From time to time, you may wish to change the letter of a hard drive, CD or DVD drive. Many times users with network storage will set up a new computer and discover that a CD or DVD drive has snatched a drive letter away from one of their network resources. Or you might just want to re-arrange things. Whatever your reason may be, changing the drive letter of a CD or DVD drive is quite simple.
Warning: Changing drive letters can cause certain things to malfunction. If you have any software or documents that expect to find resources on a specific drive, make all the necessary updates first.
The letters of storage volumes can be changed from the Computer Management console. To start the console…
- Click Start.
- Click Run.
- Type compmgmt.msc
- Press OK
The following Computer Management window will appear:
Fig. 1 - The Computer Management console.
Click on Storage, then click on Disk Management. You will see a list of storage volumes appear to the right. Right-click on the drive whose letter you wish to change, and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths…” from the menu that pops up.
Fig. 2 - Change Drive Letter or Paths dialog
Click on the disk with the letter you wish to change, and press the change button. The following dialog window will appear:
Fig. 3 - Change Drive Letter or Path dialog
Select a new letter from the drop-down menu and press the OK button. You will be returned to the “Change Drive Letter and Paths for [drive letter]” window — press OK again. Your drive letter should now be changed, and you can close the Computer Management window.
