Changing the Windows C: Drive to Any Letter

They said it couldn't be done 😤😤😤

There is virtually no information out there about how to change the main Windows drive letter to something other than C. It is easy to do for other drives using the disk manager, but the main drive is another story. But, I figured out a method on how to do it in case anyone wants to. I wouldn't say it's recommended because you might run into some strange behavior from the occasional program, but some people might want to do this for the cool factor.

▼ Time Stamps: ▼
0:00 - Intro
1:26 - How to Do It
5:20 - Reasons You Might Not Want To

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[codrutx]

I am a software developer, and most of my apps use predefined path locations(since it's more convenient). But as soon as I watched this video, I rushed to quickly change all my libraries to work with %systemdrive% instead

[TechHackZ]

I would advise app makers to use the environment variable %homedrive%:\ instead of C:\

[themusesquad]

U can always make a small C drive and fill it up with symbolic links to the A drive. That way the programs using C drive by default will be redirected to A

[th]

There are also special versions of Windows where the default letter for the installation volume is A.

Back in the MS-DOS days, the most popular series of PCs in Japan was NEC's PC-9800 series of PCs. These computers were not compatible with standard MS-DOS and had a special version of DOS that was compatible with those computets, but where the boot drive would always be the A drive (so it didn't matter if you installed DOS on a hard drive or if you booted from a floppy disk, the boot drive was always A). Eventually, versions of Windows would be ported to PC-9800 series computers, and the PC-9800 editions of Windows would also by default use A as the letter for the installation volume

[OVERKILL_PINBALL]

This could potentially bypass some malware also that might be hard coded to use C: or assume the O/S is there.

[marcell]

when it comes to windows, honestly you are the very best, hands down..please keep this stuff up because it is great to know these things. thank you

[lofty_craft]

Finally a good tutorial thats not outdated

[steeviebops]

The installer for XP and earlier used the MS-DOS rules for assigning drive letters. So if you tried to install XP on, for example, a logical drive in an extended partition, you’d end up with it installed on D: or E:. Only in Vista did they start using the selected install partition as C: no matter what.

[pyromethious]

Back in the day, the A and B drives were for the two floppy (the real kind) drives were assigned to them by default as they came before hard drives (IIRC). So by default, the C drive then represented the primary hard drive going forward and as an industry, everyone stayed with that for compatibility.

[timroach]

This would be an interesting experiment to see how much hard coding of windows path programs have done. Also some virus may not work if it is hard coded to assume c drive.

[JustPyroYT]

I think enderman made a video in which he showed that any Unicode Charakter is valid as a drive letter in Windows. Would be interesting to see if you can install Windows to a drive thats called 1: or something...

[Dayreaverthe_Theo]

3:34 (idk if you know this) but pro tip, to save time instead of doing "list volume" or "list partition", do "lis vol", or "lis par", it still works, and saves time, this applies to other commands in diskpart

[Ziggy_Stark.]

What a time to come across this vid. I'm at the moment using the free version of 'AOMEI' Partition Assistant' (Standard Edition.) I'm a bit blown away by it. One of the options is to 'letter' the partitions. A-Z is available and takes about 5 seconds. I'd suggest downloading it just for a look.

[pyp]

Well now I have another idea of how I can confuse my friends. First I made it look like my computer somehow "downgraded" from Windows 10 to 7 (it was a windows 7 vm that was in full screen mode that I made for fun). Now I can't imagine how they'll react to not seeing a different drive letter on a vm.

[Rocksite]

There are very common-sense reasons for doing this: Anybody who wants to install multiple OSs for a multi-boot system needs it. I have a Win7 partition that I'm still rockin', but decided too many devs have moved to the spyware-laden 11. Yet, installing it from a USB kept insisting on calling the drive it was on "C:". This hack works, and allowed me to install on E:. Working on Win11 22H2. Some software manufacturer. How many OSs in history made you get an expensive Server edition in order to install anywhere else than C:??? Epic hack, for those who need it, ThioJoe!

[koduflower]

Woahhhh! They said it was impossible to install Windows in a drive set in a different letter. Anyways, you finally made the right choice for the thumbnail. The thumbnail made it more intriguing. And I was impressed!

[Vovka_Watch]

A fun fact is that most viruses are hardcoded to use C: drive as System, so if you do that stuff, you will get fewer problems with viruses

[semprocarnage]

It's been a long time since I watched you man, you're still kicking🔥

[ArdjanVideo]

I had WinNT on D: a long while ago. Win98 on C: (because of an early MP3-player that needed Win98 to be loaded through a parallel port, which couldnt'd be done in NT).
When I removed C: a bit later, I ended up with D: for the OS, and E: for the data. I had a virtual C: mounted somewhere on D:, so programs that insisted on C: did even work...

[eddy]

Back in the 1990's playing around I figured out how to change the drive letter in Windows, they thought to myself this probably isn't a good idea - and it wasn't.