3 Simple Ways to Assign a Drive Letter in Windows 10/8/7
| Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Fix 1. Disk Management | Step 1. You will need to open Disk Management with administrator privileges. Right-click on the Start button...Full steps |
| Fix 2. Qiling Partition Master | Step 1. Run Qiling Partition Master, right-click the target partition, and choose "Change Drive Letter"...Full steps |
| Fix 3. Command Prompt | Step 1. Access the elevated command prompt. Press Windows + S to run the search box. Type cmd...Full steps |
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, Qiling 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 Qiling 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 Qiling Partition Master.
Users can manage disks with Qiling 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 Qiling Partition Master, click the target partition, click "More..." button 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 the program 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.
Conclusion
You can assign different letters for your drivers in various ways. For example, with Windows Disk Management, and from the command prompt. But Qiling partition manager gives you total control over your hard drive.
Qiling 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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