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How to Change a Drive Letter on Windows 10 or Windows 11
Nick Lewis is a staff writer for How-To Geek. He has been using computers for 20 years --- tinkering with everything from the UI to the Windows registry to device firmware. Before How-To Geek, he used Python and C++ as a freelance programmer. In college, Nick made extensive use of Fortran while pursuing a physics degree. Read more...
Changing the letter of a drive is easy on Windows 10 and Windows 11, but you should do it as soon as you add the drive to prevent future hassles. Find out how to change a drive letter here.
What Changing a Drive Letter Does How to Change a Drive Letter How to Fix Programs Broken By Changing a Drive Letter Fix The Shortcut Reinstall the Program Change the Drive Letter Back Edit the Registry
What Changing a Drive Letter Does
Windows assigns drive letters alphabetically — starting with C — when they’re initialized. If you want to change a drive letter, you should do it before you install anything on the drive. Changing a drive letter after programs are installed could break them since there will be references to an installation location that is no longer there.
Windows has gotten pretty smart about updating shortcuts so that programs work after changing a drive letter. Most of your applications’ shortcuts will probably be automatically corrected. Unfortunately, Windows isn’t as good about updating file associations. You’ll have to manually set the default apps associated with files to fix file associations if they were broken by changing the drive letter.
Warning: It is possible to change the boot drive letter to something else, but we don’t recommend it. Changing C:\ to another letter is likely to result in severe issues, like a PC that cannot boot into Windows at all. Even if it were able to boot, there would be a huge number of programs that would not be able to run.
Note: Technically speaking, while they are commonly called drive letters, each letter actually refers to a partition on a disk. If you have multiple partitions on a single disk, you will need to assign a letter to each partition to make them all accessible. If a disk has just a single partition, it will just have a single letter pointing to that partition. (However, you do not have to assign a letter to each partition. Partitions without drive letters will not appear in File Explorer and elsewhere.)
How to Change a Drive Letter
Changing a drive letter is pretty simple. Click the Start button, type “Disk Management” in the search bar, and then hit Enter.
Note: The program name displayed in the search will not be Disk Management. It will be “Create and format hard disk partitions.”
You could also hit Windows+X or right-click the Start button, and then click “Disk Management.”
Identify the drive you’d like to change in the Disk Management Window. In this example, we’ll change the letter of the D:\ drive to J:\. You can right-click the drive on the text list, or on the menu below. Either works.
Select “Change Drive Letter and Paths” in the right-click menu that appears.
In the window that pops up, click “Change.”
Select whatever letter you want from the drop-down menu. Then click “Ok.”
Two popups will warn you about changing your drive letter. Click “Yes” on both of them, and then restart your computer.
Once Windows has restarted, the drive letter should be changed.
How to Fix Programs Broken By Changing a Drive Letter
There are a few ways you can fix a program broken by changing the drive letter.
Fix The Shortcut
If you’re lucky, the only thing that is broken is the shortcut. Fix a shortcut by right-clicking the shortcut on your desktop, and then click Properties.
You need to change the target of the shortcut to the new drive letter.
For example, if GIMP was previously installed at “ D :\GIMP 2\bin\gimp-2.10.exe,” and you changed the D drive to J, change the target of the shortcut to “ J :\GIMP 2\bin\gimp-2.10.exe.”
Finalize the change by clicking “Apply” and then “Ok.”
Reinstall the Program
Reinstalling the program will generate new entries in the registry, so everything on the computer will know where to look for the program. Some installers won’t like reinstalling directly over existing files, so you may need to rename or delete the old installation first.
Change the Drive Letter Back
If you changed the drive letter of a drive with a lot of programs installed, it might be easier to change the drive letter back. Changing the drive letter back should automatically fix any programs and file associations that were broken.
Edit the Registry
Warning: You can break programs, or even Windows itself, by editing the registry. Be careful, and learn about how to edit the registry before you try it. Make sure you backup the Windows registry first. You should not attempt this method unless you have no other options.
Windows, and a lot of programs, track where programs are installed via the Windows registry. It is possible to manually adjust the registry to fix broken programs. Keep in mind that there could be dozens of registry entries you need to edit. A program like GIMP can have registry entries for the context menu, for the “Open With” menu, for any file associations, and for the location of its executables. Other programs may only have a few entries related to where it is installed.
If you’re not deterred, here’s how you do it.
First, you need to know where the program was previously installed. In this case, the program was installed to the “D:\GIMP 2” folder, and the executables were found the “D:\GIMP 2\bin” sub-folder. It is now located at “J:\GIMP 2” instead.
We need to update the registry to reflect the change in location. Click the Start button, type “regedit” into the search bar, right-click Regedit, and click “Run as administrator.”
In Regedit, hit Ctrl+F to bring up a search window. Type in the old location for the program you’re trying to fix — “D:\GIMP 2” for our example — then click “Find Next.”
Once Regedit has found something with “D:\GIMP 2” as part of a path, it’ll show it to you. Here is an example from the GIMP search.
To actually change them, double click the name of the registry entry you want to modify. Then change the drive letter to J, or whatever you chose. If you didn’t otherwise move the folder, leave the rest of the path alone. Then click “Ok.”
You’ll need to repeat this multiple times. To find the next result using your search term, you can hit the F3 key. There will be a popup once you’ve found all of the entries.
Changing drive letters can be a simple way to customize your PC. Do it before you install anything on the drive, however. You’ll prevent any problems before they occur, and probably save yourself quite a bit of troubleshooting.
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Step-by-step instructions for assigning a specific drive letter to an external drive, SD card, or hard drive partition in Windows 10.
When you connect a new drive to your PC, Windows automatically assigns the next available letter after C, which is normally used for your system drive. So an external hard drive or USB thumb drive could end up as D, E, F, or whatever, depending on how many drive letters are already being used.
This is all well and good, but what if you want to assign the drive a letter? Maybe you want to use M for your music files or X for your top-secret X-Files. Here’s how in Windows 10.
- Ensure that the drive you’re relettering isn’t in use and that no files from that drive are open.
- Right-click on the Start button.
- Click Disk Management to open the Disk Management console.
- Right-click the volume that has the drive letter you want to change.
- Click Change Drive Letter And Paths.
- Click the Change button.
- Choose from a list of available drive letters. (Don’t use A or B, which have historically been reserved for floppy drives and can sometime confuse older software.)
- Click Yes if a popup windows appears asking if you really want to do this.
- Close the Disk Management console.
You may need to restart your machine for the change to take effect, but once you do the drive will use the new letter.
More Windows tips…
- How to turn on or off hibernate in Windows 10
- Regain hard disk space by using Windows Update Cleanup in Windows 7 and 8.x
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How to assign permanent letters to drives on Windows 10
You can assign drive letters manually, and in this guide, we show you how on Windows 10.
On Windows 10, when connecting a removable storage device or an internal hard drive, the system detects and assigns a drive letter automatically to make it usable. However, when reconnecting an external drive (such as a USB flash drive or SD or microSD cards), the system can end up assigning a different letter, which can be annoying.
If you want to see the same drive letter on a particular device, you can manually assign a permanent letter to any drive connected to your computer, and on Windows 10 , you can do this in at least three different ways, using Disk Management, Command Prompt, or PowerShell.
Using this approach will prevent Windows 10 from assigning a new letter or trying to set a letter already in use, which can cause conflicts. Also, it helps to select a drive letter that makes more sense to you.
In this Windows 10 guide, we walk you through several methods to manually assign a permanent letter to a drive, as long as you're connecting the drive to the same device and the letter isn't already in use.
How to assign a drive letter using Disk Management
How to assign a drive letter using command prompt, how to assign a drive letter using powershell.
To manage drive letters with the Disk Management tool, use these steps:
- Open Start .
- Search for Create and format hard disk partitions and click the top result to open the Disk Management experience.
- Right-click the drive and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
- Click the Change button.
- Select the Assign the following drive letter option.
- Use the drop-down menu to assign a new drive letter. Quick tip: To avoid the system trying to assign the same letter to another drive, it's a good idea to start adding letters in backward order. For instance, instead of using D, E or F, it better to start with Z, Y or X when assigning a new letter.
- Click the OK button.
- Click the OK button again.
Once you complete these steps, the drive will permanently retain the assigned letter, even after reconnecting it. However, if you connect the drive to another device, it may receive a different letter.
While the easiest way to assign a new drive letter is to use Disk Management, you can also use DiskPart in Command Prompt to perform the same task.
To assign a drive letter using Command Prompt, use these steps:
- Search for Command Prompt , right-click the result, and then select the Run as administrator option.
- Type the following command to start DiskPart and press Enter : diskpart
- Type the following command to list all the available volumes and press Enter : list volume
- Type the following command to select the volume (drive) to assign a new letter and press Enter: select volume 3 In the command, make sure to change "3" to the number that represents the drive on your device.
- Type the following command to assign a new drive letter, and press Enter : assign letter=Z The command assigns the letter "Z" to the drive assuming it's available. However, you need to make sure to change the letter for the one that you want to use.
After completing these steps, similar to Disk Management, every time you reconnect the storage to the same device, Windows 10 should assign the same letter automatically.
Alternatively, you can also use PowerShell to change a drive letter on Windows 10 using these steps:
- Search for PowerShell , right-click the result, and then select the Run as administrator option.
- Type the following command to list the available drives and press Enter : Get-Disk
- Type the following command to assign a permanent letter to the drive and press Enter : Get-Partition -DiskNumber 1 | Set-Partition -NewDriveLetter Z In the command, make sure to change "1" to the number that represents the drive that you want to modify, and change "Z" for the new letter that you want to use.
Once you complete the steps, the drive will be accessible through File Explorer using the letter that you assigned, and Windows 10 won't try to change it.
Updated March 7, 2019: We revised this guide to make sure it's current with the latest version of Windows 10.
More Windows 10 resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:
- Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
- Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
- Windows 10 forums on Windows Central
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Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral.com. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. He has an IT background with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and he's a recognized member of the Microsoft MVP community.
- Scenario: I have four 16GB USB flash drives that I use for various OS installs. I typically work on one at a time, plugged into the same USB port. Sometimes I connect two at a time. I just accept that Windows will assign the next available letter to the current connected drive. So, if I manually assign a letter to one flash drive, will it get that letter every time, but the other three will not be assigned that letter?
- Yes, that's how it should work.
- Unfortunately this won't work with the same letter assigned to multiple drives. Only the most recent is remembered. They really need to get away from drive letters and switch to using the actual name of the drive.
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How to Change a Drive Letter
Don't like the letters assigned to your drives in windows change them.
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What to Know
- Open Disk Management. Locate the drive you want to change. Right-click and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths > Change .
- Select the drive letter you want to assign from Assign the following drive letter . Then select OK and choose Yes .
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.
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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.
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".
Step 3. Pick "Change" to alter the drive letter. Or pick "Add" to add a drive letter for drives without one.
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.
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".
Step 2. Type diskpart at the command prompt. Press Enter.
Step 3. Type list volume , then press Enter.
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 <>.
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.
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.
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Updated by Roxanne
Roxanne is one of the main contributors to EaseUS and has created multiple posts on digital devices like PCs, Mobile phones, tablets, Mac, etc. She loves to share ideas with people of the same interest.
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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 likes various electronic products.
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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.
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How to Assign / Change Drive Letter in Windows 10
We show you how to change the drive letter in CMD, DIsk Management, PowerShell, and Registry editor in Windows 10.
- 1 How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10 via Disk Management
- 2 How to Change Drive Letter in CMD using a DISKPART Disk Management Command
- 3 How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10 with a PowerShell Disk Management Command
- 4 How to Change / Assign a Drive Letter via the Registry Editor
Windows 10 helpfully assigns drive letters to disks as they’re added, but they aren’t always the most logical choices. While we all know that C: is the system drive, it doesn’t make quite as much sense to have D: as your games drive or E: as your media drive. Luckily it’s quite easy to change a drive letter in Windows 10, and we’re going to walk you through the process today.
How does Windows 10 drive letter assignment work?
For the most part, Windows 10 automatically assigns letters to drives as they’re connected, in alphabetical order. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule that may leave some users confused.
As mentioned earlier, C: is always reserved for the system drive, but A: and B: are reserved too, for rarely used floppy drives. Because of Windows automatic assignment, you may have also noticed that Windows changes the drive letter of your USB stick if you’ve connected another before it.
If you want letters that are easier to identify in bios or don’t want your USB letters jumping around, it’s quite easy to permanently change a drive letter in Windows 10 to something of your choosing. We’re going to cover a few different ways today, including how to change the drive letter in CMD.
How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10 via Disk Management
The most user-friendly way to assign drive letters in Windows is through the Disk Management interface, which is relatively easy to use.
How to Change Drive Letter in CMD using a DISKPART Disk Management Command
Though it’s not quite as user-friendly, it can be much faster to change a drive letter with Command Prompt.
How to Change Drive Letter in Windows 10 with a PowerShell Disk Management Command
Those more familiar with PowerShell can use this method instead to achieve the same result.
How to Change / Assign a Drive Letter via the Registry Editor
Alternatively, if none of the above methods worked or you’re just feeling brave, you can modify the drive letter via the registry. Just be sure to read our safe registry editing guide first.
If you enjoyed this guide, you may want to consider enabling or disabling disk caching or turning on BitLocker for your newly customized drives.
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Change a drive letter
- 2 minutes to read
- 3 contributors
Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012
If you don't like the drive letter assigned to a drive, or if you've got a drive that doesn't yet have a drive letter, you can use Disk Management to change it. To instead to mount the drive in an empty folder so that it appears as just another folder, see Mount a drive in a folder .
If you change the drive letter of a drive where Windows or apps are installed, apps might have trouble running or finding that drive. For this reason we suggest that you don't change the drive letter of a drive on which Windows or apps are installed.
Here's how to change the drive letter:
Open Disk Management with administrator permissions. To do so, select and hold (or right-click) the Start button, and then select Disk Management .
In Disk Management, select and hold (or right-click) the volume for which you want to change or add a drive letter, and then select Change Drive Letter and Paths .
If you don't see the Change Drive Letter and Paths option or it's grayed out, it's possible the volume isn't ready to receive a drive letter, which can be the case if the drive is unallocated and needs to be initialized . Or, maybe it's not meant to be accessed, which is the case of EFI system partitions and recovery partitions. If you've confirmed that you have a formatted volume with a drive letter that you can access and you still can't change it, unfortunately this topic probably can't help you, so we suggest contacting Microsoft 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 .
Select the new drive letter, select OK , and then select Yes when prompted about how programs that rely on the drive letter might not run correctly.
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How to Change a Drive Letter Changing a drive letter is pretty simple. Click the Start button, type “Disk Management” in the search bar, and then hit Enter. Note: The program name displayed in the search will not be Disk Management. It will be “Create and format hard disk partitions.”
Right-click on the Start button. Click Disk Management to open the Disk Management console. Right-click the volume that has the drive letter you want to change. Click Change Drive Letter...
To assign a drive letter using Command Prompt, use these steps: Open Start. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the result, and then select the Run as administrator option. Type the...
Right-click and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths > Change. Select the drive letter you want to assign from Assign the following drive letter. Then select OK and choose Yes. 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.
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. 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". Step 3.
Right-click the drive that you want to change or free the letter from and click “Change Drive Letter and Paths…”. Click the “Change…” button. If you want to free up the letter you can ...
Here's how to change the drive letter: Open Disk Management with administrator permissions. To do so, select and hold (or right-click) the Start button, and then select Disk Management. In Disk Management, select and hold (or right-click) the volume for which you want to change or add a drive letter, and then select Change Drive Letter and Paths.