Windows XP Setup Troubleshooting

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Hate Microsoft? Me Too! --> Windows XP Installes to Drive Letter other can C

article by: commando warning: explicit language so kiddies beat it!

When XP first came out I discovered that if I have more than one harddrive in my system (any other drive with FAT or NTFS format) Microsh1t Windows XP will install to a driver letter other than C.

Even more ignorant of the daft bastards at Microsoft, the Windows XP boot partition can install to a drive letter _after_ cdrom or dvd drives.

This is very annoying when installing software, as most defaults to install on 'C:\'. Ideally, you want Windows XP boot to be C:\, the other drive to be D:\ and the two DVD-ROMs to be E:\ and F:\. This is how Windows 2000, and previous versions of Microsloth Winblowze would install.

  • yes it makes sense to disconnect everything except for IDE0 Master (the boot drive), however, what a stupid pain in the @ss all because of Microstupid software Windowze XP poor design.
  • read my trickf*ck method that works during install at the end of this document for XP installation tips that avoid having to disconnect all other ide devices.

Dustin the Dumb@ss posted on a forum "Oh just use Disk Management in Administrative tools to change the drive letter". This moron didn't actually check to see if he could change the drive letter of the boot drive before he started talking out his @sshole, because Microsloth won't let you do that. (I notice this a lot with help forums, some idiot typically offers a stupid answer that he/she didn't think about or try first, and is a far cry from being any bit helpful other than wasting everyone's time).

SCR3W M1CR0S0FT! Because they like to scr3w us!

For example, Microsoft Tech article "223188 - How To Restore the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows" offers instructions to change the letter assigned to the boot drive. Sure it has a warning but the language is unclear and the article leads one to believe that this will get your Windows XP back on C.

wrong.

This will make your system not boot.

MICROSOFT K1SS MY @SS

Credit and Kudos to Thomas Leong who figured out how to combine Microsh1t tech article 223188 with some good practical experience and get his Windows XP back on drive C.

NOW HERE IS MY WARNING: I HAVEN'T SUCCESSFULLY VERIFIED THIS PROCEDURE. But it sounds damn reasonable and I believe it works.

TWO PARTS TO PROCEDURE:

PART ONE...

  • Start Regedt32.exe.
  • Go to the following registry key: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
  • Click MountedDevices.
  • On the Security menu, click Permissions.
  • Verify that Administrators have full control. Change this back when you are
  • finished with these steps.
  • Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe.
  • Locate the following registry key: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
  • Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for
  • "\DosDevices\C:".
  • Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.
Note You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry key.
  • Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:".
This frees up drive letter C.
  • Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:".
  • Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename.
  • Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:".
  • Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and then name it back to
  • "\DosDevices\D:".

DO NOT LOG OUT OR REBOOT AT THIS POINT -or- YOU WILL BE S-O-L.

PART TWO...

  • Use the 'FIND' tool in REGEDIT and search the ENTIRE REGISTRY for every OCCURANCE of the incorrect drive letter. Change each occurance to reference drive C instead. 
 (ex: search for E:\ and replace with C:\)

This process of search and replace should be done manually. It will take some time, even on a new Windows XP installation.

TRICK FUCKING WINDOWS XP TO INSTALL TO C WITHOUT REMOVING OTHER IDE DEVICES

Yes, it can be done. Last time I forgot to do it and I ended up with a f*cked up Windows XP installation. It is difficult to remember when the Windows XP process is so bloody boring and annoying as it is.

Start Windows Setup.

Choose to partition the drive you want to install Windows XP on. It will assign it some stupid drive letter other than C if you have these other IDE devices. Go ahead and let it have its way for now.

Format the drive.

Now unplug the computer. Turn it back on, start the install process over again from scratch. Now when the installer comes to the partition step it will probably recognize the drive you want to be boot as C.

This process does not always work. I seen a laptop that refused to allow the boot drive to be C no matter what we tried during installation.

Final thoughts:

This behavior of Windows XP is inconsistent with all previous versions of Microsoft Windows installation behavior. Microsoft operating systems suck. They staff some of the most incompetent programmers in the industry. And, if you are reading this, find it offensive because you/a family member/some dipsh*t you know works for Microsoft, then you can kiss my ass.

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