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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.
Submit and view feedback for
Additional resources
How to Change Drive Letters In Windows 7 or Vista
Windows 7 automatically assigns drive letters to hard-drives, DVD-ROMS, and USB/External Drives, etc. as you install or connect them. If the default letters aren’t catching your fancy for whatever reason (I like to reserve Z: for my External Backup drive for instance) , Windows has a built-in feature which allows you to change the drive letter assignment. You can change it to any letter of the English alphabet except A. Windows 7 reserves the A: Drive for the all but extinct legacy floppy disk.
How To Change Your Hard-Drive Letter In Windows 7
1. Click the Windows Start Orb and then Right-Click Computer and Click Manage from the context menu.
2. Click Storage > Disk Management from the left panel. Next Right-Click the drive letter that you would like to change and Click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
3. Select the drive letter you would like to change then Click Change . In the pop-up dialog use the drop-down box to Select a new drive letter . Click OK to save and exit both windows.
Now your drive should have the new letter you just assigned to it. Have fun with the groovy customization of hard-drive letters in Windows 7!
Note: A word of caution – In most cases changing drive letters is not a risky endeavor. However, if the drive you’re changing has software already installed on it, then changing that drive letter could break the installed applications.
23 Comments
Good find! I usually go about the other way in using command prompt with diskpart application.
this in not command promped info its just windows gui please redo this for the command proped like the artical heading states
Really? Sounds complicated :)
For the average Windows user, sure. But for some one like yourself, should be rather easy.
Try it out.. run command prompt in elevated mode, type “diskpart”, then just type help. All the commands you need to know are in there.
The only thing you have to remember is to “select” a partition, volume or drive before you do anything (or else you can't do anything).
I like diskpart because it gives you a bit more control over what you are actually doing with your drives.
That's one of the great things about Windows. Always about 5 different ways to do the same thing!
true true. I started using diskpart with Windows 7 for mounting VHD images for dual boot. awesome tool.
I’m trying to change mine from I: to C: so that my internets will allow me to download and use certain video plugins but it says the parameter is incorrect. I don’t have anything else assigned to C: Any ideas? thanks
That’s really odd. I need you to move this question into our free User Forum ( https://www.groovypost.com/forum/ ) and post up a screenshot of the error you getting. I’ll keep an eye on the forum for your new topic.
Have a problem where the drive doesn’t actually exist – it’s saying that I have a cd drive under “G”, but I don’t – I can’t access anything about it, and it doesn’t appear on Disk Management list – any ideas??
This was so easy to do, and it was a great help. Thank you very much!
I tried this, but I get the messaeg ” the parameter is incorrect “. I am trying to change an external hard drive from G to F drive. Help me?
ok fyi the normal proceedure does not apply here in this post…never has…never will… why??? cause everyone knows that sheet… so stop posting useless info and make a viable solution that does not need diskmanager…sometimes disk manager does not msee the disk manager or partition in question…so i need an example to get the job done with…tnx …gene
Fabulous worked for me!
Duh.. :) Of course it works (already in XP) As the screens show, one can even mount a drive or partition to an empty ntfs folder. It’s saving driveletters and comes in handy when you’re running out of them. You can assign driverletter to network drive mappings too. ;)
BTW in XP you can also use A:.
Judi FitzPatrick
Thank you, just what I needed!
ok i recently had to reboot(restore) my computer so i made a partition and installed a second copy of windows 7. then trasfered all my data from the first partition. deleted first partition then moved the new one to the beginning of the hard drive. now even the method stated above will not even change my drive letter from (B:) to (C:). any other methods of changing it?
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.
In following your good instructions, I learned that not ALL the drives letters are available, including the one I needed.
The issue occurs if one powers up an external drive after the machine is running — a different letter (L in this case) is assigned than if the external drive was already running when the machine boots (J is assigned in that case.
Any ideas appreciated!
Thank you. This helped
I just bought a new hard drive. I have C:, D:, and F:, I want to change my F drive to E drive. When I change the from F to E. will my data in F gets deleted when i change drive letter.
ON my version of Windows 7 the option to change drive letters is under Computer MANAGEMENT Then the menu heading ACTION then click ALL TASKS then choose CHANGE DRIVE LETTER AND PATHS
I does seem to work for drives always connected. For removable (USB) drives this is not permanent! Windows 7 keeps changing the drive letter I assign to one of my USB drives. I have found no permanent solution.
Thanks. Simple, to the point without blah, blah, blah. Best wishes.
thanks, it was easy and working, even I was able to assign letter A for a partition :D
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Change drive letter for CD drive on Windows 7
How to change the drive letter for CD drive on Windows 7? I want to map network location to the letter that is currently used by my CD drive.
- optical-drive
Right click on the Computer icon on the Desktop and select Manage option.
Select Storage > Disk Management or just run diskmgmt.msc (administrative rights needed).
Right click on the CD/DVD icon in the bottom panel and select Change Drive Letter and Paths...
Change the letter and select OK.
In some cases, for the drive's entry to show up in Disk Management, it has to have a readable CD/DVD inserted.
- 1 Would just like to add (only because mine wasn't showing up) that there must be a disk in the CD/DVD drive for it to show up in the Disk Management area. – user55925 Nov 17, 2010 at 15:42
- For future readers, I had what appeared to be a CD drive showing up in Windows Explorer taking up a drive letter, but it didn't show up in Disk Management. It turned out to be Power ISO software I had installed. I just right clicked the drive and changed the Power ISO option to free up that drive letter. – Ben Jun 5, 2013 at 20:12
- 2 "there must be a disk in the CD/DVD drive" this is a VERY useful hint. thank you @user55925 – anion Nov 18, 2017 at 22:21
- 1 Nowadays (or on my Windows 10 21H1 installation with an USB CD/DVD drive) it is not required to be a disk inside, it is shown anyway. – lucasvc Feb 17, 2022 at 7:51
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Windows 7 - change cd/dvd drive letter
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How to change a drive letter
In Microsoft Windows, different storage media , devices, and partitions on your computer are identified using drive letters . By default, these letters are assigned automatically. However, if you desire to change a default drive letter, may do so by following the steps below.
If you're trying to switch between drives, see: How to change drives in MS-DOS and Windows command line.
Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11
- CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and other devices.
- Open the Disk Management utility .
- Right-click the volume whose drive letter you want to change and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
- In the window that appears, click the Change button.
- In the next window, select the letter you desire from the drop-down menu on the right, then click OK .
CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and other devices
In the newer versions of Windows, devices that are not considered to be volumes (i.e., CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives) aren't listed on the same page as hard drives , SSDs , and partitions . However, you can adjust which section you are viewing, allowing you to assign a different drive letter to these devices.
The letter you assign to these devices must come after that of the hard drive. For example, because your hard drive is C:, you may only use D: through Z:. If you have multiple hard drives or partitions and your last drive letter is F:, you can only change your device's drive letter to G: through Z:.
- Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11.
- Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME.
- MS-DOS and Windows 3.X.
- At the top of Disk Management window, click the View menu.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, select Top , then select Disk List .
- Right-click the disk drive whose drive letter you want to change and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME
- Open the Device Manager .
- Click the plus sign (+) next to CD-ROM or DVD/CD-ROM drives .
- Double-click the disk drive whose drive letter you want to change.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Where the computer lists the Start and end drive letter , make your selection and then click OK .
- Restart the computer.
- How to restart Microsoft Windows.
MS-DOS and Windows 3.X
- If you are in Windows, Exit to an MS-DOS prompt .
- Type cd\ and press Enter .
- Once at DOS type edit c:\autoexec.bat
- In the autoexec.bat window, locate the MSCDEX line .
- On the MSCDEX line, if it's missing /L:x (where x is the drive letter), add /L:D (assigning the CD-ROM to D: and can be anything up to Z:).
- Once changes are made, click File (if you do not have a mouse, press Alt + F ), then choose Exit and say Yes to save the changes .
- Once back at DOS, type edit c:\config.sys
- In the config.sys window, look for anything that says "LASTDRIVE=x" (were x is the last drive letter). If the line is missing, add LASTDRIVE=K (or the letter you want as the ending letter) at the top of the config.sys file.
The LASTDRIVE must be a letter between C and Z.
- Once changes are made, click File (if you do not have a mouse , press Alt + F ), then choose Exit and say Yes to save the changes .
Related information
- How to rename or label a disk drive.
- How to set up a hard drive and partition in Windows.
- How to merge partitions in Windows.
- How to delete a partition in Windows.
- See the hard drive and Windows definitions for related information and links.
Andrea Schultz
Download windows 7 change dvd drive letter
Windows 7 change dvd drive letter.
Nov 16, · Having gone to Win 7 there is something at D, but I don’t know what and the DVD drives are K and L. I was able to change external drive letters but I haven’t seen the equivalent. Go to the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management, right click on the drives you want to change and select “Change drive letter and paths”. Jul 06, · 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 . 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.
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Windows 7 change dvd drive letter Apr 16, · 1. Click the Windows Start Orb and then Right-Click Computer and Click Manage from the context menu. 2. Click Storage > Disk Management from the left panel. Next Right-Click the drive letter that you would like to change 3. Select the drive letter you would like to change then Click Change. In Author: Steve Krause. Mar 06, · Right-click the volume whose drive letter you’d like to change and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option. In the window that appears, click the Change button. In the next window, select the letter you desire from the drop-down menu on the right, then click OK. CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and other devices. Sep 16, · Windows 7 Forums is the largest help and support community, providing friendly help and advice for Microsoft Windows 7 Computers such as Dell, HP, Acer, Asus or a custom build. So I know that going into disk management allows me to change the letter assignments for hard drives and such, but there are no dvd-drives listed there.
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Right click on the volume or disk drive that you want to change the drive letter, and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Then click on Change button. Use the drop down list to select the new and your desired drive letter to assign to the disk volume. Jul 11, · Maybe you have a paging file on this disk and Windows does not allows you to change the letter. You can disable the paging file, reboot, change the letter, and re-enable paging. Or you can move it to another disk, restart it, and try to change the letter again. Dec 09, · Right-click the drive to which you want to assign a drive letter, select “ Advanced ” and then “ Change Drive Letter ”. Step 2. Select the released drive letter in the pop-up window. Step 3.
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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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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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Go to the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management, right click on the drives you want to change and select "Change drive letter and paths". Bob Headrick, Microsoft MVP for 11 years, now a reconnect MVP and HP Expert 32 people found this reply helpful · Was this reply helpful? Yes No
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.
It is not about the drive letter D: being the optical drive, but about programs and documents with explicit references to data stored on D: - which you are breaking by changing the drive letter. You will see this warning for any drive letter change, not just the one involving an optical disk drive. Share. Improve this answer.
How To Change Your Hard-Drive Letter In Windows 7 1. Click the Windows Start Orb and then Right-Click Computer and Click Manage from the context menu. 2. Click Storage > Disk Management...
Right click on the Computer icon on the Desktop and select Manage option. Select Storage > Disk Management or just run diskmgmt.msc (administrative rights needed). Right click on the CD/DVD icon in the bottom panel and select Change Drive Letter and Paths... Change the letter and select OK.
Windows 7 help and support Installation & Setup How to change DVD drive letters BarrieNoodles Posts : 64 Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit & Win 7 Professional 32 bit 12 Sep 2010 #1 How to change DVD drive letters I would like to change the letters of my 2 DVD drives to X and Z but I can't find a way to do it.
You can change the Drive Letter in Disk Management. Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management. Right Click on the DVD and change the letter. May I also suggest moving your Drive G (Network Drive) down so as to stay out the PC hardware range.... Thinkpads_User
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Changing drive letter in Hardware & Devices Hello I "reorganized" my Windows 7-64 bits PC (added some new disks, reorgabizing directories ...) I renamed some of the disks so they are clear for me But there is one disk I cannot change I want to rename F: to Z: Inside the Drive management Console, i can - access disk F: - select...
Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11. Open the Disk Management utility.; Right-click the volume whose drive letter you want to change and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.; In the window that appears, click the Change button.; In the next window, select the letter you desire from the drop-down menu on the right, then click OK.; CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and other devices
Windows 7 change dvd drive letter Apr 16, · 1. Click the Windows Start Orb and then Right-Click Computer and Click Manage from the context menu. 2. Click Storage > Disk Management from the left panel. Next Right-Click the drive letter that you would like to change 3. Select the drive letter you would like to change then Click Change.
You can also in Windows 10/11 change drive letters, for DVD and USB drives or add and remove Paths, and also for external hard drives and media! Simply start the Windows 10/11 Disk Management via the Windows Logo + X menu. Content / Solutions / Tips: 1.) ... Changing the drive letter of the DVD drive on Windows 10/11! 2.) ...
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.
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."