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Q142635: Cannot Change the Drive Letter of Removable Drives

Article: Q142635
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): Winnt:4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbWinNT400sp4fix
Last Modified: 08-AUG-2001

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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 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition 
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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:

1. With a disk in the removable drive, start Disk Administrator and look at how
  the devices have been identified.

2. 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.

3. Shut down the computer and disconnect the removable drive.

4. 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.

5. 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

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Keywords          : kbWinNT400sp4fix 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT400search kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400 kbNTTermServ400 kbNTTermServSearch
Version           : Winnt:4.0
Hardware          : ALPHA x86
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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