitions

Fix Windows can not be installed to this disk

Selected Disk is GPT

C drive is out of space

C Drive Is Full

Transfer Windows 11/10 to new drive

Transfer Windows 11 to New Drive

Get EaseUS Partition Master

Your best companion for disk partitioning, MBR to GPT/GPT to MBR conversion,even OS migration

change drive letter software

Copyright ©   EaseUS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

6 Ways to Change the Drive Letter in Windows

Ojash Yadav

If your PC suddenly stops showing one of your internal drives in the file explorer or not list your external drive, it could be due to the OS getting confused with the drive letters. Simply changing your assigned drive letters can help you bypass this conflict. Here are six ways to change the drive letter.

1. Change the Drive Letter Using Settings

2. using command prompt, 3. disk management, 4. registry editor, 5. windows powershell, 6. drive letter changer software, frequently asked questions, is it safe to change a drive letter in windows.

Changing the drive letter is not entirely harmless and can cause significant problems based on the contents of your drive. If you have applications and software installed on your drive, those applications may cease to work.

For example, if you change the name of your D: drive to an F: drive, then the software installed in the D drive will still search for code in the D: file. While you can still access the data inside, there may be errors that will cause a nuisance in your day-to-day usage.

However, you may safely change the letter of some drives. If a partition simply includes data files that you rarely use, changing the drive letter may cause minor inconvenience, but nothing serious. The letters of external drives can almost always be changed without any problems.

Windows 11 Settings Storage Section

Advanced Storage Options

Disk Volumes

Disk Volumes Properties

Disk Volumes Change Drive Letter

Choose Drive Letter

Volume Data Drive Letter

System Change Drive Letter

Search For Cmd

Diskpart Utility Homescreen

List Volume

Cmd Select Volume

Instead of “new drive letter,” type the letter you want. For example: assign letter=S

Diskpart Drive Letter Assigned

The drive letter will be changed to your preferred letter.

Open Disk Management Utility

Disk Management Select Drive

Change Drive Letter Button

Disk Management Select A New Drive Letter

Disk Management Apply Changes

Search For Registry Editor

and press Enter .

Registry Editor Mounted Devices

Registry Editor Rename

Windows Powershell

Powershell Get Partition Command

Administrator Windows Powershell Listing Drives

Make sure to substitute “current drive letter’ and “new drive letter” with the actual drive letters, then press Enter .

Windows Powershell Settings New Drive Letter

If you are looking for a tool that can help you manage your partition and drives, these software will help you change your drive letter.

These tools are easy to use and have GUI interfaces that make them simple to use and also a one-stop destination for you to manage your storage devices. For the purposes of the demonstration, we are using MiniTool Partition Wizard to change the drive letter.

Minitools Installer

Minitool Partition Wizard Homescreen

Minitools Change Letter

Se;ect A New Drive Letter In Minitool

Minitool Click Apply

Minitool Apply Changes Warning

Minitool Changes Applied Dialouge Box

1. How are drive letters assigned in Windows?

Drive letters are assigned to every new drive in alphabetical order. Traditionally, the A: and B: drives were used for floppy disks, and the system drive on which Windows is installed is named C: by default.

2. Can I change the drive letter for the System Drive?

No, changing the drive letter on the system drive is not possible, as Windows is installed on the system drive. If that was changed, the system drive would not be found and the computer would cease working.

3. Can I switch drive letters among two drives?

No, there is no functionality in Windows to switch drive letters directly between two drives. If you want to switch the drive letters between the D: drive and the E: drive, you will have first change the D: drive to another letter (so as to free up the D:), change the E: to D:, then change the first one to E:.

Image credit: Plastic magnetic letters by 123RF

Ojash has been writing about tech back since Symbian-based Nokia was the closest thing to a smartphone. He spends most of his time writing, researching, or ranting about bitcoin.

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Popular Posts

change drive letter software

How to Fix External Hard Drive Access Denied Error in Windows

change drive letter software

6 of the Best Tools to Clone Windows to SSD

change drive letter software

7 Reasons Your Computer Keeps Crashing

change drive letter software

How to Create a USB Image to Back Up Your Data

change drive letter software

How to Use the dd Command in Linux

change drive letter software

How to Defrag Your Windows Hard Drive

change drive letter software

How to Format an Xbox One External Hard Drive for Use with a PC

change drive letter software

4 Ways to Clone an Entire Hard Drive on Linux

change drive letter software

How to Mount Your iPhone as an External Drive in Ubuntu

change drive letter software

Which Mac Mini Models Allow for RAM and HDD Upgrades?

Affiliate Disclosure: Make Tech Easier may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

How to Change a Drive Letter

Don't like the letters assigned to your drives in windows change them.

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

change drive letter software

change drive letter software

What to Know

The letters assigned to your hard drives, optical drives, and USB drives in Windows are not fixed. Use the Disk Management tool in Windows to change drive letters. These steps apply to Windows XP and newer versions of Windows .

How to Change Drive Letters in Windows

Follow these steps to change the driver letters in any version of Windows.

You can't change the drive letter of the partition that Windows is installed onto. On most computers, this is usually the C drive.

Open Disk Management , the tool in Windows that lets you manage drive letters, among [many] other things.

In Windows 11/10/8, Disk Management is also available from the Power User Menu ( WIN + X  keyboard shortcut) and is probably the quickest way to open it. You can also start Disk Management from the Command Prompt in any version of Windows, but starting it via Computer Management is probably best for most of you.

Locate from the list at the top, or from the map at the bottom, the drive you want to change the drive letter of.

If you're not sure that the drive you're looking at is really the one you want to change the drive letter for, you can right-click or tap-and-hold the drive and then choose Explore . If you need to, look through the folders to see if that's the right drive.

Right-click or tap-and-hold the drive and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths .

Select Change .

If you've selected the primary drive by accident, some versions of Windows will display a message that reads Windows cannot modify the drive letter of your system volume or boot volume.

Choose the drive letter you want Windows to assign to this storage device by selecting it from the Assign the following drive letter drop-down box.

You don't need to worry if the drive letter is already being used by another drive because Windows hides any letters you can't use.

Select OK .

Choose Yes to the Some programs that rely on drive letters might not run correctly. Do you want to continue? question.

If you have software installed to this drive, it might stop working properly after changing the drive letter. See details on this in the section below.

Once the drive letter change is complete, which usually only takes a second or two, you're welcome to close any open Disk Management or other windows.

The drive letter is different from the volume label. You can change the volume label using similar steps .

If You Have Programs Not on the Main Drive

Changing drive letter assignments for drives that have software installed to them may cause the software to stop working. This isn't quite as common with newer programs and apps but if you have an old program, especially if you're still using Windows XP or Windows Vista, this is likely to be a problem.

Fortunately, most of us don't have software installed to drives other than the primary drive (typically the C drive), but if you do, consider this your warning that you might need to reinstall the software after changing the drive letter.

No Changes for the Operating System Drive

You cannot change the drive letter of the drive that the Windows operating system is installed on. If you'd like Windows to exist on a drive other than C , or whatever it happens to be now, you can make that happen but you'll have to complete a clean install of Windows to do it. Unless you have a pressing need to have Windows exist on a different drive letter, we don't recommend going through all that trouble.

Change, Don't Switch

There's no built-in way to switch drive letters between two drives in Windows. Instead, use a drive letter that you don't plan on using as a temporary "holding" letter during the drive letter change process.

For example, let's say you'd like to swap Drive A for Drive B . Start by changing Drive A's letter to one that you don't plan on using (like X ), then Drive B's letter to Drive A's original one, and finally Drive A's letter to Drive B's original one.

Using the Command Prompt

You can also change the drive letter from Command Prompt . It's not as easy as using Disk Management and you can't see right away which letters are available to choose, but it is completely doable with the diskpart command.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant

Change Drive Letter Software – AOMEI Partition Assistant

Quickly change hard drive letter without losing data.

What Is a Volume Label?

Some other situations when you have to change drive letter:

1. Connect one PC to another one.

2. Upgrade the drive and the new drive letter can’t be changed to the previously used drive.

3. The drive has been hidden so that we can change drive letter to show it.

4. Reform system and the drive letters changed.

How to create a disk image?

Step1. Right click the volume you want to rename drive letter and select “Change Drive Letter and Path…”

change drive letter software

Step2. Choose “Change” to change drive letter in the pop up window.

change drive letter software

Step3. Select new drive letter for object drive.

change drive letter software

Step1. Right click aim partition and selctc “Advanced” – “Change Drive Letter”.

change drive letter software

Step2. Choose a new drive letter for the partition.

change drive letter software

Step3. Preview the partitions layout and click “Apply” on upper left to assign letter to drive.

change drive letter software

What Can AOMEI Partition Assistant Do?

Product Upgrade

Support & FAQ

AOMEI Connect

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

© 2009-2018 AOMEI. All rights reserved.

Description

System requirements, versions history, using driveletterview, command-line options, translating driveletterview to other languages.

Recoverit Windows Data Recovery Software

How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10?

Changing the drive letter in your windows has many advantages that go beyond identifying file systems. follow the brief instructions below to get more..

Wondershare Recoverit Authors

Jan 31, 2023 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Ask yourself this question: Do you need to change your drive letter? Yes, and for numerous reasons. For example, even though you now rely more on graphical desktops that enable you to easily click on icons, drive letters are still integral to  how your software function .

The bigger question is how to go about changing the drive letters of the drives in your PC. The different ways you can do that will be written out for you below. You'll be using Disk Management, CMD, and PowerShell.

change-drive-letters

Is It Safe to Change Drive Letters?

Yes, it's very safe to change drive letters . If it wasn't, you wouldn't be reading these letters (pun intended) right now. By default, Windows automatically assigns the letter "C" to your system drive, then other letters to the rest of your storage devices.

But what does it mean to change a device or drive's letter, anyway? Simply put, it's a way to identify your drive by a different letter. But even though changing a drive letter has its benefits, it also harbors risks that can harm your files. How?

For one, changing drive letters confuses Windows. The operating system won't know where to look for your files because it expects to find them in a particular place, but because you've renamed their directory, it will be left unsure what to do.

In a way, it's kind of embarrassing how such advanced technology can sometimes be so dumb, isn't it? Honestly, you just change ONE letter, but your machine doesn't recognize it for what it is!

There is also the risk that any software you install on a drive will cease functioning once you change the letter of that drive. This is not a probability but it's still a possibility, so be wary of doing that. On the bright side, at least the problem is more common with older software. What about the reasons you should change your drive letter?

Say you  purchase an external drive  and wish to change its drive letter, right? And you're doing this because you already have another drive with the same letter as the external. You can easily do all this without having to resort to complex instructions, and that is very convenient. This freedom to customize your storage devices the way you want is also a welcome addition to computer usage.

Assigning letters in alphabetical order to drives is a simple way to keep them organized. It benefits you because it will be easier to know what files or programs are installed on which drive. You don't have to waste precious time by going through random locations to find your files.

6 Ways to Change Drive Letter in Windows 11/10

The first thing you need to know here is this: You cannot change the drive letter of the drive where your Windows is installed on. The only way for you to do that is to do a clean install of the Windows itself; but why go through all that trouble just to change a simple letter?

With that being said, and except for your operating system's default drive, you have much leeway when it comes to changing drive letters.

Even though Windows automatically assigns a drive letter to any external storage device you connect to it, there are unique occasions where it tries to give an already-assigned letter to a new drive. It thus nullifies the action and prevents the drive from showing up in "File Explorer." That's just one credible reason you might see a need to change a drive letter ; the rest is up to you, but more important is for you to know how to do it. Kicking off the tutorial will be "Disk Management."

Video tutorial: How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 11/10?

Recent Videos from Recoverit

1 Change a Drive Letter in Disk Management

1. Press on the "Windows" + "R" key. When the "Run" window pops up, type this command in its search field: diskmgmt.msc.

2. Hit the "Enter" key and "Disk Management" will be launched.

3. You will see a list of drives in the "Disk Management" window. Pick out the one you want to change the letter of, then right-click on it and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths."

pick the one you want to change drive letter

4. Click on "Change" and another window will open up.

click on change to change drive letter

5. Right beside the "Assign the following drive letter" option, you will see a drop-down menu. Select the drive letter you want Windows to give the storage device from this menu.

select the drive letter

6. Click on "OK" and select "Yes". Close "Disk Management" and your drive will now be bearing a brand-new letter.

finish changing drive letter

2 Change Drive Letter in CMD

1. Press "Windows" + "S", then type in "cmd" in the search field you see. Click on "command prompt". After the command prompt opens up, right-click on it, and select "Run as administrator."

2. Type diskpart in the command window and hit "Enter", then type list volume and press "Enter" again. You will see a list of simple volumes under "Volume ###."

3. One of them will be the drive you want to assign a new letter. Knowing which of them is the drive shouldn't be too hard. Just look at each of their corresponding sizes under the "Size" category.

change drive letter in cmd

4. Choose the volume and hit "Enter", then type assign letter=R and hit "Enter" one more time.

hit enter to change drive letter

5. If you want to remove the letter and perhaps replace it with another one, type removes letter=R. And that's it. Close the "command prompt" tool and restart your PC and you should see your drive rocking the new letter you just assigned to it.

3 Change Drive Letter in PowerShell

1. Press the "Windows" key and type "Windows PowerShell" in the search bar. Right-click on the program in the search results and choose "Run as administrator."

2. Type Get-Disk in Windows PowerShell to identify the particular hard drive you want to assign the new drive letter to. Press "Enter."

3. Once you select the drive, type the following command and hit "Enter" to assign the drive letter to the drive: Get-Partition -DiskNumber 1 | Set-Partition -NewDriveLetter G

change-in-powershell

Take note of this: In the command up there, replace "1" with the disk number of the drive to be formatted; the letter "G" in the same command represents the drive letter to be assigned to the drive, so you can change it to the letter you prefer.

Are you looking to change your drive letter in Windows 11/10? You are in the right place. This task can help a lot to better organize your devices and to better remember what content is stored on each of them. The procedure is very simple and you can do it in two ways. In this post you will know how to do it and you will also be advised to avoid changing the letter of your C Drive.

4 To Change Drive Letter in Registry Editor

The first way to change your drive letter is using CMD tool. You can perform this task in just some minutes through the following steps:

Step 1: Open CMD

open cmd to change drive letter

Hold Windows key and press “R” to open Run tool. Now type “cmd” and press “Enter.” Command Prompt will run immediately.

Step 2: Write the commands

write the commands to change drive letter

Once you opened Command Prompt, type the following commands. Please don’t forget to press “Enter” after each one.

5 To Change Drive Letter in Settings

Another way to change your drive letter is through Windows settings. This task is a little bit slower than the last one but if you don’t like to use CMD, this will fit better to you. To change your drive letter through Windows settings, please do the following:

Step 1: Open Windows settings

open windows settings to change drive letter

Press Windows key and click the gear icon to open Windows settings.

Step 2: Open “System” page

open system page to change drive letter

On Windows Settings, click “System.”

Step 3: Open “Manage Disks and Volumes”

open windows settings

Once you are on “System” page, click “Storage” and then click “Manage Disks and Volumes.” This will open the page where you will change the drive letter.

Step 4: Open drive “Properties”

open drive properties to change drive letter

Go to the drive you want to change letter and click “Properties.”

Step 5: Click “Change drive letter”

change drive letter

Within Volume Data section, click “Change drive letter.”

Step 6: Type new drive letter

finish the changing process

On this window, click the arrow next to the letter and you can select a new one. Finally, click “OK” and the drive letter will be changed.

6 No Changes for the Operating System Drive

If you want to change the letter of the Operating System Drive (C Drive), you will generate problems in your operating system. If you do, Windows will not start because the corresponding files are encrypted and cannot be changed.

In fact, if you try to do this process through Disk Management you will get the message "Some programs that rely on drive letters might not run properly," so it is not recommended that you continue. Even if you don't have important information or you have just installed Windows, I do not advise you to do so and you will avoid to get multiple problems.

Overview of Windows Drive, Partition & Volume

What's up with these 3 things? Is knowing them significant or something? Yeah, it's a good idea to at least have some basic knowledge of what they are and what they're capable of doing. Besides, you'll understand some of the infinite technical mumbo-jumbo associated with anything computer-related.

Windows Drive

This refers to the hard disk drive that comes preinstalled with Windows on your PC. Your PC might also come with more than a single drive, as is the case with more modern and powerful computers that utilize an SSD as the main drive and HDD as a secondary drive, but Windows is always installed on the main drive; always represented by the letter "C." It's where the OS and software titles are stored in your PC.

Having said that, and to reiterate, don't attempt to change the drive letter of your Windows' primary drive. You can change the drive letters of any other drive, both internal and external, but not the main drive because doing that will only lead to more complications and put a dent in the performance of your Windows. All in all, disregard the instructions on changing drive letters in this instance because they are unnecessary.

Windows Partition

Think of a partition as a division of your hard disk drive. To be more precise, a partition is a logical separation of one drive, but it seems as if this separation creates many physical drives. When it comes to terms, "partition" and "disk partition" are often interchanged. If the word "drive" is added into the mix, it's usually meant to  signify a partition with a drive letter  attached to it.

You can divide your hard disk into numerous partitions and give each of them a unique letter. There are over 26 letters in the English alphabet, so you obviously can't run out of letters to assign. Now, changing the letter of each partition pretty much follows the same rules as changing a drive letter. These letters make it easier for you to differentiate the partitions and assign individual purposes for them, or it just makes it more convenient for you to know what's in each partition.

Read More: How To Create Windows Partitions on Mac

Windows Volume

Yeah, this is a big one. Just like your main drive, your system's volume is crucial to the system's performance; heck, your PC won't even start if your volume is faulty. Volume refers to the disk volume that contains hardware-specific files that are necessary for your Windows to boot, namely Ntdetect.com, Ntldr, and Boot.ini.

Just like with Windows drive, don't tamper with the letters for Windows volume. Yes, if you follow the steps given earlier, you can change the letters; but why do that when it's only a recipe for trouble.? You're not advised to venture into your Windows volume. Leave it as it is unless you're sure you know what you're doing.

Closing Words

There, with everything written up there, you should have no trouble changing the drive letter of any drive in your Windows 11/10. The methods outlined work for both internal and external hard drives as well as more portable storage devices.

Follow the instructions and you're all set. Just don't go and tamper with more than you've been instructed on; don't be in over your head and kill your innocent drive. Third-party tools might try to entice you into using them to get the job done with the quick press of a button, but don't fall for it. The solutions given here are all you need.

How do I boot from D drive instead of C?

If your D: volume has an installation of Windows or another operating system, you can change the boot drive through native Windows tools. Press Win + R and type "msconfig". Now click on the "Boot" tab, select the drive you want to boot from and click the "Set as default" button. Before leaving, do not forget to click “apply”.

How do I permanently change boot drive?

You will need to open the BIOS setup utility by pressing F1, F2, F10, F11, or F12 before the Windows logo appears. Go to "Advanced settings" and then to "Boot menu." Look for the D Drive and select it using the arrow keys until it is shaded, then press the "+" key to move it to the top of the list. Press F10 to save your settings and restart your computer.

What happens if C drive is full?

The C Drive is the main partition of a disk and it is where the operating system is installed along with several important files. Ideally, it should not exceed 90% of its capacity so that it can work with total fluidity. When this partition fills up, it may often slows down, freezes, and crashes your computer.

How do I clear space on my C drive?

There are several practical ways to do it. If you have other partitions or storage devices with enough free space, you can move large files and documents or reinstall applications. There are also many temporary files that are stored on the C Drive that you can delete to save great amount of space.

How do I change the boot menu in Windows 11/10?

Most computers work with UEFI boot mode in Windows 11/10. To change the boot menu, you must press F1, F2. F10, F11 o F12 before the Windows logo appears. Press F8 to open “Boot Menu”, now look for the device you want to boot from the beginning, select it typing the arrow keys and then press “+” key until it is at the top of the list. Finally press F10 to save settings and restart your PC.

What's Wrong with Drive

You Might Also Like

Article

Other popular Articles From Wondershare

Recoverit author

chief Editor

Home

IMAGES

  1. How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10 (Easy to Follow Guide)

    change drive letter software

  2. Change Drive Letter In Windows 10, 8, 8.1, 7

    change drive letter software

  3. How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10 (Easy to Follow Guide)

    change drive letter software

  4. How to change Drive letter in Windows 11/10

    change drive letter software

  5. Change Drive Letter in Registry Editor

    change drive letter software

  6. How to Change Drive Letters (Tips.Net)

    change drive letter software

VIDEO

  1. How To Change a Windows Drive Letter

  2. Name a folder a driver letter

  3. Change drive letter on any PC #Shorts

  4. How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10

  5. How to Remove Drive Letter on Windows 11

  6. Change Drive Latter #shorts #shortvideo #computerknowledge #shortsfeed

COMMENTS

  1. Drive Letter Changer 1.4

    Drive Letter Changer is a portable freeware to simplify changing and assigning a specific drive letter to your drives or external devices.

  2. Drive Letter Changer v1.4

    Drive Letter Changer is a portable freeware to change and assign a specific drive letter to your drives or external devices easily

  3. Change a drive letter

    In Disk Management, select and hold (or right-click) the volume on which you want to change or add a drive letter and select Change Drive Letter

  4. 3 Simple Ways to Assign a Drive Letter in Windows 10/8/7

    EaseUS Partition Master will assign a drive letter to any drive or partition and much more. Besides changing drive letters, you can also delete

  5. 6 Ways to Change the Drive Letter in Windows

    6. Drive Letter Changer Software · MiniTool Partition Wizard · AOMEI Partition Assistant · EaseUS Partition Master.

  6. How to Change a Drive Letter

    Open Disk Management. Locate the drive you want to change. Right-click and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths > Change.

  7. Change Drive Letter Software – AOMEI Partition Assistant

    Change Drive Letter Software – AOMEI Partition Assistant · 1. Connect one PC to another one. · 2. Upgrade the drive and the new drive letter can’t be changed

  8. View / Change / Remove drive letters assignment in your system

    After you run DriveLetterView, the list of all assigned drive letters is displayed on the main window of DriveLetterView. If you want to change the drive letter

  9. 6 Ways to Change Drive Letter on Windows 10 Computer[2023]

    1 Change a Drive Letter in Disk Management ... 1. Press on the "Windows" + "R" key. When the "Run" window pops up, type this command in its search field: diskmgmt

  10. Change Drive Letter Using Command Prompt In Windows 10/8/7

    Change Drive Letter Using Command Prompt In Windows 10/8/7 [Tutorial]Sometimes Windows system drive letters get altered, and the Control