Can not Change drive letter Windows 7

Anonymous

The error message "disk Management console view not up to date" comes up everytime I try to change the drive letter for an external USB hard drive. I tried diskpart but it only lists drives with letters.

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600

Other OS Description Not Available

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name DAD-PC

System Manufacturer System manufacturer

System Model System Product Name

System Type X86-based PC

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 975 @ 3.33GHz, 3334 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 0707, 8/18/2009

SMBIOS Version 2.5

Windows Directory C:\Windows

System Directory C:\Windows\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Locale United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"

User Name Dad-PC\Dad

Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 12.0 GB

Total Physical Memory 1.49 GB

Available Physical Memory 655 MB

Total Virtual Memory 2.98 GB

Available Virtual Memory 1.40 GB

Page File Space 1.49 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hello,

Hello TestPantaloon,

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps.

If you don't like the letter Windows has assigned to a new drive or you want to organize your drive letters in a certain way, you can change the 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.


<br>		•	Open Computer by clicking the<br>Start button, and then clicking Computer.	<br>	---	---

You can change, add, or remove a drive letter by using Computer Management.


			<br>1. <br>Open Computer Management by clicking the<br>Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking<br>Computer Management. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.	<br>	---	---	<br>		<br>2. <br>In the Navigation pane, click<br>Disk Management.	<br>		<br>3. <br>Right-click the partition or drive that you want to change, and then click<br>Change Drive Letter and Paths.	<br>		<br>4. <br>Do one of the following:<br><br><br><br>	•	To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click<br>Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.	<br>	---	---	<br>	•	To change a drive letter, click<br>Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the letter that you want to use, and then click<br>OK.	<br>	•	To remove a drive letter, click<br>Remove, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to remove it.

Once you have done this, look in Computer, now simply right click to create a shortcut from there and it will put it on the desktop!

Hope this helps you. Let us know either way. Make it a great day!

0 comments

51 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-01-12T14:16:28+00:00

Get out of "Disk Management" and go to "Device Manager" Then follow these instructions:

Go to Device Manager...Go to View....Show Hidden Devices...Under Storage Volumes there will be an "Unknown Device" ...Right click and DELETE it.

Now go back to Explorer or MY Computer and see if your drive is there. Mine was there and working just fine. It also showed in Disk Manager with a drive letter and no more Console view not up to date, or "Grayed out areas". This should work for you.

Tony
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2010-12-26T04:46:39+00:00

I notice that there seems to be a consensus that the methods below will work, and maybe they do, but there is nothing mentioned for those who have grayed out options. Just to head you off, I have checked and I am an administrator on my laptop.

Problem: I have an external hard drive that won't show up in explorer, but I can see it in Device Manager and Disk Management. It is a Samsung Spinpoint hard drive that is only two years old.

In Disk Management, there is a BLANK next to the description of my external hard drive. I'm assuming if I could only assign it a letter, it would magically work (like all computer problems do :D).

But when I right-click on the drive, all options are grayed out except "delete volume" and "help". I don't want to delete the stuff on it and I never ever click on a Microsoft "help" button if I can "help" it.

I can right-click on the drive number, as suggested by rgross98, and disable and enable the device. This didn't work. From there, I can uninstall the device drivers or check for updated ones as well. None of these options turned up anything helpful.

Does someone from Microsoft have any answer for this issue? Has anyone else with grayed-out option been able to find a solution?
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2010-11-29T16:28:11+00:00

You are very welcome, glad I could help.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2010-11-25T16:36:59+00:00

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to at least try to thank you. I put Windows 7 on an eeepc and indeed did get a BSOD when I plugged in my favorite flash drive. Since I've finished the install that one flash drive would refuse a drive letter with the error mentioned above in disk management. I tried every suggestion, and even went looking for "unknow device" in Device Manager without luck....until you revealed to me the rosetta stone "Show Hidden Devices". Totally back in business. Thanks very much.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments