Can you free up drive letter B:

[c627627]

A: is reserved for first floppy and B: for second floppy, but if you only have one floppy, can you free up drive letter B: and still keep A: assigned to the one floppy drive you have?

 

[Automata]

You can change the drive letter mapping in the Disk Management screen.

How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

 

[c627627]

Am I missing something or is that entire thing just variations on the regular way to assign available drive letters?


The question was how to assign drive letter B: to an internal hard drive since B: is normally reserved for removable drives only.


Edit:

By simply disabling the floppy in BIOS, you can assign either A or B to an internal hard drive in Windows 7.


But I guess not in Windows XP?

 

[Automata]

B is an option for me on my work and home computer for any drive on the system.

 

[EarthDog]

Do you have the floppy's disabled in the bios? Maybe that will fre up the drive letter?

It is an option for me as well...but I normally disable all floppy's as I have none.

 

[c627627]

Do you have the floppy's disabled in the bios?

...but if you only have one floppy, can you free up drive letter B: and still keep A: assigned to the one floppy drive you have?

 

[EarthDog]

I understand the question you asked. Let me rephrase my response...

Do you have the ability in your bios to disable the other floppy and leave the one you need active?

 

[Pandam00nium]

You should be able to. I'm using windows 7 ultimate 32bit and I have my 1TB hard drive in 3 partitions:

A: for Games partition, B: for Storage partition, C: for the system partition. I have no floppy drives and I disabled them in my bios as everyone else has suggested. Used the disk management as well to change them since they were originally D: and E:

 

[jaymz9350]

A: is reserved for first floppy and B: for second floppy, but if you only have one floppy, can you free up drive letter B: and still keep A: assigned to the one floppy drive you have?

Are you using XP? I'm not sure if there is a work around but by default you can't use A or B for anything other than floppies.

You should be able to. I'm using windows 7 ultimate 32bit and I have my 1TB hard drive in 3 partitions:

:

Starting with Vista they freed up the A and B names to be used I'm guessing since floppies are all but extinct.

 

[Automata]

Are you using XP? I'm not sure if there is a work around but by default you can't use A or B for anything other than floppies.

On Windows XP Professional SP3, I just assigned my flash drive to the A drive.

 

[Automata]

That would make sense. Let me try on my home computer where I have a second drive.

EDIT: Bah, I can't. I have the Page File on it.

 

[c627627]

Even if Legacy Diskette A is disabled in BIOS, neither A nor B drive letters become available for hard dives, only removable drives.



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[c627627]

If anyone feels up for testing one more thing:


1. Disable Legacy Diskette A in BIOS

2. Open DOS Command Prompt, then enter:

diskpart

list volume

select volume n

[to select the volume, where n is the volume's number whose drive letter you want to assign]

assign letter=B

 

[chawks2]

Change, add, or remove a drive letter

You can assign the letters C through Z to each drive on your computer. A and B are usually reserved for floppy disk drives, but if your computer does not have floppy disk drives, you can assign A and B to volumes. You can see which drive letters are used on your computer by opening Computer.

It's interesting to note the way it is explained it sounds like if you have a floppy drive you are unable to map either A or B. BUT if you have NO floppy drive you can map either. Snafulicious.

Ditch the floppy, who needs it.

 

[c627627]

Furthermore, regarding post #13 of this thread, that appears to be no-go as well:

 

[chawks2]

That's a negative. See post #13 of this thread.

Not the first time MS official page has incorrect information. Even if you disable legacy diskette, does it also mean it sets the drive to NONE?

 

[c627627]

If there is no floppy, or to put it your way, if the floppy is physically removed from the system, I believe you can only assign letters A or B to removable drives, not internal hard drives.

 

[chawks2]

I do not have a floppy installed in my system and am able to use drive letter A/B?!

 

[chawks2]

There were 2 separate points in the BIOS that I had to change - it may depend on your PC, but I had to disable the floppy disk controller (FDC) on the onboard devices screen and also set both A: and B: to None on the disk setup screen. Obviously that will vary from BIOS to BIOS but if you're struggling to follow my clear as mud explanation I can take some shots.

 

[c627627]

Are you attempting to change the letter of an internal hard drive to A or B?

Can you clarify that since my understanding is that A and B are only for removable/external drives. I guess I should also reboot into Windows 7 and away from XP to replicate your findings.