Member Avatar for kriskarrera

Hi
My old CD-RW drive died last week so I've purchased another and installed it. The problem is that the drive letters have changed.
Before my CD-RW drive was (D:) and my DVD ROM drive was (E:). But now they've both shifted one letter forward so they're: CD-RW drive (E:) and my DVD ROM drive (F:). :evil:
How has this happened and how can I change them back?
Thanks guys.

(Edited to disable similies)

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Generated

Most likely cause (Windows 2000/XP): Windows had the old drive recorded as a device and kept the D: / E: mappings reserved, or there were hidden "non‑present" optical devices still registered. That explains why saw the letters missing from Disk Management even after uninstalling and rescanning — the entries were still reserved at a lower system level.

Show and remove hidden (ghost) optical devices first. From a command prompt:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

In Device Manager enable View -> Show hidden devices, expand "DVD/CD-ROM drives" and uninstall any greyed (non‑present) entries for the old hardware. Do not remove IDE/ATAPI controller drivers. Reboot and recheck.

If letters remain reserved, clean the drive‑letter mappings in the registry (backup first). Open regedit and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Right‑click MountedDevices -> Export (save a backup). Then either delete only the values named “\DosDevices\D:” and “\DosDevices\E:” (preferred) or, if comfortable, delete the whole MountedDevices key so Windows rebuilds it on reboot. Reboot after making changes. Warning: removing these entries can change other volume or network mappings, so keep the export backup.

Alternative, non‑registry methods: use diskpart or mountvol to remove a mount point:

diskpart
list volume
select volume <n>
remove letter=D
exit

or

mountvol D: /D

Also check IDE cable/jumpers if the drives are on the same ribbon — master/slave order can affect detection order. This advice builds on and ’s suggestions: clearing hidden devices and the MountedDevices reservations is the common solution when Disk Management refuses the original letters.

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Member Avatar for JANINE

Hi
My old CD-RW drive died last week so I've purchased another and installed it. The problem is that the drive letters have changed.
Before my CD-RW drive was (D:) and my DVD ROM drive was (E:). But now they've both shifted one letter forward so they're: CD-RW drive (E:) and my DVD ROM drive (F:). :evil:
How has this happened and how can I change them back?
Thanks guys.

(Edited to disable similies)

did you uninstall the drivers for the old drive before u took it out? if not then your machine probably thinks that you have two cd drives and a dvd drive running inside there. you will need to uninstall the old drivers for the old cd drive.

also in windows you can reassign drive letters by right clicking on the start menu and going to properties. click customise. check the administrative tools box. once you have checked the administrative tools option click apply and ok.

go back into start. go to administrative tools. go into computer management. go into disk management and from there right click your drive and select change drive letter and paths. from here you will be able to reassign your drive letters as D and E respectively.

dont worry its easy:D

Member Avatar for kriskarrera

did you uninstall the drivers for the old drive before u took it out?

Yes!

go into computer management. go into disk management and from there right click your drive and select change drive letter and paths. from here you will be able to reassign your drive letters as D and E respectively.

Done that too and the old letters (D & E) arent available anymore.
:( I dunno what to do

Member Avatar for kriskarrera

WTF?! I just went intp Device Manager and uninstalled both DVD rom and CDRW drives and "searched for new hardware"....... now if I go into "My Computer" I have:
CD Drive (D:)
CD-RW Drive (E:)
AND....
CD Drive (F:)

This is very confusing!

Member Avatar for nanosani

You can change the drive letters by right clicking my computer --> manage --> disk management --> right clicking any drive and first removing its drive letter and then reassigning it another one if it's available.

Member Avatar for kriskarrera

Problem solved, thanks for your advice.

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